Sherlock Holmes (1939 film series) "Rathbone "was" Sherlock Holmes". The choice of Nigel Bruce as Watson was more contentious, with Davies pointing out that "Bruce's characterisation bore little relation" to the written Watson, even though the portrayal eventually produced "an endearingly avuncular figure". The historian David Parkinson agrees, and wrote that Bruce's "avuncular presence provided the perfect counterbalance to Rathbone's briskly omniscient sleuth". Barnes notes that, despite the criticisms against him, Bruce rehabilitated Watson, who had been a marginal figure in the cinematic Holmes canon to that point: "after Bruce, it would be a near-unthinkable heresy to show Holmes without him". With the combination of
Sherlock Holmes (Stoll film series) I when he segued into film production. Beginning in 1919, Stoll opened a series of cinemas and purchased a disused aircraft factory to create the then-largest film studio in Britain. In 1920, Stoll purchased the rights to produce films based on Sherlock Holmes' tales from Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. Stoll embarked on the production of his first series of fifteen short films entitled "The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes" in 1921. The films were directed by Maurice Elvey and then 59-year-old actor Eille Norwood was chosen to portray Sherlock Holmes, with Hubert Willis cast as Dr Watson. Norwood was obsessed with