Bartitsu: The Lost Martial Art of Sherlock Holmes

**MGM** · Posted On: 3/29/2011 12:39am

Congratulations and many thanks to all who made contributions to this DVD. I hope to be able to buy a copy next payday.

**Rolling Stoned** · Posted On: 3/29/2011 10:43am

Wasn't Holmes also a skilled boxer in addition to bartitsu? I've only read A Study In Scarlet and The Sign of the Four.

**W. Rabbit** · Posted On: 3/29/2011 10:59am

Originally Posted by Rolling Stoned

Wasn't Holmes also a skilled boxer in addition to bartitsu? I've only read A Study In Scarlet and The Sign of the Four.

Ah so you've read pages 7 to 184 of "The Complete Sherlock Holmes, Volume I" from Barnes and Nobles Classics?

You see, I surmised that you would have been very unlikely to have picked up the very first two short stories on your own, without knowing much about Holmes literature.

So, naturally, you would have come across these stories in a recent compendium of short stories. Since you live in the NYC metro area I surmised that, if you became interested in reading Holmes stories after seeing the movie, you'd naturally walk to the nearest Barnes and Nobles and pick up the hardcover first volume of Barnes and Nobles Classics "The Complete Sherlock Holmes, Volume I".

How's that for a Holmesian deduction...did I get it right?

**W. Rabbit** · Posted On: 3/29/2011 11:10am

From Chapter 2 of "A Study in Scarlet", Watson notes that Holmes knows:

- next to nothing about philosophy, astronomy, politics
- Little about geology and botany
- "Profound" knowledge of chemistry
- Plays the violin very well
- Is an expert fencer, boxer, and swordsman
- Good practical knowledge of British law.

**DdlR** · Posted On: 3/30/2011 8:18pm

Originally Posted by Rolling Stoned

Wasn't Holmes also a skilled boxer in addition to bartitsu? I've only read A Study In Scarlet and The Sign of the Four.

Yes -

Note, although this may confuse things a bit, that Bartitsu (the real-world martial art, as distinct from Holmes' "baritsu") actually included boxing as well as savate, jujitsu and stick fighting. Conan Doyle's definition of "baritsu" as "Japanese wrestling" suggests that he probably wasn't aware of that, and that he specifically associated Bartitsu with Japanese unarmed combat.

**Colin** · Posted On: 3/30/2011 8:27pm

Trivia:
The version of 'Baritsu' that we see in the Guy Ritchie movie 'Sherlock Holmes' is a combination of Downey's Wing Chun and Ritchie's Judo/Jujutsu.

**DdlR** · Posted On: 3/31/2011 2:06am

Originally Posted by Colin

Trivia:
The version of 'Baritsu' that we see in the Guy Ritchie movie 'Sherlock Holmes' is a combination of Downey's Wing Chun and Ritchie's Judo/Jujutsu.

Partly; there are also elements of fencing and even some historical Bartitsu, especially in the stick fighting sequences. There's an interview with the movie's fight choreographer at http://www.bartitsu.org/index.php/20...-richard-ryan/ .

**ironcastknight** · Posted On: 3/31/2011 2:21am

Fuckin' bought, yo.

**DAYoung** · Posted On: 3/31/2011 3:02am

I didn't think much of the Holmes bare knuckle fight. His blows didn't look convincing.

I don't want to take anything away from the choreographer. It's a cinematically polished fight, and I've some experience of the work required. But it lacks the visceral 'realism' they speak of.

For all its unrealistic Hong Kong style, I find this scene more visceral:

**DdlR** · Posted On: 3/31/2011 1:14pm

Originally Posted by DAYoung

I didn't think much of the Holmes bare knuckle fight. His blows didn't look convincing.

I don't want to take anything away from the choreographer. It's a cinematically polished fight, and I've some experience of the work required. But it lacks the visceral 'realism' they speak of.[/video]

Do you mean the bare-knuckle fight from the 2010 movie, or the bar fight from the old TV series I linked to?