Sherlock Holmes, the universal creation of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, whose death is 90 years old today, has had multiple faces at the cinema. And as I said in that article, mine is and will already be that of Basil rathbone. The British actor, born in Johannesburg in 1892, played the most famous detective in the world with a elegance, know-how and unique touch. Last month I reviewed the series of films that he interpreted between the years 1939 and 1946 for Fox and Universal. I had views of the jungle jump and finally I thoroughly enjoyed them. This is my review.
Basil rathbone
Those of us over one age or lifelong movie buffs know Basil Rathbone. This British actor was and will always be two mythical characters in the history of the most classic cinema: the perfidious Sir Guy de Gisborne, riding a Robin of the Woods (1938), y Sherlock Holmes. He embroidered the best villains like Gisborne or French captain Levasseur en Captain Blood (1935) —his sword duels with Errol Flynn in both are unparalleled-. In real life, he was an accomplished swordsman and fought in World War I where did you get one military cross to valor. And at the beginning of his career he was going to be a romantic heartthrob.
But it was also the Sherlock Holmes most remembered, maybe because with his physical aquiline, his ambiguous gesture and his elegant bearing gave Holmes a unique touch of exquisiteness. It is true that his incarnation of the famous detective - both on film and on radio - was a typecasting of which he has always regretted. But in return, Holmes gave him immortality.
Basil Rathbone was also a prestigious theater actor and made magnificent radio dramatizations of poetry by authors such as Poe. He died in New York at age 75 in 1967 of cardiac arrest.
Sherlock Holmes movies
As often happens in the cinema, literary works and characters are reinterpreted or adapted to the interests and tastes of both producers and the public. Thus, the Holmes and Watson that they recreated Basil Rathbone and Nigel Bruce they just walked in their literary period in the first two films that the Fox.
Then with the Universal, the action and the characters moved to the Contemporary age for being in full Second World War. And so we have a Holmes almost in the service of His Graceful Majesty to prevent Nazi conspiracies of secret weapons or spies. Although they do not forget the inspector Roads, always in tow of Holmes, nor of his arch enemy, Professor Moriarty, nor of his proverbial deduction and sagacity when solving a crime or a mystery.
20th Century Fox
- Sherlock Holmes and the dog of the Baskervilles.
- Sherlock Holmes vs. Moriarty.
It was so great Success of the first title - it is also the best known surely - that the next one was made immediately, also set in Holmesian times. And that same year 1939 Rathbone and Bruce traded film for radio.
Universal
En 1942 returned to the cinema with Universal, which now had the rights to the series, and filmed other 12 movies. Of just one hour and little duration, with a same header and tune and a cast of almost theater Company, can be seen in a summer marathon. Some are based on stories by Conan Doyle and they are all in YouTube, both in Spanish and in the original version.
I'll stay, apart from the dog of the Baskervilles, with The cursed pearl, Spiderwoman, The scarlet claw and, particularly, with Terror in the night, the penultimate in the series. Perhaps I highlight it for the setting on a train (for which I have a weakness), with the theft of a diamond, a couple of murders and that ending of several changes.
- Sherlock Holmes and the voice of terror.
- Sherlock Holmes and the Secret Weapon, where he faces a Moriarty in the service of the Nazis.
- Sherlock Holmes in Washington.
- Defying death, title with which it was released here, or also Sherlock Holmes defies death.
- Spiderwoman, with an evil one at the height of Moriarty.
- The scarlet claw is considered the best title, with a tone of terror reminiscent of The dog of the Baskervilles.
- The cursed pearl o The pearl of death.
From here the series declines a bit. You start to see the actors wear for the characters, especially Rathbone. But they all deserve to be seen.
- En Sherlock Holmes and the House of Death the touch of a sinister Scottish mansion is recovered where Holmes investigates murders among a group of veteran friends.
- The case of severed fingers o The woman in green.
- Persecution in Algiers. Considered the weakest. However, perhaps again because it takes place in a closed environment like that of a ship, it also manages to maintain the intrigue until the end.
- Terror in the night o Night terror.
- Dressed to kill.