Sherlock Holmes The Basil Rathbone Years Other Films

For more than 100 years, the character of Sherlock Holmes has appeared in scores of films, as well as in a number of television series. For many people, the films made between 1939 and 1946, starring Basil Rathbone as Holmes, with Nigel Bruce as his companion Dr. Watson, remain the most popular. ... Although there are a number of Sherlock Holmes film books, there has never been one devoted to the Rathbone series, in detail. In this book you will find complete cast lists for each film, along with a story synopsis and photographs. ...I feel it necessary to include a number of others as well, even though the emphasis of the book is still on the Rathbone series. -- Author's note/Acknowledgements.

For more than 100 years, the character of Sherlock Holmes has appeared in scores of films, as well as in a number of television series. For many people, the films made between 1939 and 1946, starring Basil Rathbone as Holmes, with Nigel Bruce as his companion Dr. Watson, remain the most popular. My own introduction to these films began as a small boy, viewing them on television with my father, who had himself seen them all as a boy or very young adult. Rathbone’s portrayal of Holmes seems to me the most accurate, in the regard of following the way Sir Arthur Conan Doyle wrote the character, and each of the fourteen films he made playing Holmes have many charming characters and great dialogue. Most of the stories have some elements of Doyle’s written works; even the “updating” where Holmes fights the Nazis, for example, is still great entertainment. Although there are a number of Sherlock Holmes film books, there has never been one devoted to the Rathbone series, in detail. In this book you will find complete cast lists for each film, along with a story synopsis and photographs. There have been so many other film and TV adaptations of Sherlock Holmes adventures that I feel it necessary to include a number of others as well, even though the emphasis of the book is still on the Rathbone series. I have included several films from the thirties, i.e. four films starring Arthur Wontner as Holmes (The 1932 film The Missing Rembrandt appears to be a lost film) and also the 1931 Raymond Massey The Speckled Band, along with the 1932 Sherlock Holmes with Clive Brook, and the 1933 film A Study in Scarlet starring Reginald Owen. Following the Rathbone films a number of other actors have played Holmes, most notably Peter Cushing in the 1959 film Hound of the Baskervilles and a 1968 TV series. I have included one film each from the 1954-55 series starring Ronald Howard, one from the 1968 Cushing series and one from the series starring Jeremy Brett. Other notable films include The 1965 A Study in Terror and the 1979 Murder By Decree, both pitting Holmes against Jack the Ripper. I have included five or six others at random, starring actors like Stewart Granger, Ian Richardson, Charlton Heston, Roger Moore and Christopher Lee. There is also a section at the back with a photo from films made beginning in 1899.

From 1939 to 1946, Basil Rathbone and Nigel Bruce starred in a fourteen-film franchise that would define Sherlock Holmes and his biographer John Watson for generations of movie-goers. The Pipes of Basil Rathbone's Sherlock Holmes offers an informal, guided tour of the pipes smoked by Rathbone, Bruce and a host of foes, packed with film stills from each of the films and sure to delight pipemen and devotees of the Great Detective.

Basil Rathbone is synonymous with Sherlock Holmes. He played the Victorian sleuth in the fourteen Fox/Universal films of the 1930s and ’40s, as well as on stage and radio. For many people, he is the Holmes. Basil Rathbone grew to hate Sherlock Holmes. The character placed restrictions on his career: before Holmes he was an esteemed theatre actor, appearing in Broadway plays such as The Captive and The Swan, the latter of which became his launchpad to greater stardom. But he never, ever escaped his most famous role. Basil Rathbone was not Sherlock Holmes. In The Curse of Sherlock Holmes, celebrated biographer David Clayton looks at the behind-the-camera life of a remarkable man who deserved so much more than to be relegated to just one role.

IN AND OUT OF CHARACTER PB

Sherlock Holmes has appeared on screen more times than any other fictional character. Created just before the birth of cinema, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s famous detective has drawn moviegoers across the world, and this guide covers over a century's worth of his exploits on film and television. This includes films from the silent era through the Basil Rathbone movies of the 1940s; films from France, Japan, Russia, Germany, and Italy; the films of Hammer Studios in the UK and Roger Corman in the U.S.; Billy Wilder’s 1970 film,Private Life of Sherlock Holmes; and many more. There are also television versions of Sherlock Holmes covered, including one directed by Steven Spielberg. Newly updated and with added material about Holmes productions from every part of the globe, as well 120 photos and a guide to the original stories,Sherlock Holmes on Screenis a testament to the enduring power of Conan Doyle’s celebrated creation.

England's Secret Weapon explores the way Hollywood used Sherlock Holmes in a series of fourteen films spanning the years of World War II in Europe, from The Hound of the Baskervilles in 1939 to Dressed to Kill in 1946. Basil Rathbone's portrayal of Holmes has influenced every actor who has since played him on film, TV, stage and radio, yet the film series has, until now, been neglected in terms of detailed critical analysis. The book looks at the films themselves in combination with their historical context. Though the first two films were set in the detective's 'true' Victorian period, Holmes was then 'updated' and recruited to fight the Nazis. He came to represent the acceptable face of England for the Americans - the one man who could be relied upon to ensure an Allied victory. Enthusiasm for a Nazi-fighting Holmes soon waned, however, and the series moved first into ghost-and-ghouls chillers, and finally into visceral horror films in which Professor Moriarty, Holmes' old enemy, had been replaced by a new breed of villain - a deadly female. England's Secret Weapon charts the studio's careful course between modernising the detective and making sure he was still recognisable as the 'old Holmes', in clothes, locations and behaviour.