Sherlock Holmes (found early film adaptation of fictional private detective; 1916)

Poster for the film.

Status: Found

Date found: 01 Oct 2014

Found by: Cinémathèque Française

Sherlock Holmes is an early silent adaptation of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's Sherlock Holmes books starring William Gillette. The film was shot in Chicago in 1916 and released by Essanay Studios, known for producing the famous Charlie Chaplin shorts.

The film mainly takes inspiration from the stories "A Scandal in Bohemia," "The Final Problem" and "The Copper Beeches", as well as the novel A Study in Scarlet. It is widely believed to be the only filmed record of Gillette's portrayal of Holmes.

The film was thought lost until, 98 years later (in 2014) it was rediscovered in the Cinematheque Francaise archives,^[1] with plans made to restore it and screen it in Britain on January 2015, then in the USA on May 2015.