Holmes in the Age of Cinema
The Holmes stories were one of the earliest mystery series to have film adaptations produced, beginning with the 1914 version of A Study in Scarlet, all prints of which are now completely lost. Although individual adaptations of other Holmes stories starring different actors would continue to be made, the definitive Holmes film series began with 1939’s adaptation of The Hound of the Baskervilles, starring Basil Rathbone as Holmes and Nigel Bruce as Watson. Although 20th Century Fox did not create the film with the intent of starting a series, Rathbone and Bruce proved so popular with audiences as Holmes and Watson that a sequel, The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes, was produced which incorporated elements of several Holmes stories. Following Adventures, Universal obtained the rights to the series from 20th Century Fox and continued making films with Rathbone and Bruce as the lead characters.
Universal’s Holmes films were considerably different from those of 20th Century Fox. The setting was updated from the Victorian era to WWII England and, instead of going against the schemes of Moriarty and other villains from Doyle’s stories, Holmes and Watson were pitted against Nazi spies and other WWII-era dangers. The entries in this series were; Sherlock Holmes and the Voice of Terror, Sherlock Holmes and the Secret Weapon, Sherlock Holmes in Washington, Sherlock Holmes Faces Death, The Spider Woman, The Scarlet Claw, The Pearl of Death, The House of Fear, The Woman in Green, Pursuit to Algiers, Terror by Night, and Dressed to Kill. Four of them, Sherlock Holmes and the Secret Weapon, Woman in Green, Dressed to Kill, and Terror by Night, are public domain, and these are the most frequently shown on television.
“A Case of Identity"
Considered by many to be the most influential Holmes and Watson, the portrayals of Rathbone and Bruce left an indelible mark in the public imagination through their portrayals of the characters. It is Rathbone’s stern, clever, driven Holmes and Bruce’s blundering, comical Watson that most audiences today “see” when they read the original Holmes stories, despite the fact that only one entry in the Rathbone series was actually based on a Doyle story. Rathbone and Bruce were so connected to the characters in public perceptions that they played the roles of Holmes and Watson on the radio series “The New Adventures of Sherlock Holmes” from 1939 to 1947. Audio samples of Rathbone and Bruce from this drama were used for the voices of Holmes and Watson in Disney’s animated film The Great Mouse Detective, a testament to the enduring appeal of Rathbone and Bruce in the roles.
The Sherlock Holmes stories remain popular to this day, and many film and television adaptations have been made after the end of the Rathbone/Bruce series. Among modern actors to play Holmes, Jeremy Brett is perhaps most associated with the role, having played Holmes in several acclaimed television series. Other notable actors to play Holmes include Christopher Lee, Rupert Everett, and, in a Russian-language adaptation popular in the former Soviet Union, Vasili Livanov. A new adaptation of Sherlock Holmes, starring Robert Downey Jr., was released on December 25, 2010 with a follow up Game of Shadows, in 2012. Certainly the enduring popularity of Conan Doyle’s original stories and the many adaptations already produced in the public domain ensure that the character will remain popular for years to come.
Ironically, Holmes was perhaps too popular for the two people most associated with his success. Despite being best remembered today for the Holmes stories and adventure fiction such as The Lost World, Doyle greatly disliked having to write “popular” literature and felt it was distracting him from more important subjects. Doyle attempted to kill Holmes by having him fall to his death in a struggle on Reichenbach Falls with his arch-nemesis Moriarty in the story “The Adventure of the Final Problem”, published in 1893, but received a continuing deluge of negative press and angry fan mail that forced him to revive Holmes in The Hound of the Baskervilles.
Basil Rathbone also grew tired of his continued association with the Holmes character and quit the film and radio series in 1946, although Nigel Bruce remained Dr. Watson on the radio series until 1947. Despite a long and distinguished acting career in everything from horror to prestige pictures, Holmes remains Rathbone’s best-known role. One does not have to have the brilliance of a master detective to understand that the public’s fascination with the character of Sherlock Holmes can never be erased, even by the efforts of his creators.