Sherlock Holmes (1922)

A young woman (Carol Dempster) has some incriminating letters against a Prince (Reginald Denny) that she threatens to publish as revenge for her sister's (Peggy Bayfield) suicide for which she considers the Prince responsible. Those letters are wanted by both Sherlock Holmes (John Barrymore) and his nemesis Professor Moriarty (Gustav Von Seyfferitz). Based on a play by William Gillette and directed by Albert Parker. Since this isn't based on any of the Holmes books by Arthur Conan Doyle but Gillette's pastiche play, there's not much authenticity here. The character of Holmes, at least as written here, doesn't give Barrymore much chance to shine which leaves Von Seyfferitz's Moriarty to take the acting honors. It's of archival interest to Holmes buffs and Barrymore fans but it's really not a particularly good film. The cast consists of some familiar faces who would later go on to higher profile careers and it's fun to see them looking so young. They include William Powell and Roland Young (both in their film debuts) as well as Hedda Hopper (who would abandon acting to become a famous gossip columnist). With Louis Wolheim and Anders Randolf. Alas, the transfer I watched had one of those dreadful organ scores so I turned the sound off and substituted Jerry Goldsmith (MAGIC) and Elmer Bernstein (MARIE WARD) scores instead.