Born Philip St. John Basil Rathbone in Johannesburg, South Africa, Basil Rathbone’s family fled after his father was accused of being a British spy. An auspicious beginning for a man who play suave and sophisticated villains as well as portray the master mind sleuth Sherlock Holmes. His long and colorful career included work in silent films as well as on the stage. He most wanted to be remembered for his stage work and yet he will no doubt be remembered not only for his engaging interpretation of Arthur Conan Doyle’s keen detective but also for his swashbuckling adventured along the likes of Errol Flynn and his host of often campy horror films.

I have hardly even read a quarter of the Sherlock Holmes adventures that originally appeared in the Strand magazine (and the illustrations by Sidney Paget, to me, look like Rathbone, though have it on good account by my friend and G.K. Chesterton devotee Delsen Wall that Doyle did not like the Paget drawing all that much) , but when I read or reread the tales I fashion the image of Holmes in my mind after Rathbone’s portrayal. I will be frank, I have not seen another Holmes I like except for the performance by Peter Cushing in the fine Hammer version of the Hound of the Baskervilles.

I have about eight of the fourteen Holmes movies filmed between 1939 and 1946. Twelve were filmed by Universal and the first two (Hound of Baskervilles and The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes) by 20th Century Fox. Now I have to admit I not always satisfied with the fact that 20th Century Fox took Holmes out of his late Victorian period and placed him in then contemporary London. A couple have WWII themes and one even has Holmes fly to Washington DC and cruise around the capital in a convertible car. But some of the films capture a gothic essence that is atmospheric and timeless.

Another slight issue I have is with the way that Dr. Watson is portrayed as a babbling often addle headed good meaning oaf. It is not the way the stories portray him at all. In the stories he is married and quite sharp and keen himself. You must recall he is the chronicler of the stories and all interpretations of Holmes comes through the eyes of dr. Watson. That being said however, the portrayal by Nigel Bruce is endearing and the balance created between Rathbone’s moody and arrogant Holmes and Bruce’s kind and mumbling Watson are one of the classic “cop” partnerships in movie history.

Rathbone would become type caste after Holmes and found it hard to escape the huge shadow the role cast over his life. Despite this his career continued onward at a busy pace until his death in 1967. As a note, unlike many of his fellow country men who came to Hollywood and became americanized in the 30’s and 40’s, Rathbone never renounced his British citizenship and was a decorated soldier for his service in WWI.

This entry was posted on Saturday, July 19th, 2008 at 12:53 pm and is filed under Crime-Film Noir, Movie Makers, Actors, Artists, Musicians and Personas . You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.