Sherlock Holmes (film series, 1939)

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Sherlock Holmes was the title of a series of 14 feature films about the master detective of the same name created by Arthur Conan Doyle , which were made in 1939 at 20th Century Fox and between 1942 and 1946 in Universal Studios . The leading roles were played by Basil Rathbone as Sherlock Holmes and Nigel Bruce as Dr. Watson .

background

precursor

Sherlock Holmes has been a permanent guest on the screen since his first film appearance in the 45-second Sherlock Holmes Baffled ( Biograph , 1900). The first attempts at film series with the character soon took place in Europe: the Danish Nordisk Film produced thirteen short films between 1908 and 1911, the French Éclair eight films in 1912 and the German Kowo fourteen short films between 1917 and 1919 .

The first major Holmes actor in cinema is now Eille Norwood , who embodied the character in no fewer than 45 short and two feature films ( The Hound of the Baskervilles , The Sign of Four ) for the British Stoll Pictures from 1921 to 1923 and was very much appreciated by Conan Doyle personally. The most important Holmes of the early talkies was Arthur Wontner , who acted the master detective in five British feature films from different studios and who looked like Sidney Paget's famous Holmes illustrations .

20th Century Fox (1939)

While the series and actors mentioned above are of particular interest to film historians and Holmes fanatics, the 14-part US Holmes film series from 1939 to 1946 is the oldest that is still known to a wider audience today. At the same time, it is the earliest whose films have been completely preserved.

The series began in 1939 at 20th Century Fox with a film adaptation of the most famous of Doyle's four Holmes novels, The Hound of the Baskervilles . Basil Rathbone was seen in the role of Sherlock Holmes , Nigel Bruce as his faithful companion Dr. Watson . The success of the film and not least of this actor duo led to a sequel in the same year in the form of The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes . Referring by name to the first collection of Holmes' short stories from 1892, the script was instead based on the play Sherlock Holmes by William Gillette, which premiered in 1899 . Both Fox films are based on the literary model in Victorian England.

Complications in negotiations with Doyle's estate administrators prevented further films from the studio. In late 1939, Rathbone and Bruce took their roles again for the radio program The New Adventures of Sherlock Holmes , to which they remained loyal to 1946 and 1947 (Bruce).

Universal (1942-46)

In 1942 the film rights were transferred to Universal Pictures , which took over the two leading actors from Fox. In a dozen B-films , the studio had the detective team determined in the present, on the one hand to demonstrate the timelessness of the master detective, on the other hand to save costs. The first three Universal works, in particular, are anything but timeless, but instead show Holmes and Watson fighting Nazi agents as propaganda films .

Starting with the second universal film, Sherlock Holmes and the Secret Weapon , the horror film specialist Roy William Neill directed the series until the end of the series . From the following film Sherlock Holmes in Washington, he also acted as a producer, he made a major contribution to the success of the series through his atmospheric-expressionist productions. The same applies to the composer Frank Skinner , who wrote the equally bombastic and catchy theme music. In terms of script, the Universal films consisted of original scripts or were only loosely based on Doyle templates such as The Musgrave Ritual ( Sherlock Holmes Faces Death ), The Five Orange Pips ( The House of Fear ) or The Six Napoleons ( The Pearl of Death ) .

The series came to an end in 1946, as Rathbone no longer wanted to be committed to the Holmes role and director Neill succumbed to a heart attack a little later. Four of the Universal films, The Secret Weapon , The Woman in Green , Terror by Night and Dressed to Kill , are in the public domain today .

actor

Former film villain Basil Rathbone in the title role can be described as an inspired cast and is still considered by many to be the perfect film Holmes. The choice of Nigel Bruce is more controversial, not least because his film Watson has little to do with that of the books. With his clumsy, dumb, almost motherly manner, the actor only followed the scripts in which his role was conceived from the outset as a comic relief to the sinister Holmes. In fact, the great contrast between the two protagonists contributed a lot to the charm and success of the series.

In addition to the two main actors, two other actors had recurring roles in the films: Mary Gordon as Holmes' housekeeper Mrs. Hudson was taken over by Universal from the Fox films, while Dennis Hoey was reintroduced as the underexposed but all the more self-important Inspector Lestrade . Both characters come from Doyle's Holmes universe, as well as the arch enemy of the master detective, Professor Moriarty , who was present in three films and was played successively by George Zucco , Lionel Atwill and Henry Daniell .

Other notable actors in the two Fox films were John Carradine and Ida Lupino and in the Universal series Evelyn Ankers , Reginald Denny , Gale Sondergaard , Paul Cavanagh , Miles Mander , Rondo Hatton , Hillary Brooke , Alan Mowbray and - in small roles - Billy Bevan . The regular actors in the series with at least five appearances included the memorable Gerald Hamer as well as Harry Cording , Holmes Herbert and Frederick Worlock . In general, the cast of the film series had a noticeably high proportion of native Britons.

German language versions

The Sherlock Holmes films with Rathbone and Bruce first came to German cinemas in 1958/59. The dubbing voice of Sherlock Holmes was Christian Marschall . The titles were created from two shortened and merged original films:

  • Sherlock Holmes faces death (= Scarlet Claw + Spider Woman )
  • Sherlock Holmes chases the devil of Soho (= Faces Death + Pearl Of Death )
  • Sherlock Holmes on a secret mission (= In Washington + Secret Weapon )
  • Sherlock Holmes most dangerous job (= Woman In Green + Terror By Night )

The first dubbed version for television was made in the GDR and was first broadcast by the DFF in 1969 . These were the last ten Universal films. From here on, Rathbone was always spoken by Walter Niklaus , Bruce at that time by Alfred Bohl . This version ran in the early 1980s in the Federal Republic, where the series celebrated its television debut only now.

In 1980/81 Hinrich Köhn was used for the first time as Watson voice for a new dubbing of seven of the ten films mentioned for GDR 2 . A version with Köhn was not created for Hunt for Music Boxes until 1987, while the Fatal Journey and Dangerous Mission remain in the 1969 version. In the West, with countless repetitions of the original television version, Bohl remained the more popular Watson voice.

The dog of Baskerville ran as a TV premiere on DDR 2 in 1984 and was shown in a new synchro together with The Voice of Terror and The Secret Weapon, which had previously remained unnoticed for television,on ZDF for the first time in 1992 (all films with Niklaus / Köhn). In The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes (also with Koehn as Watson), the fans had even wait until the 1996th Since 2006, all fourteen films have beenreleased on DVD by Koch Media Home Entertainment.

Filmography

year Original title German TV title Director Based on ... / elements of ... Remarks
1939 The Hound of the Baskervilles The Baskerville Dog Sidney Lanfield The Hound of the Baskervilles "A-Film" by Fox with a running time of around 80 minutes.
1939 The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes The adventures of Sherlock Holmes Alfred L. Worker Play Sherlock Holmes by William Gillette See above, with George Zucco as Moriarty.
1942 Sherlock Holmes and the Voice of Terror The voice of terror John Rawlins His last bow First of Universal's B-films, each with a running time of around 60 to 75 minutes. The Doyle characters jump fifty years in time. For the first time with the well-known theme song.
1943 Sherlock Holmes and the Secret Weapon The secret weapon Roy William Neill The Dancing Men , The Empty House Series debut with Neill as a director and Dennis Hoey as Lestrade. With Lionel Atwill as Moriarty.
1943 Sherlock Holmes in Washington Fateful journey Roy William Neill The Bruce-Partington Plans Oskar Homolka was originally supposed to appear as Mycroft Holmes , but was replaced by Holmes Herbert, who also played a Professor Ahrens from the Ministry of the Interior instead of Holmes' brother.
1943 Sherlock Holmes Faces Death Ghosts in the castle / The deadly ritual Roy William Neill The Musgrave ritual Return to the roots after three films that focused on WWII, Nazi spies and propaganda.
1944 The Spider Woman The spider's nest / the spider woman Roy William Neill The Dying Detective , The Final Problem , The Empty House , The Sign of Four , The Speckled Band , The Devil's Foot , The Copper Beeches , The Yellow Face With Gale Sondergaard in the title role.
1944 The Scarlet Claw The claw / The scarlet claw Roy William Neill The Hound of the Baskervilles Director Neill was also involved in the script here.
1944 The Pearl of Death The Pearl of Borgia / The Pearl of Death Roy William Neill The Six Napoleons With Rondo Hatton as Creeper or The Terrible.
1945 The House of Fear The House of Secrets Roy William Neill The Five Orange Pips
1945 The Woman in Green The woman in green / the white flower of oblivion Roy William Neill The Final Problem , The Empty House With Henry Daniell as Moriarty.
1945 Pursuit to Algiers Dangerous mission Roy William Neill The Red Circle
1946 Terror by Night Jewel robbery / coffin with double bottom Roy William Neill The Empty House , The Disappearance of Lady Frances Carfax , The Sign of Four Alternative title: The Stolen Jewels
1946 Dressed to kill Hunting for music boxes / deadly music boxes Roy William Neill Alternative title: Prelude to Murder

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