elmore, thanks so much for the kind words about HOUND OF THE BASKERVILLES. Leonard Maltin's Movie Guide calls it "the best version of the Doyle classic to date"...a sentiment that has been echoed by other Holmes enthusiasts and scholars.
It's my favourite of all my films, because it is the best realization of any of my original scripts and it's the only one of my films I can watch without wincing. We did add our own embellishments and Pogue touches, particularly in the invention of the Brian Blessed character...because the original story is a little shy on suspects and red herrings to work effectively as a whodunit these days, but it's still a pretty faithful adaptation and my goal is never to let the audience know where Doyle leaves off and Pogue starts.
In fact there is an interesting story along those lines. My director and I went to see AMADEUS during our filming (Frank Finlay was playing Salieri and Nickolas Grace was playing Mozart)...Afterward we went to dinner and were discussing the play and Salieri's ability to recognize Mozart's genius, and Douggie Hickox, my director... a lovely man (directed THEATRE OF BLOOD)...said: "It's like that wonderful line of Doyle's in our script about the failed artist...'He was cursed with a vision of genius, but only a mediocre talent to express it.' I replied: "Well, I'm glad you like the line but it's mine, not Doyle's...that character isn't even in the book."
Hope you like SIGN as well. It has its charms, but I have some problems with it in terms of casting and some directorial decisions.
Interesting you should mentioned The Sir John Fielding mysteries. I recently picked one up off the Barnes and Noble remainder shelf and started it reading it. Didn't get far enough into it yet to know whether I like it or not, because it got bumped for Mr. BK's latest opus in manuscript, which alas has got bumped until I finished this latest pre-production draft, which hopefully will be done Monday and they can get it off to actors...and I'll have a little leisure time.
I apologize for the delay Mr. BK, because I'm really enjoying the book so far and know you need a report. Hopefully, by the end of this coming week...