I’ve been a fan of Arthur Conan Doyle’s legendary detail-oriented detective Sherlock Holmes for as long as I can remember. As a young child I devoured the stories and as recently as last week was watching a classic 1944 Holmes movie, The Scarlet Claw, starring Basil Rathbone as the eponymous detective and Nigel Bruce as his bumbling medical sidekick John Watson. I also greatly enjoyed the BBC series of Holmes stories that starred Jeremy Brett as the detective and David Burke as Dr. Watson.
The story is engaging enough, revolving around the malevolent Lord Blackwood (Mark Strong) up to nefarious deeds leading to his taking over the government of England (in a manner reminiscent of Guy Fawkes) and then restoring English dominance over America. A shadowy – and satisfying – presence in the background is archenemy Professor Moriarty.

*sigh*
I think I will give this a miss and start reading Arthur Conan Doyle instead. Thank you, Dave.
Can you recommend an old Holmes movie for me? My dad is always praising the Holmes flicks of yore and I plan to check one out asap.
Christian, there are two main Sherlock Holmes that I think helped define him in the popular culture: Basil Rathbone and, more recently, Jeremy Brett. For the former, his best is probably “The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes” (1939) and for the latter, it was a (terrific) BBC series, so perhaps Netflix will have it? Not sure which is the best episode, but I will give a shout out to “A Scandal in Bohemia” which is the story that introduces Irene Adler in the storyline…
Maybe we need to have a Sherlock Holmes festival ??
If you are in the Boulder area, Video Station has the BBC series. I am in possession of the 2nd disk and most of the others were checked out when I was there.
This film was a huge disappointment! Simply put, Guy Ritchie’s latest directorial attempt is the typical Hollywood version of Sherlock Holmes. I just re-watched the entire collection of episodes produced by Granada, and they are outstanding compared to the current movie. PS. Jeremy Brett is the ultimate Holmes. The man was an amazing actor!