GREAT DETECTIVES & PEOPLE OF MYSTERY

SHERLOCK HOLMES

 Sir Arthur Conan Doyle was born on May 22, 1859 at No. 11 Picardy Place, Edinburgh, Scotland.  The Doyle's were an old aristocratic Irish family.  In 1879, while at school and attempting to help pay for it, Conan Doyle wrote his first story (not Sherlock Holmes related) and to his surprise he sold it to a magazine.  Later that year he sold a second story.  He graduated from the University of Edinburgh with a medical degree in 1885.  He spent seven months as a ship's doctor on a whaler in the Arctic and four months as a medical officer on an African steamer.  Impressed by Edgar Allan Poe's character C. Auguste Dupin, Conan Doyle decided to try his hand at a detective novel.  The result was "A Study in Scarlet", the first Sherlock Holmes story, which he had to virtually give away in order to get it published in 1887.  The book-length story received scant critical attention.  The Holmes saga might have ended there but not for the editor of Lippincott's who read the story and offered Conan Doyle a substantial advance to write another story.  With the publication of "The Sign of Four" in 1890 the public interest was suddenly awakened and the legend began.  As his literary reputation grew Conan Doyle's medical career drew to a close.

The first Sherlock Holmes short story "A Scandal in Bohemia" was published in the July 1891 issue of The Strand and the subsequent Holmes series quickly became one of the most popular literary phenomena of the century.  After two dozen stories Conan Doyle tired of the character, even though it was the character of Holmes who helped make his reputation and fortune, and Doyle killed him off.  The Strand lost 20,000 subscribers with Holmes' death and the public outcry was so great that Doyle was forced to revive Holmes a few years later.  Conan Doyle was knighted in 1902.  During the First World War his son Kingsley was badly wounded on the Somme and later died in London of pneumonia.  This tragic loss completed Conan Doyle's conversion to spiritualism, to which he devoted the remainder of his life.  His interest in an alternate religious framework verged on fanaticism.  Sir Arthur Conan Doyle died at Crowborough, Sussex, on July 7, 1930.

The tall, slender, hawk-nosed detective is possibly the most famous literary creation of all time.  In his deerstalker cap and Inverness cape he is instantly recognizable in every corner of the world, particularly because of the popularity and excellence of the actors who have portrayed him on stage and screen, and the artists who have illustrated his adventures, especially Sidney Paget in The Strand and Frederic Dorr Steele in Collier's.  Holmes requires less introduction than any other of the great detectives, for to most he the veritable master.  He is one of the immortals of fiction, a character who has outshone his creator, and become famous far beyond the boundaries of the detective genre.  To many people Sherlock Holmes is a "real" person.

Sherlock was born on January 6, 1854 on the farmstead of Mycroft (the name of his older brother) in the North Riding of Yorkshire.  He solved his first case, eventually titled "The Gloria Scott", while a 20-year old student at Oxford.  Following graduation he became the world's first consulting detective - a vocation he followed for 23 years.  In January 1881 he was looking for someone to share his new quarters at 221B Baker Street in London, and a friend introduced him to Dr. John H. Watson.  Before agreeing to share the apartment the two men aired their respective shortcomings.  Holmes admitted, "I get in the dumps at times, and don't open my mouth for days on end".  He also smoked a vile shag tobacco and conducted experiments with loathsome-smelling chemicals.  He failed to mention an affection for cocaine.  Although he ruefully noted his fondness for scratching away at the violin while in contemplation, he proved to be a virtuoso who could calm his roommate's raw nerves with a melodious air.  Watson's admitted faults included the keeping of a bull pup, a strong objection to arguments because his nerves could not stand them, a penchant for rising from bed "at all sorts of ungodly hours", and an immense capacity for laziness.  "I have another set of vices when I'm well," Watson said, "but those are the principal ones at present".  They became friends and Watson chronicled the deeds of his illustrious roommate.

Holmes possessed not only excellent deductive powers but also a giant intellect.  Anatomy, chemistry, mathematics, British law, and sensational literature are but a few areas of his vast sphere of knowledge, although he was admittedly not well versed in such subjects as astronomy, philosophy, and politics.  When he needed information that his brain did not retain, he referred to a small, carefully selected library of reference works.  Since Holmes cared only about facts that aided his work, he ignored whatever he considered superfluous.  An athletic body complimented Holmes' outstanding intelligence.  He seemed taller than his six foot stature because he was extremely thin.  His narrow, hooked nose and sharp, piercing eyes gave him a hawklike appearance.  He often astonished Watson with displays of strength and agility.  He was a superb boxer, fencer, and singlestick player.  He needed all his strength when he met his nemesis, the ultimate archcriminal Professor Moriarty, in a struggle at the edge of Reichenbach Falls in Switzerland.  The adversaries, locked in battle, fell over the cliff and were both reported to be dead.

All of England mourned the passing of its great detective, but in 1894, after being missing for three years, Holmes returned.  He had not been killed in the fall and saw a good opportunity to fool his many enemies in the underworld.  He took the name of a Danish explorer, Sigerson, and traveled the world, including New Jersey where he was believed to have had an affair with Irene Adler (the only woman for Holmes), and to Tibet where he learned the secret of long life from the Dalai Lama.  When Miss Adler, the famous and beautiful opera singer Holmes first meets in "A Scandal in Bohemia", died in 1903, Holmes retired to keep bees on the southern slopes of Sussex Downs with his old housekeeper Mrs. Martha Hudson.  He came out of retirement briefly before WWI, but his life since then had been quiet.  In addition to Holmes' brother Mycroft, Watson, Moriarty, Irene Adler, and Mrs. Hudson, other characters from the stories included Billy the Page Boy who occasionally announced visitors to 221B Baker Street; Mary Morstan, who became Mrs. Watson; the Baker Street Irregulars, street urchins led by Wiggins who scramble after information for Holmes' coins; Lestrade, an inept Scotland Yard inspector; Stanley Hopkins, a Scotland Yard man of greater ability; Gregson, "the smartest of the Scotland Yarders"; and Colonel Sebastian Moran, "the second most dangerous man in London".

The first Holmes story "A Study in Scarlet" originally appeared in Beeton's Christmas Annual for 1887 and was later published in book form in London by Ward, Lock and Company in 1888.  The first American edition was published by J. P. Lippincott Company in 1890.  Holmes is called to assist Scotland Yard on what Inspector Tobias Gregson calls "a bad business at 3, Lauriston Gardens".  An American, Enoch J. Drebber, has been murdered and Yard men can point to only a single clue, the word "Rache" scrawled upon the wall in blood.  They believe it to be the first letters of a woman's name, Rachel, but Holmes suggests that it is the German word for "revenge".  Soon the dead man's private secretary, Strangerson, is also found murdered and the same word is written in blood nearby.

"The Sign of Four" first appeared simultaneously in the English and American editions of Lippincott's Magazine for February 1890.  Spencer Blacket published the first English book edition the same year while P. F. Collier published the American edition in 1891.  Calling at 221B Baker Street for help is Mary Morstan, a fetching young lady by whom Watson is totally charmed (ultimately, he marries her).  She is the daughter of a captain in the Indian Army who had mysteriously disappeared ten years earlier and had never been heard from again.  Four years after the disappearance Miss Morstan received an anonymous gift - a huge, lustrous pearl - and received another like it each year thereafter.  Holmes and Watson accompany her to a tryst with the eccentric Thaddeus Sholto, twin brother of Bartholomew Sholto and the son of a major who had been Captain Morstan's only friend in London.

"A Scandal in Bohemia" first appeared in The Strand in July 1891.  The first Holmes short story featured the detective in an uncharacteristic battle of wits with a lady and with no real crime to be solved.  The King of Bohemia has had a rather indiscreet affair with the beautiful Irene Adler, who threatens to create an international scandal when the King attempts to discard her and marry a noblewoman.  Holmes is hired to obtain possession of a certain unfortunate photograph before it can be sent to the would-be-bride's royal family.  Holmes is outwitted, and he never stops loving Irene for fooling him.

In "The Hound of the Baskervilles", 1902, Sir Charles Baskerville of Baskerville Hall, Dartmoor, Devon, has been found dead.  There are no signs of violence at the scene but his face is incredibly distorted with terror.  Dr. James Mortimer enlists the aid of Holmes to protect the young heir to the estate, Sir Henry Baskerville.  Watson goes to the grim moor to keep an eye on Sir Henry but is warned to return to London  by a neighbor, Beryl Stapleton, the beautiful sister of a local naturalist, who hears a blood-chilling moan at the edge of the great Grimpen Mire and identifies it as the legendary Hound of the Baskervilles calling its' prey.

The Conan Doyle stories number 60 and are considered the canon.  More have been written by other authors including Conan Doyle's son Adrian in partnership with mystery author John Dickson Carr in 1954, and the bestselling "The Seven-Per-Cent Solution" by Nicholas Meyer in 1974.  The books by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, including short story collections, are as follows: "A Study in Scarlet" 1887; "The Sign of Four" 1890; "The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes" (s.s.) 1892; "The Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes" (s.s.) 1894; "The Hound of the Baskervilles" 1902; "The Return of Sherlock Holmes" (s.s.) 1905; "The Valley of Fear" 1915; "His Last Bow" (s.s.) 1917; and "The Case Book of Sherlock Holmes" (s.s.) 1927.  One of the great additions to detective literature and the mystery genre was Conan Doyle's creation of the super-villain in the guise of Professor Moriarty, the "Napoleon of Crime".  Known to the rest of the world as a mild-mannered mathematics professor, Holmes sees Moriarty as a giant spider in the center of a web that touches every part of the city.

PLAYS

The first medium that featured Sherlock Holmes outside of the printed word was the theatrical stage, and the great stage actor William Gillette began appearing as Holmes in 1899 in a drama of his own making.  He would portray Holmes approximately 1300 times over the next three decades.  But he didn't get around to publishing his play, "Sherlock Holmes: A Drama in Four Acts" until 1922.  Conan Doyle himself adapted his short story "The Speckled Band", 1892, into a play of the same name that was first produced on Broadway in 1910.  The plot closely follows the original story.  Miss Julia Stoner cries out to her sister "O, my God! Helen! It was the band! The speckled band!"  The frightened and perplexed Helen asks Holmes to come to Stoke Moran to solve the riddle.  In 1953 Ouida Rathbone prepared for her husband Basil a play called "Sherlock Holmes", his return to the role after a series of films.  The play was based the stories "The Final Problem",  "A Scandal in Bohemia", and "The Bruce Partington Plans".  The play was interestingly cast with Thomas Gomez as Moriarty and Jarmila Novotna as Irene Adler, with one spectacular scene that had a hotel balcony overlooking the Reichenbach Falls.  Still, the play closed after only three performances.

Somewhat more successful and lasting nearly a year, was Jerome Coopersmith's 1965 stage musical "Baker Street".  Fritz Weaver played a tuneful Holmes and Martin Gabel as Moriarty employed dancing minions.  Inga Swenson as Irene Adler had the opportunity to demonstrate her vocal talents and intrigue Holmes.  In 1974 England's Royal Shakespeare Company staged an extremely successful revival of the Gillette play.  That fall the production began an equally heralded tour of America with John Wood as Sherlock Holmes.  By Wood's count, he was the 109th actor to play Holmes on film or the professional stage.

FILMS

Holmes' incredible cinematic career has spanned every decade of the medium and more actors have portrayed him than any other literary figure.  There are more than 100 films and I will only concentrate on the noteworthy ones.  The first film appearance was in 1903 with the short film "Sherlock Holmes Baffled" by American Mutoscope.  Short films also appeared in Denmark and France, and a version of "A Study in Scarlet" appeared in England in 1914.  "The Valley of Fear" was filmed in 1916 in England, while in 1915 the French made a version of "The Hound of the Baskervilles" as did the Germans in 1917.

"Sherlock Holmes" Essanay, 1916.  William Gillette (Holmes), Marjorie Kay (Alice Faulkner).  Directed by Arthur Berthelet.  The film was based upon the enormously successful stage play written by and starring Gillette.  A dispirited detective is revitalized when he rescues a girl from the clutches of the evil Professor Moriarty.  At the end of the film the elderly Holmes proposes.

"Sherlock Holmes" Goldwyn, 1922.  John Barrymore (Holmes), Roland Young (Watson), Carol Dempster (Alice), Gustav von Seyffertitz (Moriarty), Reginald Denny, William Powell.  Directed by Albert Parker.  Based on the Gillette play, the film was extended and a more elaborate vehicle for the dramatic powers of Barrymore while it retained its romantic interest and climatic confrontation between Holmes and Moriarty.

In 1921 in England, actor Eille Norwood played Holmes in a series of nearly 50 films over a two-year period.  Hubert Willis played Watson and Maurice Elvey directed the lot.  These were short adaptations of the Conan Doyle stories.  Norwood, though unexciting and diminutive, was fondly remembered in the UK for his portrayals.  In 1929 Germany, director Richard Oswald (who also made the earlier 1917 version) cast American actor Carlyle Blackwell as Holmes in "Der Hund von Baskervilles", the last Holmes silent film.

"The Return of Sherlock Holmes" Paramount, 1929.  Clive Brook (Holmes), H. Reeves-Smith (Watson), Harry T. Morey (Moriarty).  Directed by Basil Dean.  Holmes and Watson encounter Moriarty aboard an ocean liner.  Moriarty has kidnapped the fiance of Watson's grown daughter.

"Sherlock Holmes" Fox, 1932.  Clive Brook (Holmes), Reginald Owen (Watson), Ernest Torrence (Moriarty), Miriam Jordan (Alice).  Directed by William K. Howard.  Evil Germanic prisons and carnivals underscore Moriarty's importation of American gangster methods to London and attempts to frame Holmes for the murder of a Scotland Yard man.  Holmes again romances Alice Faulkner and the climax of the film is taken from Conan Doyle's "The Red-headed League" 1891.

There were several other Holmes films in the 1930s.  Raymond Massey played him in a version of "The Speckled Band" made by British & Dominion Studios in 1931.  Brisk, rather short Robert Rendel was Holmes in a 1932 version of "The Hound of the Baskervilles" by Gainsborough.  Rotund, somewhat bland Reginald Owen was Holmes in "A Study in Scarlet" by World Wide in 1933, with Anna May Wong as an extraordinary Oriental villainess in what was essentially an old-dark-house melodrama.  But the definitive Holmes of the early 1930s was England's Arthur Wontner who played a wry, mature, but authoritative detective in five films.

"The Sleeping Cardinal" (U.S. title: "Sherlock Holmes' Fatal Hour") Twickenham, 1930.  Arthur Wontner (Holmes), Ian Fleming (Watson), Phillip Hewland, Leslie Perrins.  Directed by Leslie S. Hiscott.  Loosely based on "The Final Problem" and "The Empty House".  Holmes investigates the mysterious deaths of two night watchmen - one at the largest bank in London, the other in Berlin.

"The Missing Rembrandt" Twickenham, 1932.  Wontner, Fleming, Francis L. Sullivan, Miles Mander.  Directed by Hiscott. An elaboration of the story "Charles Augustus Milverton".

"The Sign of Four" World Wide, 1932.  Wontner, Ian Hunter (Watson), Isla Bevan, Ben Soutten.  Directed by Graham Cutts.  A close version of the novel of revenge.

"The Triumph of Sherlock Holmes" Real Art, 1935.  Wontner, Ian Fleming (Watson), Lyn Harding, Leslie Perrins, Jane Carr.  Directed by Leslie S. Hiscott.  A faithful rendering of "The Valley of Fear".  There are interesting attempts at flashbacks and a climatic appearance at Birlstone Manor by Moriarty (Harding).

"Silver Blaze" (U.S. title: "Murder at the Baskervilles") Twickenham, 1937.  Wontner, Fleming, Harding.  Directed by Thomas Bentley.  Based on the story of the same name.  The U.S. title was purposely deceptive as this has nothing to do with the Baskervilles.  Moriarty becomes involved with the theft of a racehorse.

While Wontner was one of the best portrayers of Holmes, there was one actor whose interpretation was to dominate the following decade and become closely identified with the fictional detective.  At a Hollywood cocktail party 20th Century Fox studio head Darryl F. Zanuck suddenly turned to British actor Basil Rathbone and declared that he would make a perfect Holmes.  Plans were immediately made for an elaborate production in period setting - the first Holmes to be deliberately placed in Victorian times.  Blustery, British character actor Nigel Bruce was chosen as a portly, older Watson.

"The Hound of the Baskervilles" 20th Century Fox, 1939.  Rathbone (Holmes), Bruce (Watson), Richard Greene, Wendy Barrie, Morton Lowry, Lionel Atwill, John Carradine.  Directed by Sidney Lanfield.  A lavish, faithful chronicle of the happenings at Baskerville Hall and fog-laden Grimpen Mire.

"The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes" 20th Century Fox, 1939.  Rathbone, Bruce, Ida Lupino, Alan Marshal, George Zucco (Moriarty).  Directed by Alfred Werker.  Credited as being based on the Gillette play, but there is no resemblance.  Holmes becomes involved in a family curse, South American bolas are used as a murder weapon, and Moriarty steals the Crown Jewels from the Tower of London.  After this film Fox abandoned the series but in 1942 Universal reunited Rathbone and Bruce for 12 B-movie films.  The Universal movies did not use period settings and were less expensive.  Holmes and Watson would face contemporary problems of the war years.

"Sherlock Holmes and the Voice of Terror" Universal, 1942.  Rathbone, Bruce, Evelyn Ankers, Thomas Gomez, Reginald Denny, Henry Daniell, Mary Gordon (Mrs. Hudson, throughout the series).  Directed by John Rawlins.  Credited to "His Last Bow", Holmes is summoned by Britain's Inner Council and must expose "The Voice of Terror" who, in a series of terrifying wartime broadcasts, gloats over the destruction achieved by Nazi saboteurs.

"Sherlock Holmes and the Secret Weapon" Universal, 1942.  Rathbone, Bruce, Kaaren Verne, Lionel Atwill (Moriarty), Dennis Hoey (the definitive Lestrade in the series).  Directed by Roy William Neill.  The code of "The Adventure of the Dancing Men" is used in the plot.  Moriarty kidnaps a young Swiss scientist and, using torture, tries to extract from him his new bombsight invention.

"Sherlock Holmes in Washington" Universal, 1943.  Rathbone, Bruce, Henry Daniell, Marjorie Lord, George Zucco.  Directed by Neill.  Holmes and Watson hurry to wartime Washington in pursuit of a stolen microfilm concealed in a matchbook and unwittingly passed from smoker to smoker.

"Sherlock Holmes Faces Death" Universal, 1943.  Rathbone, Bruce, Hillary Brooke, Milburn Stone, Halliwell Hobbes.  Directed by Neill.  A considerable but very interesting reworking of "The Musgrave Ritual".  Holmes learns of an ancient family ritual as murder strikes at Musgrave Manor.

"Spider Woman" Universal, 1944.  Rathbone, Bruce, Gale Sondergaard.  Directed by Neill.  Used bits of "The Sign of Four" and "The Final Problem".  A series of "pajama suicides" leads Holmes to a patrician adventuress, a pygmy, deadly spiders, and the shooting gallery of a carnival.

"The Scarlet Claw" Universal, 1944.  Rathbone, Bruce, Kay Harding, Arthur Hohl, Gerald Hamer, Paul Cavanaugh.  Directed by Neill.  While attending a Canadian psychic convention Holmes and Watson are drawn to the small village of La Morte Rouge, in whose fog-shrouded marshes a century-old glowing monster has been seen again - and a killer lurks in a variety of disguises.

"The Pearl of Death" Universal, 1944.  Rathbone, Bruce, Evelyn Ankers, Miles Mander, Rondo Hatton.  Directed by Neill.  Suggested by "The Six Napoleons".  The grotesque "Creeper" (Hatton) begins a series of horrible murders in which the victims are surrounded by smashed china.

"The House of Fear" Universal, 1945.  Rathbone, Bruce, Aubrey Mather, Gavin Muir, Paul Cavanaugh, Holmes Herbert.  Directed by Neill.  Suggested by "The Five Orange Pips".  One by one the members of "The Good Comrades" club, all of whom reside at a manor called Drearcliff, suffer mutilation deaths after receiving letters containing orange pips.

"The Woman in Green" Universal, 1945.  Rathbone, Bruce, Hillary Brooke, Henry Daniell (Moriarty), Paul Cavanaugh, Matthew Boulton (Inspector Gregson).  Directed by Neill.  Based on bits of "The Adventure of the Empty House".  A blackmail ring headed by Moriarty and the treacherous Lydia Marlowe (Brooke) uses hypnosis to instigate a series of "finger murders" - the fingers are sent to Scotland Yard.

"Pursuit to Algiers" Universal, 1945.  Rathbone, Bruce, Marjorie Riordan, John Abbott, Martin Kosleck, Gerald Hamer, Rosalind Ivy, Rex Evans.  Directed by Neill.  Holmes and Watson guard the young heir to the throne of Rovenia as they accompany him on a dangerous sea journey to his homeland.

"Terror by Night" Universal, 1946.  Rathbone, Bruce, Alan Mowbray, Renee Godfrey, Billy Bevan, Halliwell Hobbes.  Directed by Neill.  On the night train speeding from London to Edinburgh several deaths occur, and Watson's old school chum (Mowbray) is revealed as Colonel Sebastian Moran.

"Dressed to Kill" Universal, 1946.  Rathbone, Bruce, Patricia Morison, Edmond Breon, Frederic Worlock, Harry Cording.  Directed by Neill.  In one of three music boxes made in Dartmoor Prison, a five-pound Bank of England engraving plate lies concealed.  After portraying Holmes for 8 years Rathbone declined to associate himself further with the role, declaring that no actor in history had ever been so fearfully typecast.  He was never able to shed the public's identification and worship of him as Holmes.

"The Hound of the Baskervilles" Hammer, 1959.  Peter Cushing (Holmes), Andre Morell (Watson), Christopher Lee (Sir Henry), Ewen Solon, Marla Landi, Francis DeWolff, Miles Malleson.  Directed by Terence Fisher.  In this distorted version of the events and relationships on the moor, Cushing is a short, nervous Holmes in an elaborate period film.  This is the first Holmes movie made in color.

"Sherlock Holmes and the Deadly Necklace" Criterion, 1962.  Christopher Lee (Holmes), Thorley Walters (Watson), Hans Sohnker (Moriarty), Senta Berger, Ivan Desny, Leon Askin.  Directed by Terence Fisher.  Drawn from incidents in "The Sign of Four" and "The Valley of Fear".  An announced sequel was never made.

"A Study in Terror" Columbia, 1965.  John Neville (Holmes), Donald Houston (Watson), Robert Morley (Mycroft), Frank Finlay (Lestrade), Anthony Quayle, John Fraser, Barry Jones, Cecil Parker, Barbara Windsor, Adrienne Corri, Georgia Brown.  Directed by James Hill.  A clash between Holmes and Jack the Ripper.  The first appearance in talking pictures of Holmes brother.  The film gives a chilling view of the Victorian London ghettos in which Jack the Ripper stalked.  Holmes ends the Ripper's career but does not publicly reveal his identity.

"The Private Life of Sherlock Holmes" United Artists, 1970.  Robert Stephens (Holmes), Colin Blakely (Watson), Christopher Lee (Mycroft), Irene Handl (Mrs. Hudson), Genevieve Page, Clive Revill, Tamara Toumanova, Stanley Holloway, George Benson (Lestrade).  Directed by Billy Wilder.  Stephens portrays Holmes as high-strung and misogynistic as he copes, not entirely successfully, with spies, sea monsters, midgets, and canaries.  Despite his lack of interest in women Holmes is provided with a love affair to melt his heart.

"The Seven-Per-Cent Solution" Universal, 1976.  Nicol Williamson (Holmes), Robert Duvall (Watson), Alan Arkin (Freud), Laurence Olivier (Moriarty), Samantha Eggar, Vanessa Redgrave.  Directed by Herbert Ross.  Based on the novel by Nicholas Meyer.  Watson is convinced that Holmes is delusional in his belief that Professor Moriarty is a criminal mastermind, as a result of Holmes' addiction to cocaine.  He seeks the help of Sigmund Freud to conquer Holmes' addiction.

"Murder by Decree" AVCO Embassy, 1979.  Christopher Plummer (Holmes), James Mason (Watson), David Hemmings, Susan Clark, Anthony Quayle, John Gielgud, Donald Sutherland, Frank Finlay (Lestrade), Genevieve Bujold.  Directed by Bob Clark.  Based on a book by Elwyn Jones, Holmes investigates London's most infamous case, Jack the Ripper, and finds that the killer has friends in high places.

"Young Sherlock Holmes" Paramount, 1985.  Nicholas Rowe (Holmes), Alan Cox (Watson), Anthony Higgins (Moriarty).  Directed by Barry Levinson.  A young Holmes and Watson meet and solve a mystery together at boarding school.

"Sherlock Holmes" WB, 2009.  Robert Downey, Jr. (Holmes), Jude Law (Watson), Rachel McAdams (Irene Adler), Kelly Reilly (Mary Morstan).  Directed by Guy Ritchie.  Holmes is hired by a secret society to foil a mysticist's plot to gain control of England by seemingly supernatural means.

"Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows" WB, 2011.  Downey, Jr., Law, McAdams, Reilly, Jared Harris (Moriarty), Naomi Rapace.  Directed by Ritchie.  Holmes and Watson travel across Europe with an adventuress to foil an intricate plot by Moriarty to instigate a war.

"Mr. Holmes" Miramax, 2015.  Ian McKellen (Holmes), Laura Linney.  Directed by Bill Condon.  Set primarily during his retirement, a 93-year old Holmes struggles to recall  the details of his final case as his mind slowly deteriorates.

RADIO

In 1930, writer-actress-producer Edith Meiser was largely responsible for bringing Sherlock Holmes to radio listeners.  She loved the Conan Doyle stories and sold the premise of a show to NBC.  "The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes" first aired on October 20, 1930 with William Gillette in the lead role.  Edith Meiser wrote for the series from 1930-1936 with faithful adaptations of the Doyle canon.  The first show was an adaptation of "The Speckled Band".  For most of the series a somewhat pompous Richard Gordon appeared as Holmes with Leigh Lovell as Watson.  In September 1938 William Gillette's play was adapted to radio with Orson Welles as Holmes on CBS' "Mercury Theater on the Air".  "The New Adventures of Sherlock Holmes" aired on NBC, again thanks to Meiser who also wrote stories for the radio drama.  The show aired from 1939-1950, with Basil Rathbone as Holmes and Nigel Bruce as Watson.  Rathbone, who left the film series in 1946, also left the radio drama the same year.  He was replaced by Tom Conway.  Bruce stayed for another season, with the proviso that Meiser continue to provide stories that were praised by the Doyle family.  The BBC produced a Holmes series in the 1950s with John Gielgud as Holmes, Ralph Richardson as Watson, and Orson Welles as Moriarty.  Because the show was co-produced by ABC the radio drama enjoyed syndication in America for the next decade, despite the fact that there were only 13 half-hour episodes.  

COMIC STRIPS & COMIC BOOKS

The first Sherlock Holmes comic strip appeared in the United States 1930-1931 and was drawn by Leo O'Mealia and was distributed by the Bell Syndicate.  A second strip was launched in the 1950s, this one written by the highly revered Edith Meiser and drawn by Frank Giacoia.  The final comic strip, "Mr. Holmes of Baker Street", was by Bill Barry and ran in newspapers 1976-1977.  Comic books were mostly one-shot appearances or limited series by Classics Illustrated and DC Comics.

TELEVISION

The BBC in England was the first to bring Holmes to the small screen in 1951 with a mini-series that starred Alan Wheatley.  The first American TV series was "The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes" in 1954.  It consisted of 39 half-hour episodes that were filmed in Europe with a pallid Ronald Howard (son of Leslie) as Holmes being upstaged by H. Marion Crawford's robust portrayal of Watson.  Holmes was popular on anthology series like "Story Theater" with Alan Napier as Holmes in "The Speckled Band", and Basil Rathbone returning to the role in CBS' "Suspense" in a story by Adrian Conan Doyle and John Dickson Carr.  But Holmes was especially busy on the BBC in England.  There was a series with Douglas Wilmer as Holmes, later replaced by Peter Cushing.  The Cushing series was set against elaborate period backgrounds but was often criticized for inserting too much violence into Victorian times.

In 1972 a made-for-TV version of "The Hound of the Baskervilles" came to American TV sets with a silver-haired, stocky Stewart Granger as Holmes, Bernard Fox as Watson, and William Shatner, Sally Ann Howes, and Anthony Zerbe.  The TV movie was intended to be a pilot for a projected series that never materialized.  Over the next decades there would appear numerous mini-series on television.  An excellent series with Jeremy Brett was produced by Granada Television from 1984-1994 that filmed all but 18 of the Conan Doyle stories.  The series ended because Brett died of a heart attack in 1995.  Benedict Cumberbatch appeared in "Sherlock" as the great detective in three seasons.  And over the years everyone from Tom Baker and Ian Richardson to Christopher Lee and Charlton Heston have played Sherlock Holmes on TV.