''A Study in Scarlet'' is a 1914 British silent

drama film In film and television, drama is a category or genre of narrative fiction (or semi-fiction) intended to be more serious than humorous in tone. Drama of this kind is usually qualified with additional terms that specify its particular super-g ...

directed by George Pearson and starring James Bragington, making him the first English actor to portray Holmes on film. It is based on the Sir

Arthur Conan Doyle Sir Arthur Ignatius Conan Doyle (22 May 1859 – 7 July 1930) was a British writer and physician. He created the character Sherlock Holmes in 1887 for ''A Study in Scarlet'', the first of four novels and fifty-six short stories about Ho ...

1887 novel of the same name and is considered to be

lost Lost may refer to getting lost, or to: Geography *Lost, Aberdeenshire, a hamlet in Scotland * Lake Okeechobee Scenic Trail, or LOST, a hiking and cycling trail in Florida, US History *Abbreviation of lost work, any work which is known to have bee ...

. An American film of the same name was released in the U.S. on the following day, 29 December 1914. , the film is missing from the

BFI National Archive The BFI National Archive is a department of the British Film Institute, and one of the largest film archives in the world. It was founded as the National Film Library in 1935; its first curator was Ernest Lindgren. In 1955, its name became the N ...

, and is listed as one of the

British Film Institute The British Film Institute (BFI) is a film and television charitable organisation which promotes and preserves film-making and television in the United Kingdom. The BFI uses funds provided by the National Lottery to encourage film production, ...

's " 75 Most Wanted" lost films.

Production

Ward Lock & Co Ward, Lock & Co. was a publishing house in the United Kingdom that started as a partnership and developed until it was eventually absorbed into the publishing combine of Orion Publishing Group. History Ebenezer Ward and George Lock started a pu ...

, original publishers of ''

A Study in Scarlet ''A Study in Scarlet'' is an 1887 detective novel by British writer Arthur Conan Doyle. The story marks the first appearance of Sherlock Holmes and Dr. Watson, who would become the most famous detective duo in literature. The book's title deri ...

'' in the November 1887 edition of ''

Beeton's Christmas Annual ''Beeton's Christmas Annual'' was a British paperback magazine printed yearly between 1860 and 1898, founded by Samuel Orchart Beeton. The November 1887 issue contained a novel by Arthur Conan Doyle entitled ''A Study in Scarlet'' which introduced ...

'', had the comprehensive rights to the book. The company sold the film rights to

G. B. Samuelson George Berthold Samuelson (6 July 1889 – 17 April 1947) was a director and film producer. Born in Southport, Lancashire, Samuelson was the youngest son of Henschel and Bertha Samuelson, tobacconists originally from Prussia. By 1891, his mother ...

and his

film company A film also called a movie, motion picture, moving picture, picture, photoplay or (slang) flick is a work of visual art that simulates experiences and otherwise communicates ideas, stories, perceptions, feelings, beauty, or atmosphere ...

. Samuelson's plans for the film were ambitious with outdoor scenes filmed at

Cheddar Gorge Cheddar Gorge is a limestone gorge in the Mendip Hills, near the village of Cheddar, Somerset, England. The gorge is the site of the Cheddar show caves, where Britain's oldest complete human skeleton, Cheddar Man, estimated to be 9,000 years ...

Cheddar, Somerset Cheddar is a large village and civil parish in the Sedgemoor district of the English county of Somerset. It is situated on the southern edge of the Mendip Hills, north-west of Wells, south-east of Weston-super-Mare and south-west of Bristol ...

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

doubling for

Utah Utah ( , ) is a state in the Mountain West subregion of the Western United States. Utah is a landlocked U.S. state bordered to its east by Colorado, to its northeast by Wyoming, to its north by Idaho, to its south by Arizona, and to it ...

in the United States. James Bragington was an employee of Samuelson's company and was cast purely due to his resemblance to

Sidney Paget Sidney Edward Paget () (4 October 1860 – 28 January 1908) was a British artist of the Victorian era, best known for his illustrations that accompanied Arthur Conan Doyle's Sherlock Holmes stories in ''The Strand Magazine''. Life Sidne ...

's famous illustrations of Holmes. Author Alan Barnes theorizes that Bragington may have been the first actor to wear a

deerstalker A deerstalker is a type of cap that is typically worn in rural areas, often for hunting, especially deer stalking. Because of the cap's popular association with the fictional detective Sherlock Holmes, it has become stereotypical headgear for ...

on screen. The success of the film led Samuelson to make another Sherlock Holmes film two years later, ''

The Valley of Fear ''The Valley of Fear'' is the fourth and final Sherlock Holmes novel by British writer Arthur Conan Doyle. It is loosely based on the Molly Maguires and Pinkerton agent James McParland. The story was first published in the ''Strand Magazine' ...

''.

Cast

* James Bragington as

Sherlock Holmes Sherlock Holmes () is a fictional detective created by British author Arthur Conan Doyle. Referring to himself as a " consulting detective" in the stories, Holmes is known for his proficiency with observation, deduction, forensic science and ...

Fred Paul Fred Paul (1880–1967) was a Swiss-born British actor and film director. Paul was born in Lausanne in 1880 but moved to Britain at a young age. He was a prolific actor and director in the 1910s and 1920s, but his career dramatically declined with ...

as Jefferson Hope * Agnes Glynne as Lucy Ferrier * Henry Paulo as John Ferrier * James Le Fre as Father * Winifred Pearson as Lucy, a Child

References

External links

*
British Film Institute entry
including extensive notes {{DEFAULTSORT:Study In Scarlet (1914 British film), A 1914 films 1914 drama films 1914 lost films British silent feature films British drama films British black-and-white films Lost British films Lost drama films Films directed by George Pearson Sherlock Holmes films based on works by Arthur Conan Doyle 1910s British films Silent drama films Silent mystery films Silent thriller films 1910s English-language films

Production

Cast

See also

References

External links