Gayness in “The Master Blackmailer”
So, I just finished watching for the first time Granada Holmes “The Master Blackmailer” and was struck by teh gay. This was especially interesting to me because of how flagrant and then how secret the gayness was, especially in an episode renown for the fake relationship with the maid, the debate on what Holmes was feeling (real affection for the maid, or affectation], and The Kiss (omg–no big deal for me but I read this was a big deal at the time).
First of all, Jeremy Paul, the screenwriter seems to have invented the whole plotline of the Colonel (John!) Dorking’s gay affair and his subsequent suicide when Millverton reveals it to his fiance. This plot is not in the ACD story. I was not expecting this, especially not the scene in the club with the camera slowly panning over the male couples and Dorking looking desirably up at the man in drag on stage (the lover who has betrayed him, we come to find)
Second, when Lestrade comes to Baker Street to confront Holmes about the letter that Dorking intended to send Holmes and which was “stolen” from the crime scene and delivered to Holmes by a servant, Lestrade and Holmes talk about Dorking’s gayness so obliquely they don’t even say anything.
Lestrade: Did you know the man?
Holmes: No, I had no knowledge of him.
Lestrade: Oh answer my question, or better still show me the letter.
Holmes: It will tell you nothing.
Lestrade: [reads] So, it seems to me he was on the point of engaging you and must have changed his mind.
Holmes: And took a soldier’s way out.
Lestrade: Hm. What does he mean by….
Holmes: We’ll never know, Inspector [averts gaze down]
Lestrade: But he was engaged to be married, damn it! [pause, still looking at Holmes; camera stays on Lestrade] Yes. Well, it wouldn’t be the first time, and it won’t be the last. [pause] So, it was blackmail you’d say?
Brett plays Holmes as very aware of Lestrade’s reaction to the letter in this scene. And even though Lestrade barges into 221b on the business of the stolen letter being crime scene evidence, it subtextually links Holmes with the gay scene that Dorking was engaged in, and Lestrade’s outburst “Did you know the man?” could be read as an accusation, the whole scene being Lestrade coming to arrest Holmes for such associations.
Third, there is a subtextually suggestive exchange between Watson and Holmes.Watson is frustrated that they can do nothing to stop Millverton, saying that they need someone innocent to blackmail and suggests they have an acquaintance of theirs write indiscreet letters about Watson. Holmes then says that in order to legally do something they need someone willing to sacrifice their reputation and go to the police. Watson then despairs, “There must be some way we can fight this devil,” which effectively says, we are not those people. To which, Holmes replies, “There is, there is,” touching Watson’s shoulder as he leaves the room. This is a tight shot with the focus on Watson’s face and Holmes’ hand on his shoulder, before the camera pulls back enough for us to watch Holmes exit as he speaks. So, the subtext here is that the letters against Watson won’t work because Holmes and Watson cannot risk their reputation by going to the police, “innocent“ or not so innocent.
CAMouflage (as Holmes says of Millverton), drag, and Holmes in costume as the plumber. Disguise.
Holmes taking a bath while Watson talks to him just outside his room. Holmes sitting with Watson in a sheet (coming from the bath) in front of the fire sipping drinks Watson has just prepared them.
And random: When the maid asks Holmes for a kiss, and Holmes replies “I don’t know how,” this reminds me of Sherlock saying he doesn’t know how to turn off the bomb. Makes me feel Holmes dissembling here, too, as part of his heterosexual disguise.
Have others read these scenes this way?
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