IT'S a question that has puzzled us, as well. Perhaps we should redesignate our sleuth as . . .
"Sherlock Holmes, Time Traveler."
By David A. Norris (?-?).
Published in Stars in WW II, Fall 2015.
Article (6 pages).
Online at Archive.org (HERE).
"Updating Holmes from a Victorian crime-solver into а WWII spy wasn’t much of a stretch. The great detective had always been a master of disguise, able to go undercover in any surroundings."
WHEN Universal Studios decided, basically as a money-saving move, to time travel Conan Doyle's supersleuth nearly half a century from his usual milieu, movie audiences didn't kick too much. At the time, World War II was on everybody's mind, and using Nazis as villains was then and has always been a Hollywood box office winner. (Do you mean that it never occurred to you that the Empire in Star Wars is a Third Reich clone?) As to whether or not these were good films, we'll let you decide . . .
A couple of excerpts:
"Along with the 1940s setting and Axis villains came other changes. Watson was substantially different. In the books, he is an intelligent man who, like the readers, is amazed at Holmes’s powers of deduction. The new Watson, however, was a rather silly and sometimes childish comic sidekick. Meanwhile, less surprisingly, Holmes's arch nemesis Professor Moriarty joined up with the Nazis in Sherlock Holmes and the Secret Weapon."
"After three war-based Sherlock Holmes movies, Universal downplayed the conflict in its remaining series entries. Studios were realizing that audiences had had enough of the war and were going to the movies to escape from it."
References:
- "fifth columnists" (HERE; Wikipedia).
- "the real Norden Bombsight" (HERE; Wikipedia).
- "known as the Blitz" (HERE; Wikipedia).
- "Flash Gordon" (HERE; Wikipedia).
- "Those Brooklyn fellows" (HERE; Wikipedia).
- "the Quebec Conference involving Roosevelt, British Prime Minister Winston Churchill, and Canadian Prime Minister Mackenzie King" (HERE; Wikipedia).
- "the loose association of street urchins who were his allies: the Baker Street Irregulars" (HERE; Wikipedia).
Resources:
- Wikipedia has plenty of info about these movies (WARNING! SPOILERS! HERE, with links to each film).
- Our latest collision with Sherlock Holmes was an 1893 "interview" with him (HERE).
- Manly Wade Wellman also thought it appropriate to update Holmes for the war effort with "But Our Hero Was Not Dead" (HERE); he did it again when Martians had the cheek to invade Dear Olde Albion.
The bottom line:
Unless otherwise noted, all bibliographical data are derived from The FictionMags Index created by William G. Contento & edited by Phil Stephensen-Payne.
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