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Post by Cyggy on Apr 8, 2022 14:08:35 GMT
Please discuss Liz Shaw - and Caroline John - here.....
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Post by Black Orchid on Jun 18, 2022 12:41:21 GMT
Publicity Photographs
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Post by Cyggy on Jul 4, 2022 14:19:07 GMT
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Post by GC on Aug 9, 2024 20:24:21 GMT
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Post by profh0011 on Aug 9, 2024 22:07:12 GMT
"Laura Lyons" is a character who is often missing from various adaptations of "The Hound of the Baskervilles". For example, if ALL you've ever seen are the 1939 Fox and 1959 Hammer versions, you have NO IDEA who the hell she is. And yet, she's at the CENTER of the mystery of Sir Charles' death at the beginning of the story.
Sir Charles did NOT just happen to be standing out there at the end of the alley looking out across the moor... he was WAITING to meet someone. And that someone was Laura Lyons.
Laura had the misfortune to marry an itinterant artist, Jeffrey Lyons, who was a lousy husband, abused her terribly, and then left her destitute. This was made worse by her miserable bastard of a father, Mr. Frankland, DISOWNING her because he disapproved of her marriage. Sir Charles was a good friend who first helped Laura by giving her money to go to school to become a typist, so she could earn a living. Later, she had the further misfortune (though she didn't realize it at first) to fall in love with Jack Stapleton, who offered her marriage if she could get a divorce from her by-then missing husband. (I know England has an even worse reputation than the US when it comes to divorce laws and the like.) Sir Charles offered to give her money to obtain a divorce. But then, at the last minute, Jack told Laura he preferred helping her HIMSELF, and urged her NOT to meet Sir Charles in the middle of the night as they'd planned. Little did she know... Jack sicced his HUGE DOG on Charles, who died from a heart attack while running from it in terror. Worse-- Jack lied about wanting to marry her, and failed to tell her than his "sister" Beryl was IN FACT HIS WIFE. What a BASTARD.
When Watson met Laura, she really doesn't want to talk to him. When Watson mentions to Frankland that he's met his daughter, the guy quickly shuts up and exits in an angry huff. When HOLMES goes to confront Laura... he has copies of DOCUMENTS and photographs PROVING that Jack & Beryl are in fact man and wife, and have used another alias while running a school in another country. Angered, she says, "Why should I be true to him when he wasn't true to me?" Holmes tells her she is VERY lucky to BE ALIVE.
In at least 2 film versions (1929 & 1983), Stapleton MURDERS Laura. In the 1983 version, the only one that features Jeffrey Lyons, her husband is blamed for the murder, which satisfies the dim-witted Lestrade, but that's a twist created specifically for that version.
Caroline John in the 1982 version is my favorite version of Laura Lyons. The scene between her & Holmes is almost identical to the one in the 1968 BBC version, but JUST a bit better, I think.
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