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
The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes and Dr. Watson the series was warm, especially in the United Kingdom. British critics have pointed out that the creators of the series have treated the original source with due care and respect, and have successfully transferred the atmosphere of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's works. In 2006, Vasily Livanov became an Honorary MBE (Member of the Order of the British Empire) for his masterful portrayal of Sherlock Holmes. Livanov's wax statue is displayed in the Sherlock Holmes museum in London. In 2007, a statue to Sherlock Holmes and Dr. Watson, as played by Livanov and Solomin, was erect in Moscow near the British