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Pretty good movie overall. First half was nothing special but it got better as it went along.

A movie that not only functions as a solid scarefest but a razor-sharp satire.

Exactly the movie you think it is, but not the movie you want it to be.

The movie really just wants to entertain people.

The great news was told to us recently on TCM, accompanied by a premiere showing; a copy of "Sherlock Holmes" was found and restored earlier this year year in France. It was originally released as a 4-part feature in 1916 but was released in France as a 7-part serial in 1920. It has been restored to its original 4 parts and that is what we saw here on TV. It is great news since it is the only existing film of Sherlock Holmes' most famous impersonator, William Gillette.As impressive as the restoration was, with its alternate scenes tinted blue and orange (the orange seemed gold, but no matter), the story itself was simplistic in nature and lacked the resourceful cleverness of Doyle's stories. Maybe it was the only way to tell a story on film without the benefit of dialogue, but this one was straightforward and without guile. A young woman is held against her will so her kidnappers could make her tell the location of some letters of hers, which could be used for ransom. Holmes wants to help her, and so he does. The bad guys get their comeuppance and all is right again.Gillette was 60 at the time and was probably heavily made up. Otherwise it would have been a stretch to have him win the heart of the damsel in distress. In no other Holmes story did he 'get the girl'. Nevertheless, it was rewarding to finally view this lost treasure and to realize another lost film could be preserved for posterity.

SHERLOCK HOLMES (Essanay, 1916), directed by Arthur Berthelet, is not the first nor the last motion picture produced depicting on the most recognizable and famous fictional detective of all time, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's Sherlock Holmes. What makes this edition so special is it's historical account and reproduction and cast reprising their original roles from the popular stage play, notably William Gillette (1855-1937), the actor long associated with the title role decades before Basil Rathbone won that honor though his 14-film theatrical series produced by Universal in the 1940s. Anyone familiar with the carnation of Rathbone (Sherlock Holmes) and Nigel Bruce (Doctor Watson) would immediately realize how little the renown forties series and Gillette's screen adaptation have nothing in common, not even any by-plays and great chemistry between Holmes and Watson that made the Universal films work so well.As with many silent films of this nature, prints to SHERLOCK HOLMES have been lost to extinction until (according to the title cards with tiny printing readable only through the use of a magnifying glass) inserted prior to the opening credits), "a print was discovered in France 2014, with French-language inter-titles translated back to English." Another interesting fact is that this 1916 production was initially released as a seven reel feature while the European release in 1920 was extended with French inter-titles formatted into a four-part chaptered serial edition: ( "The Prince's Letters," "Moriarty vs. Sherlock Holmes," "A Tragic Night," and "The Triumph of Sherlock Holmes"). The restored 116 minute, color-tinted, accu-speed silent film process, completed by January 2015, would make its world television premiere October 18, 2015, on Turner Classic Movies cable channel.Following the opening sequence capturing the legendary stage actor, William Gillette, as Sherlock Holmes, working on experiments in his laboratory, the introduction of its supporting players of the four-act story are as follows: The Larrabees, James (Mario Majeroni) and Madge (Grace Reals), unscrupulous adventurers; Alice Faulkner (Marjorie Kay), a young girl whose abused sister, now deceased, having been entrusted the indiscreet love letters written to her by the crown prince; Baron Von Stalburg (Ludwig Kreiss), the prince's assistant, and Sir Edward Leighton (Stewart Robbins), a British official, knowing the great value of those letters, attempting to retrieve them; Sid (William Postance), a resourceful cracks-man and member of the Larrabee gang; and Doctor Watson (Edward Fielding), Holmes' occasional confident. As Sherlock Holmes is hired to retrieve the stolen letters, as well as protect and later rescue the abducted Alice, the ace detective also encounters his arch enemy, Professor Moriarty (Ernest Maupain), getting into the act with the villains while at the same time avenging himself on Holmes; and Billy (Burford Hampden), a boy secretly assisting Holmes supplying him with some valuable information needed for his investigation.Considering when SHERLOCK HOLMES was made, one can forgive primitive stand-still camera technique and limited visual close-ups on central characters most associated with movies nowadays. The acting style and method of storytelling can prove disappointing to contemporary viewers, which in fact, it is. At least it wasn't too stage bound.As much as it's a film buffs dream having lost silent movies rediscovered and available for viewing again, especially the opportunity of seeing the actual visual image of William Gillette captured on film, rather than associating his name with his Gillette Castle home overlooking the Connecticut River. The disappointment in general lies mostly by its new scoring that accompanies this movie. Definitely not for its listening pleasure considering this being shown for the first time in nearly a century. The piano accompaniment is okay, but its overuse of violin playing simply ruins it. This film deserves better. Had SHERLOCK HOLMES been discovered in the 1960s, no doubt it would have sufficed on public television during the nostalgia boom of the 1970s with excellent William Perry piano or Gaylord Carter organ scoring from the Killiam Collection. A pity this didn't happen here.The title SHERLOCK HOLMES would be used again in latter screen adaptations: (Goldwyn, 1922) starring John Barrymore (Holmes), Carol Dempster (Alice Faulkner) and Roland Young (Doctor Watson); and (Fox, 1932), talkie edition with the Gillette look-alike Clive Brook (Holmes), Miriam Jordan (Alice Faulkner) and Reginald Owen (Doctor Watson), all forgotten editions with limited reissues and appeal in modern times, yet there's more to Sherlock Holmes of the movies than anyone would come to realize. This is one of them. (**)

This film, up until recently thought to have been lost, is of interest chiefly as a record of the earliest, and among the most famous, portrayals of the immortal Sherlock Holmes. William Gillette, who portrays Holmes in this movie, first played Holmes on stage in 1899, and continued to do so for over 1,300 performances during the next 35 years. To audiences before 1939, when Basil Rathbone made the role his own, William Gillette WAS Sherlock Holmes. This is a somewhat stagy version. That is partly due to having been made in 1919. However, it is also due in large measure to the fact that the movie actually is, for all intents and purposes, a filmed version of the stage play, which Gillette not only starred in, but also wrote. Nevertheless, this is a fascinating film to view, as well as a valuable record of one of the most famous portrayals of one of the most famous characters in literature.

This is the one and only film ever done by actor William Gillette and he was 60 years old at the time, a fact which shows particularly in photos of the photoplay. Also strange is the fact that those who conduct tours at the Gillette Castle in East Haddam, Connecticut don't even seem to know the film was ever made even though they display photos on the walls taken directly from the film.William Gillette has an astounding record in terms of the role of Sherlock Holmes not only because he played the role over 1400 times in three mediums total, but also because he got permission from Conan Doyle himself to do things with the character that were never in print mainly because Doyle was so sickened of the stories that people did not seem to care about any of his other novels and publications. Gillette had no such problem since he relished playing the part particularly since it made him a rather wealthy man as well as a famous one.Gillete also add bits of business that became so associated with the fictional detective that they exist to this day. Things such as the curved Meerchaum pipe and the dressing gown he so often wears in his digs at 221 B Baker Street. And in the last few serialized Sherlock Holmes stories in the American magazine Colliers, the illustrator intentionally made the detective hero look just like William Gillette.Samuel French still prints the play and it was performed by no less than the Royal Shakespeare Company on Broadway as well as on the Wezt Coast. Still, when it was performed at the Williamsburg festival, there were changes made in the stage play making one wonder if there was more than one version of the play. Still these two things - the printed play and the videotaped production are all we have to go on in what this film may have been like since no print seems to exist.Then there is the 1922 Sanuel Goldwyn film starring John Barrymore which tantalizes us further. While many here on this site have lambasted that version, it appears by all accounts to have been wildly successful.SPOILER ALERT: Gillette in his version marries off Holmes to the character of Alice Faulkner who seems to have been based on the literary character known as "THE Woman" by Sherlock Holmes himself in a story in the Canon. Her name was Irene Adler.Reportedly, when Gillette asked the creator Conan Doyle if he could marry him off, he was known to have said "You may damn well kill him off if you wish" As I have said in my summary title, I do hope that one day this film will resurface and be seen at all. One can only dream.