The 1922 silent film of the legendary character Sherlock Holmes may be a bit different than what people presently expect from the character. An intellect and romantic, the 1922 film is more of a detective/romantic film than a sleuth film, but still entertaining in its own right.  Featuring a restored version of the film by the George Eastman House Motion Picture Department.
TITLE: Sherlock Holmes
FILM RELEASE: 1922
DURATION: 85 Minutes
BLU-RAY DISC INFORMATION: Black and White, 1:33:1
COMPANY: Kino Classics/Kino Lorber
RATED: Not Rated
Release Date: December 20, 2011
Directed by Albert Parker
Based on the story by Arthur Conan Doyle and play by Wiliam Gillette
Written by Earle Browne, Marion Fairfax
Produced by F.J. Godsol
Executive Producer: Samuel Goldwyn
Cinematography by J. Roy Hunt
Art Direction by Charles L. Cadwallader
Starring:
John Barrymore as Sherlock Holmes
Roland Young as Dr. Watson
Carol Dempster as Alice Faulkner
Gustav von Seyffertitz as Prof. Moriarty
Louis Wolheim as Craigin
Percy Knight as Sid Jones
William Powell as Foreman Wells
Hedda Hopper as Madge Larrabee
Peggy Bayfield as Rose Faulkner
Margaret Kemp as Therese
Anders Randolf as James Larrabee
Robet Schable as Alf Bassick
Reginald Denny as Prince Alexis
David Torrence as Count von Stalburg
When a young prince is accused of a crime that could embroil him in international scandal, debonair supersleuth Sherlock Holmes comes to his aid, and quickly discovers that behind the incident lurks a criminal mastermind eager to reduce Western civilization to anarchy.
Adapted from the hugely popular stage version of Arthur Conan Doyle’s stories (by William Gillette), SHERLOCK HOLMES not only provided Barrymore with one of his most prestigious early roles, but also presented the screen debuts of two notable actors: William Powell (The Thin Man) and Roland Young (Topper).
SHERLOCK HOLMES was mastered from a 35mm restoration by the George Eastman House Motion Picture Department, and is accompanied by a score by Ben Model, performed on the Miditzer Virtual Theatre Organ.
Back in 1867, this is when Sherlock Holmes made his first appearance in a publication.
A fictional detective created by Scottish author and physician Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, from 1187 through 1914, Sherlock Holmes was featured in four novels and 56 short stories.
By 1900, Sherlock Holmes would be featured in one-reel, minute-long films and in 1905, would be featured in a Vitagraph film. The character would then be featured in one and two-reel films courtesy of Danish Nordisk Film Company between 1908 and 1911 and many more adaptations would be created.
But for early American cinema, the first high production film featuring the Sherlock Holmes character was created in 1922 and produced by Goldwyn Pictures Corporation (which would later be known as Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer three years later). The film would be directed by Albert Parker (“The Black Pirate”, “Shifting Sands”, “The Love of Sunya”) and would star John Barrymore (“Grand Hotel”, “Dr. Jeckyll and Mr. Hyde”, “Dinner at Eight”) as Sherlock Holmes, Roland Young (“The Philadelphia Story”, “Topper”) as Dr. Watson and would also feature the first onscreen performance by actor William Powell (“The Thin Man” films, “The Great Ziegfeld”, “My Man Godfrey”).
For many years, this film was considered lost until a print was found in the 1970’s. And was restored by the George Eastman House Motion Picture Department.
Kino has released the film on DVD and also included it in their 2009 “John Barrymore” DVD box set collection and now this film will receive its very first release in HD via Blu-ray courtesy of Kino Lorber.
“Sherlock Holmes” is a film that begins with the introduction of the corrupted Prof. Moriarty (played by Gustav von Seyffertitz), a key figure that would become the arch nemesis of Sherlock Holmes in many stories to come.
Moriarty is a criminal mastermind with agents all over England willing to do the dirty work. And one man he has targeted is Prince Alexis (played by Reginald Denny), a young man of royalty who is accused of stealing money. For the Prince, all he wanted to do is live his life and marry his beloved Rose Faulkner (played by Peggy Bayfield), but now in trouble, he goes to his friend Dr. Watson (played by Roland Young) for advice.
Dr. Watson recommends his friend Sherlock Holmes (played by John Barrymore), an observer of life, to help him find out who is responsible.
One day, while Holmes is observing “love”, he is nearly ran over by Alice Faulkner (played by Carol Dempster), who he is smitten by her beauty.  When Watson approaches Holmes, he tells him about the problems that his friend, the Prince is having, but also that the woman he just met is the sister of Rose Faulkner, the girlfriend of Prince Alexis. And thus giving Holmes the incentive of taking the case.
But while combing through the area that Prince Alexis may have lost the money, Holmes figures out that the person responsible is Foreman Wells (played by William Powell). And when Holmes talks to Wells, he finds out that there is a major underground criminal activity happening in the area, activity that is led by a man known as Prof. Moriarity.
And when Wells arranges a confrontation between Sherlock Holmes and Prof. Moriarity, both men use their intellect to outwit each other. For Moriarity, to have Holmes killed and for Sherlock Holmes, to find a way to get this criminal behind bars. Who will succeed?
VIDEO:
“Sherlock Holmes” is presented in 1080p High Definition, black and white and was mastered from a 35mm restoration print by the George Eastman House Motion Picture Department.. One must remember that this film was lost for decades until the mid-70’s. While restored by the George Eastman House, for a film that was released in 1922, quality is good but definitely not great as there are a lot of scratches, white specks and flickering that can be seen.   But with that being said, there was only one print of this film found and this is the best restoration for a film that could have been lost.
With that being said, I would rather have a complete film especially one that is not littered with major nitrate damage or problems. And there is much more detail and clarity, less blurring on the Blu-ray release of “Sherlock Holmes” compared to my DVD version (that came in the original “John Barrymore” Collection DVD box set).
AUDIO & SUBTITLES:
“Sherlock Holmes” is presented in LPCM 2.0 monaural with a score from Ben Model, performed on the Miditzer Virtual Theatre Organ.
SPECIAL FEATURES
“Sherlock Holmes” comes with trailers.
EXTRAS:
“Sherlock Holmes” comes with a slipcase.
There is no doubt that “Sherlock Holmes” is a character that has entertained generations upon generations, to most recently a sci-fi version starring Robert Downey, Jr.
While, my viewing of films featuring the famous investigator typically starred actor Basil Rathbone, watching the John Barrymore 1922 silent film is rather intriguing because not only is it an detective film, it’s also a love story.
Part of the problem that some may find with this film is that it’s quite far from the mysteries of “Sherlock Holmes” that people who have watched film adaptations, played video games or read the books, may find this film to be rather different. If anything, Sherlock Holmes comes across more like a James Bond than the detective that some people are familiar with.
The film’s storyline tries to showcase the first meeting between Holmes and Moriarity but what viewers are left with is an unknown reason of why Moriarity is evil, why so many people would listen to a crotchety old man that resembles more of a Charles Dicken’s Ebenezer Scrooge. The pacing is also off in the fact that the main mystery of the beginning of the film, becomes far less of the story and is more about Holmes wanting to help a beautiful young woman that he fell in love at first sight with.
Alice Faulkner had letters written to her fiance, he leaves, she commits suicide and now everyone wants to retriever her love letters that were meant for her fiance because they may embarrass his royal family and lead to an international scandal.  And as much as I want to say that the film focuses on this mystery, it does not. It is more or less a Sherlock Holmes wanting to be with the woman he loved at first sight and protect her from Moriarity.
Sherlock Holmes are mystery stories that challenges one’s intellect of who did it? Not so much with this film. It’s more or less a film about an intelligent investigator trying to outwit his arch-nemesis to protect the love of his life.
So, this is not the same Sherlock Holmes that people may be familiar with. He’s more of a philosopher who has fallen in love.  Earle Browne and Marion Fairfax seemed more intent on focusing on a love story than a mystery that literally this adaptation of “Sherlock Holmes” misses its mark on mystery, deductive reasoning nor is it engaging for the audience to join in the riddle to solve a mystery. It makes you wonder if the writers of the film have even read any of the books before writing the film.
As for the Blu-ray release of “Sherlock Holmes”, while the picture quality does feature quite a bit of scratches, white specks and occasional flickering. And I have to admit that I was surprised to find out that of the four John Barrymore films from their 2009 “John Barrymore Collection” DVD set, that “Sherlock Holmes” was selected over “Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde”, “Tempest” and “The Beloved Rogue” (better John Barrymore films in my opinion). But I’m guessing that with the release of “A Farewell to Arms” and “Nothing Sacred” on Blu-ray, the goal was to release films that were restored by the George Eastman House Motion Picture Department.
Still, I do hope that Kino Lorber does continue to release more John Barrymore films in HD. While “Sherlock Holmes” is not a very good film adaptation of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s work, it’s intriguing for the fact that the character is so different than any other Holmes that we have seen on film, for some who want something fresh, may enjoy the creative choice the writers decided to take the character, or whether their goal was to romanticize him.
Overall, “Sherlock Holmes” is a decent John Barrymore film, not his best silent but definitely intriguing for the cinema fan who is interested in seeing an earlier Sherlock Holmes adaptation and also seeing William Powell in his first big screen roll.
