This writer is of the opinion that Basil Rathbone was the greatest portrayer of Sherlock Holmes.I came to that conclusion after seeing him in the two period films he and Nigel Bruce did at Twentieth Century Fox in 1939.
These films are:The Hound Of The Baskervilles and The Adventures Of Sherlock Holmes.
To Better Days,
BRAD
Uh Oh....posted in 2005....but I do agree....
"No, you can't go back to Constantinople
Now it's Istanbul, not Constantinople"
Dear Xylonian-1,
This writer thanks you a thousand times for continuing to agree with my opinion of Mr.Rathbone one year later.I continue feel it to be true and have for over twenty years!
To Better Days,
BRAD
Basil Rathbone was definitely the best Sherlock Holmes of the period, but I also think the late Jeremy Britt did a stellar job in the PBS presentations of Arthur Conan Doyle's stories. Having said that, I must qualify my statement by saying that Basil Rathbone certainly had the most savoir faire of all who portrayed Sherlock.
shareDear Whisperhog,
This writer feels that Basil Rathbone was the ideal Sherlock Holmes while Jeremy Brett was the purist's Sherlock Holmes.
Merry Xmas.
To Better Days,
BRAD
Well said. I agree with you in principal.
shareI agree the Baisel(sp) was the best person to play Sherlock Homles. I look at other actors and no other can match him
share"This writer thanks you a thousand times for continuing to agree with my opinion of Mr.Rathbone one year later"
I have liked Basil Rathbone in everything I have seen him in.
Read My Lips!!!!
I heartily agree with the popular opinion on this thread. Basil Rathbone was the flat out best Actor i've ever seen portray Holmes. He just seemed to own the role. On sunday nights where I lived the local station would alternate the Holmes movies each week with those dreadful " Charlie Chan " movies. It was called " The Great Detectives " and featured Elvis Costello's song " Watching The Detectives " as the opening and closing theme music. Every other sunday night at 11:30 pm I was watching Holmes, even if I had seen them 20 times before, and even if I had school the next day. As I got older and experimented with certain " substances " I found the movies were even more interesting. Now that i am over that i just enjoy them for the great movies they were. I recently purchased the entire run of movies that have been beautifully restored and put to DVD. Beware the lower quality DVDs, only go with the MPI home video DVDs, you'll be glad you did.
Basil and Jeremy Brett are my two favorite holmes. Love em both. I'm addicted to the tv series with Brett right now. They are shown on pbs. The adventures of sherlock holmes and The return of sherlock holmes.
If we had a chance to do it all again... tell me, could we? Would we?
Basil Rathbone WAS Sherlock Holmes. They are forever one and the same.
That much power cuts two ways.
Rathbone is the definitive Holmes, my only caveat is that strange swept forward/Nero hairstyle he adopted in some of the films. It doesn't seem to be a comb-over just an odd quirk, I wonder if it was the hair/makeup people's idea or Rathbone's?
Honorable mention should be made of Peter Cushing. He was so strongly linked to the Frankenstein franchise that his portrayal of Holmes cis often overlooked, I woylds rate him (cinematically, at least) as runnerup to Rathbone, certainly he had the gravitas to carry the part.
Come on lads, bags of swank!
Benedict Cumberbatch is excellent in the new BBC reworking.
shareI have always thought Basil Rathbone the best Sherlock Holmes; his precision of speech just seems like Holmes to me. It is unfortunate that the makers of the Rathbone-Bruce series felt it necessary to make Dr. Watson a fool much of the time.
I like Jeremy Brett as Holmes, but watching him was more like watching a stage version of Holmes with exaggerated speech and mannerisms.
I wish Rathbone and Bruce had had the Granada Television scripts (or something just as good) to work with.
Without question Mr. Rathbone was Sherlock Holmes. His stories were often loosley based on the canon, but he had a presence. When I was a kid WGN woiuld have programming on every Saturday morning. It would be Charlie Chan, Ma and Pa Kettle or Sherlock Holmes in a continuing cycle and I loved to watch the adventures of Holmes and Watson whenever they were on.
shareOne could say that Rathbone was to Holmes what Connery was to Bond.
Funny how Roger also played both (Sherlock Holmes in New York)his Holmes had parts of both Goldfinger & Die Hard III.
See some stars here
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Agreed!
shareI agree. Basil Rathbone is my favourite Holmes as well. I also like Ian Richardson and Matt Frewer.
shareGlad to see you mention Ian Richardson. He was excellent in his two outings. Jeremy Brett, Peter Cushing, and Benedict Cumberbatch also receive high marks.
shareIt's a pity Ian Richardson didn't play Holmes in a few more stories. He brought a good-tempered nature to the character which the other top Holmes players didn't give him.
It was a bit strange coming across your reply to my IMDb greenbudgie screen name. Now I'm on MovieChat, I don't get notified on my older IMDb posts so I happen on them out of the blue.
Nearly 12 years later and we're still in agreement that Rathbone is the best ever.
I too became really hooked on Rathbone/Holmes during the early '80s when WGN featured his movies (along with Charlie Chan; campy but I always enjoyed them) on the Sunday noon "Mystery Theatre" as a segue into the Cubs baseball game.
I'll disagree with a poster above who said Rathbone was Sherlock Holmes. Rathbone is Sherlock Holmes. I say that because in reading Doyle's description and in looking at Sidney Paget's original illustrations, he's the spitting image of the great detective. When I watch the movies I don't see an actor portraying Holmes, I see a modern "Cops" with the camera following Holmes around on his cases. Anyway, maybe that's hyperbole, but hopefully you get my point.