Mr Holmes And His Fountain Pen

[Bklyn]

Just got back from seeing Mr Holmes starring Ian McKellen.

 

​Wonderful movie. I mention it here because he does a lot of writing with a black fountain pen. I caught quite a few glimpses of it but was unable to determine the brand. It was black and had 2 or 3 gold rings around the top pat of the pen. It seems to be long and was perhaps a bit on the thin side. It might have been a dip pen but it was hard to tell. Did anyone happen to catch the make of that pen?

[Bennett]

I was wondering the same thing when seeing that film. My best guess is that it was a fountain pen, not a dip pen. The manufacturer was probably a UK company like.Mabie Todd or Conway Stuart which were two popular brands for that time period.

Edited August 6, 2015 by Bennett

[cleosmama]

It looked like a Waterman Laureat, but I don't know if they made the one he used in the 1940s.

[jmccarty3]

FWIW, we know from advertisements that Sir Arthur endorsed the Parker Duofold, although that has nothing to do with this movie.

[rwilsonedn]

FWIW, we know from advertisements that Sir Arthur endorsed the Parker Duofold, although that has nothing to do with this movie.

Wouldn't it be just like Holmes to make a point of being seen with a pen other than the one he was supposed to be endorsing?

ron

[Joe in Seattle]

It was a modern era Waterman.

[DougS]

It was a modern era Waterman.

Shame they couldn't get it right.

[Mr.Rene]

It was a modern era Waterman.

[Cob]

If Holmes were using a fountain pen, then the make and type would depend upon the time: in the 1870s - "A Study in Scarlet" he would have been dipping.

 

By 1905 he would most likely have been using a Swan or perhaps Waterman's eye-dropper. A few years later, perhaps like his rather superior brother Mycroft, he would have been using an Onoto!

 

This kind of error is common in films; to continue off topic, no doubt the musicians amongst you who saw Back to the Future would have noticed that Marty McFly was playing, in 1955, a guitar (Gibson 335) that was not introduced until 1958. He should have been playing a Birdland.

 

Cob

Edited August 8, 2015 by Cob

[jmccarty3]

As a fancier of early keyboard instruments as well as of fountain pens, I tend to notice anachronisms. One of the most egregious was in the movie "Amadeus," where the audience sees Mozart playing a fortepiano, but the sound coming out of the speakers is that of a modern Steinway (albeit played beautifully by Ivan Moravec, may he rest in peace). Then again, sometimes moviemakers go to great lengths to get it right even when they know only a tiny portion of the audience will be aware of it and appreciate it. One of my favorite examples is the 1996 film "Emma," starring Gwyneth Paltrow. Several beautiful early pianos from the Colt Collection were used in this film, not just as props, but as functioning instruments.

 

Occasionally, an early keyboard will pop up when one least expects it. I was watching one of the first episodes of the old Perry Mason black and white TV series, starring Raymond Burr, not long ago. In one scene, set in an opulent Los Angeles living room, there is an Italian harpsichord, not the sort of thing you'd be likely to find in a West Coast home in the '50s.

 

To get back to Holmes, in the Granada production of "The Norwood Builder," the unhappy John Hector McFarlane plays one of Patrick Gowers's many beautiful arrangements of the show's theme on a square piano in his mother's parlor, as the credits roll.

[gregamckinney]

As a fancier of early keyboard instruments as well as of fountain pens, I tend to notice anachronisms. One of the most egregious was in the movie "Amadeus," where the audience sees Mozart playing a fortepiano, but the sound coming out of the speakers is that of a modern Steinway (albeit played beautifully by Ivan Moravec, may he rest in peace). Then again, sometimes moviemakers go to great lengths to get it right even when they know only a tiny portion of the audience will be aware of it and appreciate it. One of my favorite examples is the 1996 film "Emma," starring Gwyneth Paltrow. Several beautiful early pianos from the Colt Collection were used in this film, not just as props, but as functioning instruments.

 

Occasionally, an early keyboard will pop up when one least expects it. I was watching one of the first episodes of the old Perry Mason black and white TV series, starring Raymond Berry, not long ago. In one scene, set in an opulent Los Angeles living room, there is an Italian harpsichord, not the sort of thing you'd be likely to find in a West Coast home in the '50s.

 

To get back to Holmes, in the Granada production of "The Norwood Builder," the unhappy John Hector McFarlane plays one of Patrick Gowers's many beautiful arrangements of the show's theme on a square piano in his mother's parlor, as the credits roll.

Raymond Burr, please!

greg

[jmccarty3]

Raymond Burr, please!

greg

 

Ack! I was half asleep when I typed that! Error corrected.

[torstar]

Shame they couldn't get it right.

 

Not at atrocious as trying to convince me Holmes was even more brilliant because he could fight like Bruce Lee.

[MCN]

If Holmes were using a fountain pen, then the make and type would depend upon the time: in the 1870s - "A Study in Scarlet" he would have been dipping.

 

By 1905 he would most likely have been using a Swan or perhaps Waterman's eye-dropper. A few years later, perhaps like his rather superior brother Mycroft, he would have been using an Onoto!

 

This kind of error is common in films; to continue off topic, no doubt the musicians amongst you who saw Back to the Future would have noticed that Marty McFly was playing, in 1955, a guitar (Gibson 335) that was not introduced until 1958. He should have been playing a Birdland.

 

Cob

The film in question was set just after the end of World War 2.

[Cob]

The film in question was set just after the end of World War 2.

 

Well Holmes would have been about 100 years old by then.

 

Cob

[cleosmama]

Shame they couldn't get it right.

 

I thought it was. How strange.

[Bklyn]

If Holmes were using a fountain pen, then the make and type would depend upon the time: in the 1870s - "A Study in Scarlet" he would have been dipping.

 

By 1905 he would most likely have been using a Swan or perhaps Waterman's eye-dropper. A few years later, perhaps like his rather superior brother Mycroft, he would have been using an Onoto!

 

This kind of error is common in films; to continue off topic, no doubt the musicians amongst you who saw Back to the Future would have noticed that Marty McFly was playing, in 1955, a guitar (Gibson 335) that was not introduced until 1958. He should have been playing a Birdland.

 

Cob

This is brilliant. I thank you!

[Bklyn]

This is great information. I thank you all!

[Bklyn]

This is great information. I thank you all!

[cobalt]

Holmes is 93 in the film "Mr Holmes". It is not a Conan Doyle story, but based on "A slight trick of the mind" by Mark Cullin. Film is set in 1947.

 

I'm not a pen identifier, but the pen is flat topped, shiny black and appeared to be heavy from the way it is placed down in one scene. Waterman sprung to mind, because I have a Waterman roller ball that looks quite similar (I suspect the pen in the film is not time authentic, just functionally so).