''Sherlock Holmes'' (released as ''Moriarty'' in the UK) is a 1922 American silent mystery drama film starring John Barrymore 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 ...

, Roland Young as

Dr. John Watson John H. Watson, known as Dr. Watson, is a fictional character in the Sherlock Holmes stories by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. Along with Sherlock Holmes, Dr. Watson first appeared in the novel ''A Study in Scarlet'' (1887). The last work by Doyle fe ...

and Gustav von Seyffertitz as Moriarty. The movie, which features the screen debuts of both William Powell (credited as William H. Powell) and Roland Young, was directed by Albert Parker. It was written by Earle Browne and Marion Fairfax from the 1899 play by William Gillette and

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 ...

based upon Doyle's characters, and was produced by

Goldwyn Pictures Corporation Goldwyn Pictures Corporation was an American motion picture production company that operated from 1916 to 1924 when it was merged with two other production companies to form the major studio, Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer. It was founded on November 19, 1 ...

. The film was considered

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 ...

for decades, but was rediscovered in the mid-1970s and restored by George Eastman House.

Plot

Cambridge student Prince Alexis ( Reginald Denny) is accused of stealing the athletic funds. Friend and fellow student Watson recommends he seek the assistance of classmate Sherlock Holmes. Meanwhile, while honing his observational skills out in the countryside, Holmes falls and is knocked unconscious. A young woman passerby, Alice Faulkner ( Carol Dempster), comes to his aid, much to his delight. Holmes accepts the case, and soon has a suspect, Forman Wells ( William H. Powell). Wells eventually confesses he took the money to try to get away from Moriarty ( Gustav von Seyffertitz); Wells is actually the son of a crook being groomed by the criminal mastermind for some later scheme. Fascinated, Holmes meets Moriarty face to face, impudently asking to study him, but of course Moriarty refuses to cooperate. Holmes informs Watson he has found his mission in life: to stop Moriarty. Meanwhile, Alexis's uncle, Count von Stalburg (

David Torrence David Torrence may refer to: *David Torrence (actor) (1864–1951), Scottish-American film character actor * David Torrence (athlete) (1985–2017), Peruvian-American Olympic runner See also *David Torrance (disambiguation) David Torrance may ref ...

), arrives with important news: both his brothers have been killed in a "motor accident". He is now the Crown Prince, and as such, cannot marry Rose Faulkner, Alice's sister. Heartbroken, Rose commits suicide. Years pass. Holmes is praised in a newspaper for solving a mystery that baffled

Scotland Yard Scotland Yard (officially New Scotland Yard) is the headquarters of the Metropolitan Police, the territorial police force responsible for policing Greater London's 32 boroughs, but not the City of London, the square mile that forms London's ...

. His investigative skills have failed to locate Alice Faulkner, but their paths do cross again. Moriarty is after Rose Faulkner's love letters from the Prince for

blackmail Blackmail is an act of coercion using the threat of revealing or publicizing either substantially true or false information about a person or people unless certain demands are met. It is often damaging information, and it may be revealed to fa ...

. He has had her destitute sister Alice hired as a secretary by "G. Neville Chetwood", actually a henchman named James Larrabee ( Anders Randolf). When the Prince asks Holmes to take the case, he initially refuses, as he holds the Prince responsible for Rose's death, but changes his mind when he learns that Alice is involved. Holmes has Forman Wells infiltrate the Larrabee household as the new butler. Through trickery, Holmes gets Alice to reveal where she has hidden the letters, but oddly, once he has them in his hands, returns them to her, even though she intends to publish them to avenge her sister. He informs Watson that the letters will be the bait to lure Moriarty out of his lair. For his part, Moriarty has become frustrated at being driven further and further underground by Holmes' relentless pursuit of him. He has Alice brought to a "gas chamber" (where he has disposed of others). Holmes walks knowingly into the trap, but manages to rescue Alice anyway. Moriarty then sets his entire vast organization in motion to try to kill his nemesis. Holmes is up to the challenge, however. Most of Moriarty's henchmen are captured by the police, and when Moriarty comes in person (in disguise) to do the job, Holmes nabs him too. Holmes then plans his honeymoon with Alice.

Cast

* John Barrymore as

* Roland Young as

* Carol Dempster as Alice Faulkner * Gustav von Seyffertitz as

Professor Moriarty Professor James Moriarty is a fictional character and criminal mastermind created by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle to be a formidable enemy for the author's fictional detective Sherlock Holmes. He was created primarily as a device by which Doyle could ...

* Louis Wolheim as Craigin * Percy Knight as Sid Jones * William H. Powell as Forman Wells * Hedda Hopper as Madge Larrabee * Peggy Bayfield as Rose Faulkner * Margaret Kemp as Therese * Anders Randolf as James Larrabee * Robert Schable as Alf Bassick * Reginald Denny as Prince Alexis *

as Count von Stalburg * Robert Fischer as Otto, the Prince's valet and Moriarty's secret underling * Lumsden Hare as Dr. Leighton * Jerry Devine as Billy *

John Willard John Willard ( 1657 - August 19, 1692) was one of the people executed for witchcraft in Salem, Massachusetts, during the Salem witch trials. He was hanged on Gallows Hill, Salem on August 19, 1692. At the time of the first allegations of witchc ...

as Inspector Gregson * Walter Kingsford as Gunman in apartment (uncredited)

Restoration

Material held by Eastman House was the basis for a reconstruction produced by Kevin Brownlow and

William K. Everson Keith William Everson (8 April 1929 – 14 April 1996) was an English- American archivist, author, critic, educator, collector, and film historian. He also discovered several lost films. Everson's given first names were Keith William, but he r ...

(aided in the early stages by director Albert Parker himself, then in his late 80s), with a second reconstruction (incorporating newly found elements) undertaken by Eastman House itself in 2001. Describing the first reconstruction attempt in 1975, Everson made it clear that reassembling the available material into a viewable form was a far from trivial task: "A few years ago all that existed of this film were rolls and rolls of negative sections, in which every take--not every sequence, but every ''take''--were icjumbled out of order, with only a few flash titles for guidance '' ..' and a script that in many ways differed from the play, adding to the herculean task of putting it all together." The 2001 reconstruction was released on DVD by Kino International in 2009, with about 26 minutes of footage still missing. A Kino Blu-ray release followed in December 2011.

References

External links

* * * *, the scene in which Holmes and Alice Faulkner first meet
Stills
at moviessilently.com {{DEFAULTSORT:Sherlock Holmes (1922 Film) 1922 films 1920s mystery drama films American mystery drama films American silent feature films American black-and-white films American films based on plays Films directed by Albert Parker Films set in London Films shot in London Goldwyn Pictures films Sherlock Holmes films Articles containing video clips 1920s rediscovered films Rediscovered American films 1920s American films Silent American drama films Silent mystery films Silent thriller films