Brett, obviously. He was nutz. His mother was a Cadbury. Sweet. His name was really Huggins but his military father made him use a stage name “for the sake of family honour”. He was one of the few who played both Holmes and Watson. And he was nutz, so it was typecasting.
It’s here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2DcjPejvUn0
I was going to mention Nicholas Rowe for any completists here. I remember liking Young Sherlock Holmes, which was a lot of fun and had a clever post-credits scene where the “dead” bad guy is seen checking into an Alpine inn with a new identity … Moriarty.
I’m afraid I disagree about H.Marion Crawford. He seemed to me to be playing it as a buffoon. A different kind of buffoon from Nigel Bruce, but still. He blusters and puffs out his mustache and tells Holmes in a very loud voice all the time that “you just can’t do that!” even when they’re trying to sneak around. He’s a foil for a lot of Holmes little jokes.
I did. I found him completely forgettable. However, this movie features one of my favorite Watsons in the person of James Mason. Possibly worth seeing just for that.
Russell Johnson as Sherlock in the Gilligans Island vampire episode.
“Well we had to walk across the English Channel. Take a step, come up for air, take another step…”
Another vote for Jeremy Brett as the most captivating and the most authentic Holmes. But I’ll also add…
I saw a production of William Gillette’s play in Chicago way back in the late seventies, starring Leonard Nimoy as Holmes. He was excellent in the role, and would have been magnificent on the silver screen.
Well, if we’re being completist I’ll mention David Mitchell playing a dementia-addled Holmes in a Mitchell & Webb sketch. Mitchell’s Holmes has one moment of clarity which is rather heartbreaking.
I saw John Wood and the Royal Shakespeare company perform the play on Broadway in the 1970s*. It was excellent. Shortly after that I got a copy of the play, and read it through many times.
Having seen the performance, and the humor and nuances, is what prompted my statement above that you don’t really “get” Gillette’s portrayal of Holmes in that rediscovered silent film. Some things just don’t come through the filter of a silent film.
*for which I paid an outrageously tiny admission price of $2.50. Yes, really. It was SRO, but still…
I love that they didn’t portray Watson as some bumbler that I wouldn’t trust to put bandaid on–the real Watson was combat tested (no coward) and good surgeon, as well as former athlete hobbled by war injury
My favorite is RDJr too. I know that’s an unpopular opinion, but I’ve been a Holmes fan since I was a kid in the Seventies, and even though Downey’s portrayal is a little quirky and not quite canon, I’ve always liked brilliant action hero Holmes better than cerebral, sits-in-his-study Holmes.
I also like Jonny Lee Miller in Elementary, another unconventional portrayal.
Could never get into Cumberbatch’s version. Not sure why. I loved him in Doctor Strange, but for Holmes he just doesn’t work for me.
As an aside, I like it better when Watson is portrayed as a competent, intelligent partner in the investigations, rather than a bumbling idiot.
I concur but he only had two films, so maybe he cant compete with Rathbone. My big complaint with the Rathbone films is that they made out Watson to be a doddering, blithering idiot.
Cumberbatch is also good.
I dont think Elementary actually counts.
Holmes and Watson bursting into laughter as Jabez Wilson finishes his story in “The Red-Headed League?”
Holmes obviously bouncing with cocaine in “The Musgrave Ritual?”
The great boxing scene in “The Solitary Cyclist?”
All Jeremy Brett. I concur that this series best synched with the Canon, but little touches like the above are what really put it ahead of the pack.
Why not? The character’s name is Sherlock Holmes, he solves mysteries with his friend Watson. The show incorporates Doyle’s stories in to the scripts. How is this not a portrayal of Sherlock Holmes?
Does BBC’s *Sherlock *count?
I’m conflicted with Basil Rathborne’s Holmes. I think his demeanour was perfect in being serious and studious but with the element of a wise-crack in him, but Nigel Bruce’s Watson was an affable oaf who at times come across inconveniencing Holmes.
This. The Downey versions were too bombastic, noisy, and frenetic for me…just another couple of dime-a-dozen action movies with the Holmes name slapped on them.
I don’t think of the Cumberbatch series as “real” Holmes, but more a sideways look at the character in a contemporary milieu. A lot of fun. I just adore The Abominable Bride episode.
Bolding mine.
This is why I haven’t watched the Downey movies. The trailers made it look like a Marvel action movie under the guise of Sherlock Holmes. That’s not the Holmes I’m familiar with. I may check them out some time, but I’m in no hurry.
Everything Holmes did in those films was backed by canon, for example his boxing skills.
Holmes also only wore the deerstalker hat once that we know of and didnt use that curved Calabash, he used a clay pipe most often.
Based on the recs in this thread I bought the entire Brett series on Amazon Prime. It was a bit pricey $70 but it is amazing. Highly recommended.
Brett, then Cumberbatch. Downey isn’t bad, but the films directed by Guy Ritchie are stupid beyond belief.