Sherlock Holmes (1939 film series) nitrate film. The UCLA Film and Television Archive restored the series, putting the films onto modern polyester film, in a process that was jointly paid for by UCLA, Warner Bros. and Hugh Hefner. In 1938 Basil Rathbone was cast as Sherlock Holmes for the 20th Century Fox adaptation of "The Hound of the Baskervilles"; Nigel Bruce was chosen to play Dr. John Watson. Darryl F. Zanuck, Gregory Ratoff and Gene Markey made the choice of Rathbone as Holmes during a conversation at a party in Hollywood. Filming began on 29 December 1938 under the direction of Sidney Lanfield and the
Holmes & Watson Sherlock Holmes and Dr. John Watson as they use their brilliant minds to stop rival Professor James Moriarty from assassinating the Queen Victoria. In July 2008, it was reported that Sacha Baron Cohen would play Holmes and Will Ferrell would play Dr. Watson, in a comedic take on Sherlock Holmes produced by Judd Apatow with a script written by Etan Cohen for Columbia Pictures. On August 17, 2016, it was reported that Ferrell and John C. Reilly would star in the film "Holmes and Watson" written and directed by Etan Cohen, with Ferrell playing Holmes and Reilly playing Watson. On