100-year-old Sherlock Holmes film rediscovered

[Dan]

What I'm sure many film historians will consider one of the biggest finds in cinema history, French film archive Cinémathèque Française announced that they had discovered a long-lost 1916 silent film Sherlock Holmes was found in their collection. This film is of major importance as it features the only film recording of the character as played by William Gillette, the actor who is credited for having defined Holmes from his look to his demeanor and even with creating the catch phrase "Elementary, my dear Watson" (the original phrase being "Oh, this is elementary, my dear fellow") for twenty years on stage prior to the film's release. Sir Arthur Conan Doyle himself has often regarded Gillette's Holmes as his ideal personification of the character.

Cinémathèque Française and the San Francisco Silent Film Festival are in the process of restoring the film before debuting at the Toute la Mémoire du Monde (Cinémathèque Française's film festival) in January. It will premiere in America at the San Francisco Silent Film Festival in May.

Source: http://insidemovies.ew.com/2014/10/01/s ... storation/

[Randall]

I was just reading about this. Great news, indeed. I'll definitely be looking forward to a Blu-ray release.

[Ben]

Brilliant...I love how "lost" films can sometimes turn up in unlikely circumstances!

[James]

Not in the same league, but here's another cool story about some lost footage recently found -- a four minute newsreel about the 1924 World Series. It's in amazing condition and you can watch it (with a new soundtrack added) here:

http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/dc- ... ld-series/

[Ben]

Cool...nitrate film either preserves well or not, but although I'm no sports fan it's neat to see a record of the times.

[Dan]

The rediscovery of thought-to-have-been-lost films and/or footage is one of the reasons why I'm such a film buff. The opportunity to see something you otherwise would not have ever seen.

Another reason I'm a fan of Criterion and Kino with their efforts to restore and preserve these finds.