The first Sherlock Holmes ever to grace the silver screen was “silent”. The movie was considered to be lost forever. The extremely rare copy, however, was not missing, but had erroneously been mislabeled under the French Film Archive Cinémathèque Français, which made its discovery difficult. The movie was, ultimately, discovered. It was shot in 1916, directed by Arthur Bethelet and produced by Essanay studios. The main role was given to American actor William Gillette who was the first man to wear the hunting cap and smoke Holmes’ pipe, on the silver screen.

The restoration of the film has been undertaken by Cinémathèque Français in cooperation with San Francisco Silent Film Festival. The film, after its restoration, will be screened in January 2015, in France, during the Toute la Mémoire du Monde, and on May 2015 in the Silent Film Festival of San Francisco.