''Sherlock Holmes'' (released as ''Moriarty'' in the UK) is a 1922 American silent mystery

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-gen ...

starring

John Barrymore John Barrymore (born John Sidney Blyth; February 14 or 15, 1882 – May 29, 1942) was an American actor on stage, screen and radio. A member of the Barrymore family, Drew and Barrymore theatrical families, he initially tried to avoid the stage ...

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 and Gustav von Seyffertitz as Moriarty. The movie, which features the screen debuts of both

William Powell William Horatio Powell (July 29, 1892 – March 5, 1984) was an American actor. A major star at Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, he was paired with Myrna Loy in 14 films, including the '' Thin Man'' series based on the Nick and Nora Charles characters cre ...

(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 Hol ...

based upon Doyle's characters, and was produced by Goldwyn Pictures Corporation. The film was considered lost for decades, but was rediscovered in the mid-1970s and restored by George Eastman House.

Plot

Cambridge Cambridge ( ) is a university city and the county town in Cambridgeshire, England. It is located on the River Cam approximately north of London. As of the 2021 United Kingdom census, the population of Cambridge was 145,700. Cambridge beca ...

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), 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

* Roland Young as Dr. John Watson * 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 Hedda Hopper (born Elda Furry; May 2, 1885February 1, 1966) was an American gossip columnist and actress. At the height of her influence in the 1940s, her readership was 35 million. A strong supporter of the House Un-American Activities Committee ...

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 * David Torrence as Count von Stalburg * Robert Fischer as Otto, the Prince's valet and Moriarty's secret underling *

Lumsden Hare Francis Lumsden Hare (17 October 1874 – 28 August 1964) was an Irish-born film and theatre actor. He was also a theatre director and theatrical producer. Early years Hare studied at St. Dunstan's College in London. Career Hare appea ...

as Dr. Leighton * Jerry Devine as Billy * John Willard as Inspector Gregson *

Walter Kingsford Walter Kingsford (born Walter Pearce; 20 September 1882 – 7 February 1958) was an English stage, film and television actor. Early years Kingsford was born in Redhill, Surrey, England. Career Kingsford began his acting career on the ...

as Gunman in apartment (uncredited)

Restoration

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

Kevin Brownlow Kevin Brownlow (born Robert Kevin Brownlow; 2 June 1938) is a British film historian, television documentary-maker, filmmaker, author, and film editor. He is best known for his work documenting the history of the silent era, having become inter ...

and William K. Everson (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 The Kino International is a film theater in Berlin, built from 1961 to 1963. It is located on Karl-Marx-Allee in former East Berlin. It hosted premieres of the DEFA film studios until the fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989. Today it is a protect ...

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

Plot

Cast

Restoration

See also

References

External links