Sherlock Holmes (1939 film series) Sherlock Holmes (1939 film series) A series of fourteen films based on Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's Sherlock Holmes stories were released between 1939 and 1946; the British actors Basil Rathbone and Nigel Bruce played Holmes and Dr. John Watson, respectively. The first two films in the series were produced by 20th Century Fox and released in 1939. The studio stopped making the films after these, but Universal Studios acquired the rights from the Doyle estate and produced a further twelve films. Although the films from 20th Century Fox had large budgets, high production values and were set in the Victorian
Adaptations of Sherlock Holmes and boredom", this friend being an opium-addicted and increasingly weak Sherlock Holmes. Rupert Everett plays the Great Detective. 2002 also saw the made for television cable movie, "Case of Evil", about a 20-something Sherlock Holmes (James D'Arcy) and a Doctor Watson who worked as an early practitioner of autopsies, on the trail of Holmes' archenemy, Professor Moriarty (Vincent D'Onofrio). An adaptation of "The Speckled Band" aired on the early TV anthology series "Your Show Time", and starred Alan Napier as Holmes and Melville Cooper as Watson. John Cleese played Holmes in a 1973 episode of "Comedy Playhouse": "Elementary My Dear