Home > Sherlock Holmes

First Prev [ 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 ] Next Last

5 Adaptations

The stories were very popular as adaptations for the stage, and later film, and still later television.

5.1 Stage

The actor most associated with Holmes on stage was William Gillette, who wrote, directed, and starred in a popular play about Holmes while the stories were still being published. His version of Holmes, dressed in deerstalker hat and Inverness cape and smoking a large curved pipe, contributed much to the popular image of the character. (There are occasional hints of the deerstalker hat in Paget's original illustrations for The Strand, but it is by no means a regular accoutrement. Doyle's text is even vaguer, referring only to a travelling cap with earflaps in the passages with the relevant illustrations. He is also described as smoking several different types of pipe, varying pipes with his mood.)

A number of play, a musical and a ballet have been written around Holmes.

5.2 Film

Sherlock Holmes is the single most frequently filmed fictional character with almost 200 film appearances to date. Only Dracula comes close to matching his record.

The first known film featuring Holmes is Sherlock Holmes Baffled, a one-reel film made by the American Edison company in 1900. Many similar films were made in the early years of the twentieth century, most notably the 13 one- and two-reel films produced by the Norwegian Nordisk company between 1908 and 1911. In 1911 the American Biograph company produced a series of 11 short comedies based on the Holmes character with Mack Sennett (later of Keystone Cops fame) in the title role.

The next significant cycle of Homes films were produced by the Stoll Films company in Britain. Between 1921 and 1923 they produced a total of 47 two-reelers, all featuring noted West End actor Eille Norwood in the lead.

Many other films loosely based on Sherlock Holmes stories have been released.

5.2.1 Basil Rathbone as Holmes

Rathbone's career as Holmes began with The Hound of the Baskervilles and The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes, both made by 20th Century Fox and released in 1939. These were followed by a series of 12 films (and a cameo appearance in the 1943 comedy Crazy House) produced by Universal from 1942 to 1946, set in the present and frequently pitting Holmes against Nazi agents. Although only the first of Rathbone's films was based directly on material by Conan Doyle, many fans feel that his portrayal most faithfully captures the Holmes of the original stories, due in part to his resemblance to Sidney Paget's original Strand illustrations.

As well as his film performances, Rathbone has played Holmes in 219 radio performances, on television and on the stage. His final film role was as the voice of Holmes for the 1986 Disney animated film, The Great Mouse Detective.

5.3 Radio

John Gielgud played Holmes for BBC radio in the 1920s, with Ralph Richardson as Watson. The adaptations were produced by Gielgud's brother Val Gielgud, who was at the time the Head of Drama at the BBC. Also an actor as well as a producer, Val Gielgud appeared in one of the episodes, perhaps inevitably, as Mycroft Holmes.

There have been many other radio adaptations, including a more recent BBC Radio 4 run featuring Clive Merrison as Holmes and Michael Williams as Watson. Following Williams' death from cancer in 2001, he was replaced by Andrew Sachs. This series is notable for having adapted every story in the canon, and has now moved on to original, non-canon stories. The complete run is available on CD and audio tape.

Politics	Business	Finance

Topics: Sherlock Holmes Watson Stories Detective Doyle Cases Deduction...

Sherlock HolmesSherlock Holmes is a fictional detective of the late 19th and early 20th century, created by British author and physician Arthur Conan Doyle. He is famous for his prowess at using logic and careful observation to solve cases. Holmes was said to have lived	Sherlock, Jr.Sherlock, Jr. is a 1924 comedy short film which tells the story of a movie projectionist who is accused of stealing his girlfriend's father's watch. He falls asleep on the job and dreams that he is Sherlock Holmes solving the case. It stars Buster Keaton,	Sherlock HemlockMuppets Sesame Street characters Sherlock Hemlock is a Sesame Street character spoofing the famous fictional detective Sherlock Holmes. His assistant, Watson, is a dog who frequently solves the case long before Hemlock, but is unable to communicate this t
Sherlock (software)Sherlock is the file and web searching tool made by Apple Computer for the Mac OS, introduced with Mac OS 8. It has the ability to search file names, file contents, and the world wide web. Internet search can be expanded with plugins that add additional s	SherlockSee: Sherlock Holmes Sherlock (software) made by Apple Computer.	Sherlock Holmes in the 22nd CenturySherlock Holmes in the 22nd Century is a 26 episode animated television series placing Sherlock Holmes in a science fiction setting. Some episodes are direct rewrites of the original stories by Arthur Conan Doyle The Empty House", "The Speckled Band", "Th
Sherlock 3

Non User