Silver Blaze (1937 film)

Last updated

Silver Blaze
"Silver Blaze" (1937).jpg
U.S. poster
Directed by Thomas Bentley
Written by Arthur Conan Doyle (story "The Adventure of Silver Blaze")
H. Fowler Mear (adaptation)
Arthur Macrae
Produced by Julius Hagen
Starring Arthur Wontner
Ian Fleming
Cinematography Sydney Blythe
William Luff
Edited by Michael C. Chorlton
Alan Smith
Music byH. Baynton Power
Distributed by Associated British Picture Corporation
Release date
July 1937
Running time
71 minutes
USA: 65 minutes (TCM print)
CountryUnited Kingdom
LanguageEnglish

Silver Blaze is a 1937 British, black-and-white crime and mystery film, based loosely on Arthur Conan Doyle's 1892 short story "The Adventure of Silver Blaze". It was directed by Thomas Bentley, and was produced by Twickenham Film Studios Productions. It stars Arthur Wontner as Sherlock Holmes, and Ian Fleming as Dr. Watson. [1] In the United States, the film was released in 1941 by Astor Pictures, where it was also known as Murder at the Baskervilles, retitled by distributors to capitalize on the success of the Basil Rathbone Holmes film, The Hound of the Baskervilles . [2]

Contents

It is the last film in the 1931–1937 film series starring Wontner as Sherlock Holmes. [3]

Synopsis

In the 1930s, Sherlock Holmes (Arthur Wontner) takes a holiday by visiting his old friend, Sir Henry Baskerville (Lawrence Grossmith). Holmes' vacation ends when he and Watson suddenly find themselves in the middle of a double-murder mystery; they must find Professor Robert Moriarty (Lyn Harding) and Silver Blaze before the horse race, and bring the criminals to justice.

Cast

Critical reception

In a retrospective review, TV Guide wrote that the film "suffers from too slight a plot stretched out to feature length. Wontner is good in his final portrayal of the great detective, and the film does have some interesting moments; but on the whole this is lackluster Holmes, an all too elementary case." [2]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">The Adventure of Silver Blaze</span> Short story by Arthur Conan Doyle featuring Sherlock Holmes

"The Adventure of Silver Blaze", one of the 56 Sherlock Holmes short stories written by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, is the first from the 12 in the cycle collected as The Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes. It was first published in The Strand Magazine in December 1892.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Colonel Moran</span> Fictional character

Colonel Sebastian Moran is a fictional character in the stories written by Arthur Conan Doyle. An enemy of Sherlock Holmes, he first appears in the 1903 short story "The Adventure of the Empty House". Holmes once described him as "the second most dangerous man in London", the most dangerous being Professor Moriarty, Moran's employer.

<i>The Scarlet Claw</i> 1944 film by Roy William Neill

The Scarlet Claw is a 1944 American mystery thriller film based on Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's Sherlock Holmes detective stories. Directed by Roy William Neill and starring Basil Rathbone and Nigel Bruce, it is the eighth film of the Rathbone/Bruce series. David Stuart Davies notes on the film's DVD audio commentary that it's generally considered by critics and fans of the series to be the best of the twelve Holmes films made by Universal.

The stories of Sherlock Holmes by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle have been very popular as adaptations for the stage, and later film, and still later television. The four volumes of the Universal Sherlock Holmes (1995) compiled by Ronald B. De Waal lists over 25,000 Holmes-related productions and products. They include the original writings, "together with the translations of these tales into sixty-three languages, plus Braille and shorthand, the writings about the Writings or higher criticism, writings about Sherlockians and their societies, memorials and memorabilia, games, puzzles and quizzes, phonograph records, audio and video tapes, compact discs, laser discs, ballets, films, musicals, operettas, oratorios, plays, radio and television programs, parodies and pastiches, children's books, cartoons, comics, and a multitude of other items — from advertisements to wine — that have accumulated throughout the world on the two most famous characters in literature."

Sherlock Holmes has long been a popular character for pastiche, Holmes-related work by authors and creators other than Arthur Conan Doyle. Their works can be grouped into four broad categories:

<i>The Hound of the Baskervilles</i> (1939 film) 1939 film by Sidney Lanfield

The Hound of the Baskervilles is a 1939 American gothic mystery film based on the 1902 Sherlock Holmes novel of the same name by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. Directed by Sidney Lanfield, the film stars Basil Rathbone as Sherlock Holmes and Nigel Bruce as Dr. John Watson. Released by 20th Century Fox, it is the first of fourteen Sherlock Holmes films produced between 1939 and 1946 starring Rathbone and Bruce.

Arthur Wontner was a British actor best known for playing Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's master detective Sherlock Holmes in five films from 1931 to 1937.

<i>The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes</i> (film) 1939 film by Alfred L. Werker

The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes is a 1939 American mystery adventure film based on Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's Sherlock Holmes detective stories. Although claiming to be an adaptation of the 1899 play Sherlock Holmes by William Gillette, the film bears little resemblance to the play.

Mrs. Hudson is a fictional character in the Sherlock Holmes novels and short stories by Arthur Conan Doyle. She is the landlady of 221B Baker Street, the London residence in which Sherlock Holmes lives.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ian Fleming (actor)</span> Australian character actor (1888–1969)

Ian Fleming was an Australian character actor with credits in over 100 British films. One of his best known roles was playing Dr Watson in a series of Sherlock Holmes films of the 1930s opposite Arthur Wontner's Holmes.

<i>The Sleeping Cardinal</i> 1931 film

The Sleeping Cardinal, also known as Sherlock Holmes' Fatal Hour in the United States, is a 1931 British mystery film directed by Leslie S. Hiscott and starring Arthur Wontner and Ian Fleming. The film is an adaptation of the Sherlock Holmes stories by Arthur Conan Doyle. Although it is not based on any one particular story, the film draws inspiration from "The Empty House" and "The Final Problem". The film is the first in the 1931–1937 film series starring Wontner as Sherlock Holmes. It is unrelated to the Basil Rathbone series of Sherlock Holmes films that began in the late 1930s.

<i>The Sign of Four</i> (1932 film) 1932 film

The Sign of Four is a 1932 British crime film directed by Graham Cutts and starring Arthur Wontner, Ian Hunter and Graham Soutten. The film is based on Arthur Conan Doyle's second Sherlock Holmes novel The Sign of the Four (1890). The film is also known as The Sign of Four: Sherlock Holmes' Greatest Case.

<i>The Triumph of Sherlock Holmes</i> 1935 British mystery film

The Triumph of Sherlock Holmes is a 1935 British mystery film directed by Leslie S. Hiscott and starring Arthur Wontner. It was based on the 1915 Sherlock Holmes novel The Valley of Fear by Arthur Conan Doyle.

<i>The Speckled Band</i> (1931 film) 1931 film

The Speckled Band is a 1931 British mystery film directed by Jack Raymond and starring Lyn Harding, Raymond Massey and Angela Baddeley. It is an adaptation of Arthur Conan Doyle's original 1892 story "The Adventure of the Speckled Band" and the 1910 play he adapted from it, The Speckled Band.

<i>The Missing Rembrandt</i> 1932 film

The Missing Rembrandt is a 1932 British mystery film directed by Leslie S. Hiscott and starring Arthur Wontner, Jane Welsh, Miles Mander, and Francis L. Sullivan. It is considered a lost film. The film was loosely based on the 1904 Sherlock Holmes story "The Adventure of Charles Augustus Milverton" by Arthur Conan Doyle.

<i>The Sign of Four</i> (1983 film) British TV series or programme

The Sign of Four is a 1983 British made-for-television mystery film directed by Desmond Davis and starring Ian Richardson and David Healy. The film is based on Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's 1890 novel of the same name, the second novel to feature Sherlock Holmes and Doctor Watson.

<i>The Hound of the Baskervilles</i> (1983 film) 1983 film directed by Douglas Hickox

The Hound of the Baskervilles is a 1983 British made-for-television mystery thriller film directed by Douglas Hickox, starring Ian Richardson as Sherlock Holmes and Donald Churchill as Dr. John H. Watson. It is based on Arthur Conan Doyle's 1902 novel The Hound of the Baskervilles.

Sherlock Holmes is a film series running from 1931 to 1937. Arthur Wontner portrayed Sherlock Holmes in five films.

Hands of a Murderer is a 1990 British made-for-television mystery film directed by Stuart Orme, starring Edward Woodward as Sherlock Holmes and John Hillerman as Dr. John H. Watson.

Sherlock Holmes is the overall title given to the series of radio dramas adapted from Arthur Conan Doyle's Sherlock Holmes stories that aired between 1952 and 1969 on BBC radio stations. The episodes starred Carleton Hobbs as Sherlock Holmes and Norman Shelley as Dr. Watson. All but four of Doyle's sixty Sherlock Holmes stories were adapted with Hobbs and Shelley in the leading roles, and some of the stories were adapted more than once with different supporting actors.

References

  1. "Silver Blaze". BFI. Archived from the original on 14 January 2009.
  2. 1 2 "Murder At The Baskervilles". TV Guide.
  3. Barnes, Alan (2011). Sherlock Holmes on Screen. Titan Books. p. 240. ISBN   9780857687760.