Sherlock Holmes on YouTube

Over the past few weeks I have been watching the 1950s French-made SHERLOCK HOLMES TV series. It was originally made for distribution in the Unites States and has recently become available to watch on YouTube.

The series starred Ronald Howard (the son of Leslie Howard and cousin of Alan Howard) as Sherlock Holmes ...

... and Howard Marion-Crawford as Dr John Watson. (He was billed a H Marion-Crawford, probably to avoid confusing viewers with too many Howards!)

Other actors who regularly appeared were Archie Duncan (who played Inspector Lestrade and several other roles), ...

... Richard Larke (who was billed as Kenneth Richards and who played Sergeant Wilkins), and Belgian actor Eugene Deckers (who played seven different characters).

The series producer was Sheldon Reynolds and the associate producer was Nicole Milinare (later the Duchess of Bedford), who was one of the first women to become the producer of a television series. It was mainly filmed in France at Epinay-sur-Seine by Guild Films and one of the directors was Steve Previn, the brother of the composer and conductor André Previn.

There were thirty-nine episodes and quite a few had story lines that were identifiable as being based on some of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s stories. Although Ronald Howard’s portrayal of Holmes might not have been as good as Jeremy Brett’s (in my opinion THE definitive TV Sherlock Holmes), I prefer it to Basil Rathbone’s and Douglas Wilmer’s portrayals. As for Howard Marion-Crawford’s Dr Watson … well, his portrayal compliments Howard’s Holmes, and his Watson is a robust, reasonably intelligent, man-of-action … which strikes me as being true to Conan Doyle’s vision of the character.

This series doesn’t take itself too seriously, and has a humorous element which makes the episodes easy watching.

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The titles of episodes in the series are:

1. The Case of the Cunningham Heritage
2. The Case of Lady Beryl
3. The Case of the Pennsylvania Gun
4. The Case of the Texas Cowgirl
5. The Case of the Belligerent Ghost
6. The Case of the Shy Ballerina
7. The Case of the Winthrop Legend
8. The Case of the Blind Man's Bluff
9. The Case of Harry Crocker
10. The Mother Hubbard Case
11. The Red-Headed League
12. The Case of the Shoeless Engineer
13. The Case of the Split Ticket
14. The Case of the French Interpreter
15. The Case of the Singing Violin
16. The Case of the Greystone Inscription
17. The Case of the Laughing Mummy
18. The Case of the Thistle Killer
19. The Case of the Vanished Detective
20. The Case of the Careless Suffragette
21. The Case of the Reluctant Carpenter
22. The Case of the Deadly Prophecy
23. The Case of the Christmas Pudding
24. The Case of the Night Train Riddle
25. The Case of the Violent Suitor
26. The Case of the Baker Street Nursemaids
27. The Case of the Perfect Husband
28. The Case of the Jolly Hangman
29. The Case of the Imposter Mystery
30. The Case of the Eiffel Tower
31. The Case of the Exhumed Client
32. The Case of the Impromptu Performance
33. The Case of the Baker Street Bachelors
34. The Case of the Royal Murder
35. The Case of the Haunted Gainsborough
36. The Case of the Neurotic Detective
37. The Case of the Unlucky Gambler
38. The Case of the Diamond Tooth
39. The Case of the Tyrant's Daughter