Your Favorite Sherlock Holmes Movie?

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MissGoddess
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Your Favorite Sherlock Holmes Movie?

Post by MissGoddess »

I'm slowly going through the Basil Rathbone/Nigel Bruce versions and enjoying them thoroughly. Not until decades later with John Thaw as "Inspector Morse" would enjoy a British detective so much. What I love about Basil as the sleuth is his incredible energy and enthusiasm. He fairly bursts with ideas and is jet propelled to move on to the chase. The ones I'm enjoying the most have more traditional settings (with high spook-appeal) but with super interesting villains or villainesses.

So far, I like the first one Hound of the Baskervilles, Sherlock Holmes Faces Death, The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes and The Spider Woman (though the ending to the latter film was a bit of a let down). Still, it had Gale Sondergaard as the villainess and I just learned that she got a movie all her own for this character (but no Sherlock), called I believe, The Spider Woman Strikes Back.

The only ones I didn't care much for were the wartime ones. A little too propagandistic.

I like the actor who plays Inspector Lefarge from Scotland Yard.

What are your favorites?


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Mr. Arkadin
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Re: Your Favorite Sherlock Holmes Movie?

Post by Mr. Arkadin »

Funny you should mention these, as I have recently been enjoying them as well. Since we've had the little nipper join us, I've tried to put together a folder of flicks that are more juvenile friendly and included several of these in the set.

Like you, I don't really care to see Sherlock fighting Nazis, perhaps because Nigel Bruce's bumbling Watson seems more at home in the Victorian era. The issues of WWII are a little too serious for his portrayal of the character.

My favorites of the Rathbone/Bruce series would include The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes (1939) with Ida Lupino, Pearl of Death (1944), which introduced Rondo Hatton as The Creeper, The Spider Woman (1944)--nice pigmy connection to Doyle's original Sign of Four, and The Scarlet Claw (1944).

If you'd prefer a more authentic take on the ultimate sleuth, I highly recommend The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes series (1984-1994) made for Granada Television, starring Jeremy Brett.
Last edited by Mr. Arkadin on May 4th, 2011, 7:03 am, edited 2 times in total.
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Rita Hayworth
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Re: Your Favorite Sherlock Holmes Movie?

Post by Rita Hayworth »

Dear All,

I've seen 25 Sherlock Holmes movies in my lifetime. I'm going to list my top 15 movies here.

1. Rathbone/Bruce Series ... Hound of the Baskervilles - 1939
2. Peter Cushing ... Hound of the Baskerviles - 1959
3. Rathbone/Bruce Series ... Spider Woman - 1944
4. Wontner Series ... The Sign of Four - 1932
5. Rathbone/Bruce Series ... The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes - 1938
6. Rathbone/Bruce Series ... The House of Fear - 1945
7. Rathbone/Bruce Series ... Secret Weapon - 1943
8. Wontner Series ... The Missing Rembrandt - 1932
9. Christopher Plummer ... Murder By Decree - 1979
10. Rathbone/Bruce Series ... The Scarlet Claw - 1944
11. Peter Cushing ... The Mask of Death - 1984
12. Rathbone/Bruce Series ... The Woman in Green - 1945
13. Christopher Lee ... Sherlock Holmes and the Deadly Necklace - 1962
14. Rathbone/Bruce Series ... Terror By Night - 1946
15. Ian Richardson ... The Sign of Four - 1983

Note: I also have seen others like Christopher Plummer's Silver Blaze that came out in 1977; and I thought that he didn't do quite well until he did Murder By Decree two years later. He did a better job 2nd time around.

I also seen ... Robert Downey Jr. - Sherlock Holmes 2009 ... I think this movie is somewhat a farce - not highly recommend.

I'm a big fan of Sherlock Holmes and I love mystery and suspense ... It makes you think what is going to happen next; and I read a lot of Doyle's books in my lifetime and my very first book was the Hound of the Baskervilles back in 7th Grade and I had to do a book report on it for a classroom assignment and got a "B" for my effort.

So, there my list of my favorite Sherlock Holmes movies ...
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JackFavell
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Re: Your Favorite Sherlock Holmes Movie?

Post by JackFavell »

I can't remember the titles, but Spider Woman is definitely up there. Mostly I like the early ones.

I like the Victorian milieu much better too, but I really love Henry Daniell, so any time he shows up is fine with me.

I like The Woman in Green if only for the hypnotism scene.
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Re: Your Favorite Sherlock Holmes Movie?

Post by MikeBSG »

I'm delighted there's someone else who saw Christopher Plummer in "Silver Blaze." I only saw that one once, but I think I like it better than the Jeremy Brett version.

As for the Rathbone-Bruce movies, I like "Adventures of Sherlock Holmes" best, followed by "The Scarlet Claw," "Sherlock Holmes Faces Death" and "Terror by Night."
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moira finnie
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Re: Your Favorite Sherlock Holmes Movie?

Post by moira finnie »

Murder By Decree was the only movie I ever saw in a theater featuring James Mason, whose Watson was very endearing, as was Plummer's Sherlock. Before writer-director Bob Clarke's death, Christopher Plummer had mentioned in interviews how much he would have liked to make a sequel to that movie. If you get a chance to see this film on DVD it also features some wonderful extras.
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Re: Your Favorite Sherlock Holmes Movie?

Post by MissGoddess »

Nice to see several fans of the series.

I've seen most of the other actors as the sleuth except the one I'm most curious about: John Barrymore. Has anyone seen his 1922 silent version, Sherlock Holmes? Is it a lost film? I also want to see him and William Powell together in a movie, wow!

P.S. I jsut realized it's part of the DVD box set on Barrymore, which I have in my wishlist, yay!



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Re: Your Favorite Sherlock Holmes Movie?

Post by JackFavell »

I've seen it, and to me, a Barrymore fan, it was fun, but a bit slow moving. I enjoyed it anyway. His seems to me to be a very different Holmes, more romantic, kind of like a younger version of Sherlock. It's definitely worth seeing, and I really enjoyed Barrymore before he was BARRYMORE. Powell is quite good, but not on screen as much as one would like.
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moira finnie
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Re: Your Favorite Sherlock Holmes Movie?

Post by moira finnie »

MissGoddess wrote:Nice to see several fans of the series.

I've seen most of the other actors as the sleuth except the one I'm most curious about: John Barrymore. Has anyone seen his 1922 silent version, Sherlock Holmes? Is it a lost film? I also want to see him and William Powell together in a movie, wow!

P.S. I jsut realized it's part of the DVD box set on Barrymore, which I have in my wishlist, yay!



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It's not lost at all. I just saw it at the George Eastman House within the last 2 years (they restored it) and TCM has broadcast it within the last year or so. It doesn't appear to be on DVD yet, but you can see it online:
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JackFavell
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Re: Your Favorite Sherlock Holmes Movie?

Post by JackFavell »

I forgot about Reginald Denny! He's unmistakable here.
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Re: Your Favorite Sherlock Holmes Movie?

Post by klondike »

1) Sherlock Holmes (2009)

2) The Private Life of Sherlock Holmes (1970)

3) The Seven-Per-Cent Solution (1976)
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MissGoddess
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Re: Your Favorite Sherlock Holmes Movie?

Post by MissGoddess »

JackFavell wrote:I can't remember the titles, but Spider Woman is definitely up there. Mostly I like the early ones.

I like the Victorian milieu much better too, but I really love Henry Daniell, so any time he shows up is fine with me.

I like The Woman in Green if only for the hypnotism scene.


I love The Woman in Green, I've always thought Hillary Brooke played interesting bad girls. She was usually so flirtatious even when she was luring some man to his doom. She was also the sexiest woman in any Holmes movie I've seen so far. :D

As for the Barrymore Holmes movie, I wonder if such a literate character and concept plays well in a silent. So much depends on exposition with these stories...we need to hear Holmes' thought processes or we'd never understand what was happening since he so often acts (seemingly) inexplicably and then explains why he did what he did.
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Rita Hayworth
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Re: Your Favorite Sherlock Holmes Movie?

Post by Rita Hayworth »

MissGoddess wrote:
JackFavell wrote:I can't remember the titles, but Spider Woman is definitely up there. Mostly I like the early ones.

I like the Victorian milieu much better too, but I really love Henry Daniell, so any time he shows up is fine with me.

I like The Woman in Green if only for the hypnotism scene.


I love The Woman in Green, I've always thought Hillary Brooke played interesting bad girls. She was usually so flirtatious even when she was luring some man to his doom. She was also the sexiest woman in any Holmes movie I've seen so far. :D




Hillary Brooke ... she made "The Woman in Green" sensational. I agree with you wholeheartedly Miss Goodness that she's flirtatious, alluring, spell-bounding, and dangerous ...
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MissGoddess
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Re: Your Favorite Sherlock Holmes Movie?

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Perfect description of our Miss Brooke, kingme!

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Re: Your Favorite Sherlock Holmes Movie?

Post by Rita Hayworth »

Hillary Brooks

Here's some dandy good photographs of Hillary Brooks during the time she did Woman in Green with Basil Rathbone and Nigel Bruce.

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