Sherlock Holmes 1916

     This film is based on a 1899 stage play.  Alice Faulkner’s sister has been seeing a Prince and he is the apparent heir to a large empire.  They exchanged letters that are now in the possession of Alice.  Her sister passed away and she wanted Alice to have the letters for safekeeping.  Count von Stalburg, the prince’s assistant and Sir Edward Plamer, a high British official are working together to negotiate the return of the letters. The Prince would like the have letters before his upcoming marriage.  At the present time, Alice is being held captive by the Larrabees.  They are a husband and wife team and they are crooks.  They believe there is money to be made with the letters and they want to blackmail the Prince.  They fail in their task and they ask Professor Moriarty to help them with their scheme.  Moriarty will need to match wits with Holmes in order to secure the letters. 

     This is an interesting story but it’s a little difficult to follow.  The DVD is not as clear as it should to be in order to identify exactly who each person is in the film all the time.  There is some graininess since the DVD is a transfer from a film made in 1916.  There are storyboards with the lines the characters are saying between the scenes.  3 ½* (I liked this movie) 

116 min, Mystery silent black and white film directed by Arthur Berthelet with William Gillette, Majorie Kay, Ernest Maupain, Edward Fielding, Stewart Robbins, Hugh Thompson, Ludwig Kreiss, Mario Majeroni, William Postance, Chester Beery, Frank Hamilton, Fred Malatesta, Grace Reals.

Note:  Imdb 6.4 out of 10, Amazon 4.3* out of 5* with 48 reviews, eFilmCritic.com 5* out of 5*.

Special Note:  Filmed in Chicago, Illinois.  Released in the US as a seven-reel feature in 1920 after the end of WWI.  It was released in France in an expanded nine-reel format.  It could be shown as a four-part serial and that was a popular format during this time period.  The first episode had three reels and the other three had two reels each.  William Gillette played the role of Holmes in the play 1,200 times on stage.  A young Charlie Chaplain played the role of Billy during the run of the play in London. It was during the late 1900’s but he is not shown in the film version.  This film was thought to be lost for 98 years until it was discovered in the archives of the Cinematheque Francaise in Paris in 2014.