In 1939, Basil Rathbone took to the big screen to play the role of Sherlock Holmes in the film, The Hound of the Baskervilles. The movie – an adaptation of the 1902 novel of the same name, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle – was a mystery picture from director Sidney Lanfield.
Upon release, The Hound of the Baskervilles was very well received – especially Rathbone’s performance. As such, the actor reprised the role of Sherlock Holmes for another movie the same year, The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes.
Once again, the film proved popular with audiences and this led to more Holmes movies, with Rathbone continuing in the role. But how many Basil Rathbone Sherlock Holmes movies are there?
For all the details and more, keep reading!
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The Basil Rathbone Sherlock Holmes movies in order
Between 1939 and 1946, Basil Rathbone appeared in fourteen Sherlock Holmes movies. The movies in the series include:
- The Hound of the Baskervilles (1939)
- The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes (1939)
- Sherlock Holmes and the Voice of Terror (1942)
- Sherlock Holmes and the Secret Weapon (1942)
- Sherlock Holmes in Washington (1943)
- Sherlock Holmes Faces Death (1943)
- The Spider Woman (1943)
- The Scarlet Claw (1944)
- The Pearl of Death (1944)
- The House of Fear (1945)
- The Woman in Green (1945)
- Pursuit to Algiers (1945)
- Terror by Night (1946)
- Dressed to Kill (1946)
In addition to the movies listed above, Basil Rathbone played the role of Sherlock Holmes for a television adaptation of The Adventure of the Black Baronet. This adaptation wasfor a 1953 episode of the TV show, Suspense, which has sadly become lost to time.
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Are the Basil Rathbone Sherlock Holmes movies the work of the same director?
The Basil Rathbone Sherlock Holmes movies are the work of four directors. Sidney Lanfield directed The Hound of the Baskervilles, Alfred L. Werker directed The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes, John Rawlins directed Sherlock Holmes and the Voice of Terror, while the remaining eleven movies were all directed by Roy William Neill.
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Who are the cast of the Basil Rathbone Sherlock Holmes movies?
Notable cast members in the Sherlock Holmes movies include Basil Rathbone, Nigel Bruce, Richard Greene, E. E. Clive, Henry Victor, Lionel Atwill, Mary Gordon, Holmes Herbert, Cyril Delavanti, and Harry Cording.
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What is the best Basil Rathbone Sherlock Holmes movie?
According to IMDb, the Basil Rathbone Sherlock Holmes movies are ranked from best to least-best as follows:
- The Hound of the Baskervilles (1939) – 7.5/10
- The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes (1939) – 7.4/10
- The Scarlet Claw (1944) – 7.3/10
- The House of Fear (1945) – 7.3/10
- The Pearl of Death (1944) – 7.2/10
- The Spider Woman (1943) – 7.1/10
- Sherlock Holmes Faces Death (1943) – 7.0/10
- Pursuit to Algiers (1945) – 6.9/10
- Sherlock Holmes in Washington (1943) – 6.8/10
- Terror by Night (1946) – 6.8/10
- Dressed to Kill (1946) – 6.8/10
- The Woman in Green (1945) – 6.7/10
- Sherlock Holmes and the Voice of Terror (1942) – 6.6/10
- Sherlock Holmes and the Secret Weapon (1942) – 6.6/10
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2 Responses to What is the order of the Basil Rathbone Sherlock Holmes movies?
Nowadays, it is something if a leading actor gets to completed work on a movie within a year. In the above list, they were producing two movies or even three movies in a year and this was despite war time conditions. And from 1938 – 1945, both Rathbone and Bruce were also doing weekly radio dramatizations for part of the year — The New Adventures of Sherlock Holmes, 220 episodes in total, original on NBC Blue Network but moved to the Mutual Brodcasting System.
Is it known why there was a big gap between movies #2 (released 1939) and #3 (released 1942)?
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The answer to the question about the gap between #2 and #3 after a quick check on IMDB.
The first two movies were produced by 20th Century Fox. So for some reason Fox dropped the ball so to speak, and then #3 and all the rest were produced by Universal Pictures.
The big difference was that the first two movies produced by Fox were based on the writings of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle and set in the late 19th centiry but the remaining twelve produced by Universal were all modern/contemporized and set in the 1940s when Holmes would according to his fictional date of birth of 1854 have been 86 – 91 years old.
So it could be argued that the Fox movies were cinematic works of art adapting the original stories, but the Universal movies were purely exploitative works of fiction, in part, propaganda for the war effort (fighting the NAZIs in #3, #4, and #5).
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