The many screen lives of Sherlock Holmes

holmes-watson A scene from 'Holmes and Watson'

Sherlock Holmes has been portrayed as everything from a stern detective to an action hero, a romantic lover, a neurotic man with a troubled childhood, and a possible homosexual. In his latest avatar, in Etan Cohen-directed Holmes and Watson, the world's most famous detective solves mysteries with a dash of slapstick humour. The lead roles are played by actors renowned for their comedic prowess. Will Ferrell will breath life into Sherlock Holmes, comedian John C. Reilly will play Watson, and Hugh Laurie will essay Sherlock's brother Mycroft. Laurie, who spent the bulk of his career as a comedian on television, played the very serious Gregory House in the highly successful US television series House, later appearing as a menacing villain in the mini- series The Night Manager, based on a John le Carre novel. Thespian Ralph Fiennes, who has taken on roles like Lord Voldemort in the Harry Potter series, will play the villainous Moriarty. 

Like Shakespeare's Hamlet and Othello, Arthur Conan Doyle's Sherlock Holmes has fascinated filmmakers since time immemorial. Unlike the Bard devoting one play each for his favourite characters, Doyle wrote a large number of novels and short stories featuring the fictional detective and his famous assistant Dr John Watson. The last two decades saw a spike in directors viewing Holmes with different lenses, as opposed to Doyle’s straightforward character delineation.

According to IMDB, there are 273 movie and television adaptations on Sherlock Holmes. As a writer, Shakespeare dominates with nearly 1,400 films, television series and short films made on his plays and sonnets. The talented fast action director Guy Ritchie made Holmes and Watson heroes of breathtaking action, in the first two movies of the Sherlock Holmes franchise. On the other hand, television creators Mark Gatiss and Stevan Moffatt took a leap to the 21st century in their long-running Sherlock TV series, transforming Holmes into a formidable detective, depending more on technological tools like fast aircrafts, computer analytics and social media than the good old magnifying glass and the horse-drawn broughams.

Like Downey, actor Benedict Cumberbatch plays an athletic Holmes, who uses drug patches instead of cocaine injections. He is supported by Martin Freeman, the star of The Hobbit, as Watson, whose wife Mary has many hidden secrets, and who ultimately becomes a pawn in the deadly game between Holmes and Moriarty. Hints of bisexuality to Cumberbatch's Holmes creates a mystique, different from those of Brett and Downey.

Holmes and Watson has been promoted as a humorous take on the characters of Conan Doyle, with even Queen Victoria making an appearance in the film.

Since the copyright has ceased on Conan Doyle's creations, a lot of other characters have come into play, in confrontation with Holmes. A movie in the works is Sherlock Holmes Versus Frankenstein. Sherlock Holmes will also time travel to confront the Tesla Star in space in a forthcoming movie, shocking the purists of the genre.

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