Screening Sherlock is the first book-length academic study of the film and television career of the most famous detective in fiction. Chapman explores the contexts, adaptation strategies and critical reception of Sherlock Holmes (and Dr Watson) on film and television in Britain and the United States. The book includes case studies of such famous Holmes impersonators as William Gillette, Basil Rathbone, Peter Cushing, Jeremy Brett and Benedict Cumberbatch, as well as charting a path through many lesser-known productions. From early cinema to the Hollywood studio system, and from heritage drama to contemporary postmodern television, Screening Sherlock is an indispensible work for all aficionados of Arthur Conan Doyle’s consulting detective of Baker Street.
Price: £30.00
Pages: 368
Publisher: Manchester University Press
Imprint: Manchester University Press
Series: Multiplexities
Publication Date:
19 January 2027
ISBN: 9781807072537
Format: Paperback
BISACs:
PERFORMING ARTS / Television / History & Criticism, Literary studies: fiction, novelists and prose writers, PERFORMING ARTS / Film / History & Criticism, PERFORMING ARTS / Film / Genres / Crime, LITERARY CRITICISM / Mystery & Detective, Film, television, radio genres: Action, adventure, crime and thrillers, Film, television, radio genres: Drama
James Chapman is Professor of Film Studies at the University of Leicester
Introduction
1 From stage to screen: William Gillette and Sherlock Holmes (1916)
2 Silent Holmes: The Stoll Film Company’s The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes
3 Talkie Holmes: The Sherlock Holmes films of the 1930s
4 Gaslight Holmes: The Hound of the Baskervilles (1939) and The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes (1939)
5 Contemporary Holmes: The Universal Pictures series of the 1940s
6 Gothic Holmes: Hammer’s The Hound of the Baskervilles (1959)
7 Television Holmes: British and American series of the 1950s and 1960s
8 Revisionist Holmes: Billy Wilder and The Private Life of Sherlock Holmes (1970)
9 Parody Holmes: From A Black Sherlock Holmes (1918) to Without a Clue (1988)
10 Heritage Holmes: Granada Television and The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes
11 Action Holmes: Sherlock Holmes (2009) and Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows (2011)
12 Postmodern Holmes: Sherlock and Elementary
Conclusion
Index
