Sherlock Holmes is perhaps the most durable literary figure ever conceived. That Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's sleuth outlived the Victorian Age and continues to be read is only one measure of the impression he made on popular culture. Holmes' acute powers of observation and deduction have influenced the direction of detective fiction. He has also been the star of hundreds of films and TV programs, animated as well as live action, with stories often set in periods other than Doyle's own, including a recent British miniseries with a youthful Sherlock prowling contemporary London.
But the most enduring visual images of Holmes and his trusty if bumbling companion, Dr. Watson, were shaped by a series of 14 films starring Basil Rathbone and Nigel Bruce and produced from 1939 through 1946. They were released several years ago on DVD, but the new five-disc set, "Sherlock Holmes: The Complete Collection," represents the series' first appearance on Blu-ray. Its release has been set for March 29.
The Rathbone-Bruce movies were not produced with fidelity to Conan Doyle foremost in mind. For that, one should turn to the splendid 1980s British Sherlock Holmes television series with Jeremy Brett in the title role. But the films on "The Complete Collection" have a certain magic that has been lost in Hollywood, a light touch that seldom strays into irony. Rathbone brought an edge to his role based on years of playing haughty Hollywood villains, including his memorable turn as the Sheriff of Nottingham in The Adventures of Robin Hood (1938). He was a cerebral rather than an emotional actor and his temperament was well suited to Conan Doyle's astute, utterly-certain-of-himself detective. The always affable Bruce was an inspired bit of casting; in his hands, Watson was transformed from Holmes' Boswell into a lovable fool, a sustained note of comic relief.
The first film in the series, The Hound of the Baskervilles, was a Victorian costume thriller for 20th Century Fox. Soon enough, the franchise moved to Universal and was transposed to the 20th century without missing a beat. In a few of the movies, Holmes and Watson were pressed into wartime service against the Nazis. Although made on a pinched budget, the best of the propaganda pictures, Sherlock Holmes in Washington (1942), includes a brilliant cinematic touch worthy of Hitchcocka microfilm concealed in a matchbook passed unknowingly from person to person at a society party. Winning the day through most of the series are the sharp characterizations in even the smallest roles and the little gesturesthe meaningfully sinister glance and significant snatches of dialogue that propel the stories forward.
Perhaps the best of the Universal films, The Scarlet Claw (1944), resembles the studio's classic horror films with rural Quebec standing in for Eastern Europe. The dark shapes of bare twisted trees are visible through the rolling fog; the church bell tolls dolefully, murder is afoot around a village of superstitious peasants as well as the manor of a supercilious aristocrat. The locals believe a monster lurks in the marshes but Holmes (ever the rationalist) will have none of it.
The crumbling celluloid of the original reels was carefully transferred to more durable formats and lovingly restored at the UCLA Film & Television Archive. In one or two cases the original negatives could not be found and the images are less than pristine. But for the most part, the films in "Sherlock Holmes: The Complete Collection" look better than they ever did during the decades when they were seen only on the late show.
