An Endless Series of Continuations and Adaptations

writer whose name is still widely recognised nearly ninety years after his death, and whose works continue to be read, has likely achieved far more than he could have ever imagined. Yet even more impressively, the literary legacy can inspire thousands of new stories and adaptations in novels, plays, radio dramas, films, television series, video games, and more. This is certainly true of the Scottish author Arthur Conan Doyle: every conceivable medium has, since his death in 1930, produced countless stories featuring Sherlock Holmes and Dr. Watson as main characters or at least as sources of inspiration. Our detective agency in Trier takes a closer look at the multimedia legacy of the canonical Sherlock Holmes stories.

Biographical Gaps as Invitations for Continuations

The most obvious way to bring Sherlock Holmes “back to life” after his creator’s death is actually left open by Doyle himself. His collection of 56 short stories and four novels covers the fictional biography of Sherlock Holmes only very incompletely: virtually nothing is known about the detective’s youth, and much of the time before his first meeting with Watson remains unexplored (the 1985 film Young Sherlock Holmes imagines Holmes and Watson meeting as teenagers in 1870 for an initial adventure). As mentioned in earlier parts of our series The Private Detective in Literature, the cases are not told in chronological order and do not build on one another; Doyle’s fictional narrator Watson even references past cases that were never published, providing perfect starting points for subsequent writers. Additionally, after Holmes’ apparent death at the Reichenbach Falls, there is an explicitly mentioned three-year gap during which he is in exile—something the canonical stories never explore in detail. These gaps and “lost cases” have been and continue to be used creatively, sometimes more faithfully, sometimes less so, in book and film adaptations.

 

Doyle also never provides a definitive ending to the story of his greatest creation: when Shoscombe Old Place, the last Holmes story written by Doyle himself, was published in March 1927, it concluded with the case solved but offered no indication of what happened to the detective afterwards—an open invitation for anyone wishing to continue the adventures of the master sleuth. A charming depiction of Holmes’ final years appeared in 2015: in the film Mr. Holmes, Ian McKellen plays a 93-year-old, slightly senile Sherlock Holmes attempting to recall his last case in 1947.

Sherlock Holmes on the Big Screen

There was ample room to continue the story of the world’s greatest detective. The only problem after Doyle’s death was that the United Kingdom had long maintained comprehensive copyright laws, meaning that Doyle’s literary work—and thus copyright protection of all his characters and their names—remained with his heirs for fifty years after his death. This, however, did not stifle creativity: the 1930s saw a boom in horror and mystery cinema, and many of the images we associate with Dracula, Frankenstein’s monster, and other classic figures come from this period.

 

Where there is mystery, the master detective is never far behind. Early on, Sherlock Holmes repeatedly became the central character in films. In 1939, an iconic depiction appeared on the big screen: The Hound of the Baskervilles premiered, not only showcasing one of his most famous cases but also initiating a series of big-budget adventures with Holmes as the protagonist. The series, which made Basil Rathbone immortal in the role of Sherlock Holmes, quickly produced one sequel after another; by 1946, a total of 14 full-length films had been released. This series remained the best-known for a long time and, with its lead actor, remains for many the definitive cinematic Holmes. Patrick Kurtz, owner of our business detective agency in Trier, also examined this adaptation for the online streaming service maxdome:

https://www.maxdome.de/maxperten/patrick-kurtz-127895.html.

Over the years, countless other adaptations of the London detective have been produced, including German versions, comedies, and parodies—particularly in the 1970s.

Milestone: Copyright Expiry in 1981

With the expiration of the 50-year copyright term after Doyle’s death, it has been legal since 1981 for anyone to write, stage, or produce stories featuring Sherlock Holmes. This is a possibility that has been extensively utilised. Even all the detectives in our Luxembourg agency combined would not know everything written or filmed about Sherlock Holmes over the past ninety years. Nevertheless, as we conclude our series on Arthur Conan Doyle, we aim to provide a brief overview of highlights worth seeing. Our new series, Sherlock Holmes on Film, does not claim to be exhaustive but seeks to bring a little order to the vast world of Sherlock Holmes adaptations brought to screen since Doyle’s death.

 

As Gilbert Keith Chesterton (1874–1937), English author and creator of Father Brown, once said:

 

"There have never been better detective stories than the old Sherlock Holmes series; and although the name of the great wizard has become known worldwide, and although it is probably the only popular legend of the modern world, I do not believe Sir Arthur Conan Doyle has been thanked enough."

 

Kurtz Private Detective Agency Luxembourg and Trier fully agrees. We hope that our series on Arthur Conan Doyle has contributed, even in a small way, to preserving the author’s legacy and, in Chesterton’s words, we say: “Thank you, Sir Arthur!”

Author: Gerrit Koehler

 

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