A SPECIAL SCREENING EVENT IN WHICH YOU CHOOSE WHICH FILM YOU WOULD LIKE US TO SHOW.
Sherlock Holmes (Arthur Bethelet, 1916) starring William Gillette.
OR
Sherlock Holmes (Albert Parker, 1922) starring John Barrymore.
TO VOTE FOR YOUR CHOICE, PLEASE EMAIL THE CURATOR BEFORE FRIDAY 20th MARCH: info@kentmomi.org
Sherlock Holmes (dir. Arthur Bethelet, 1916; 1 hour 56 minutes), starring William Gillette.
Considered lost for nearly 100 years until the discovery of a nitrate dupe negative in the archive of Cinémathèque Française in 2014, Arthur Bethelet’s 1916 film was adapted from the 1899 stage play of the same name, a vehicle tailor-made for himself by actor-manager William Gillette. Gillette was the Sherlock Holmes of the early 20th-century stage, performing over 1,300 times in the role, in a play he himself composited together from multiple original Conan Doyle stories, including ‘A Scandal in Bohemia’, ‘The Final Problem’, and ‘A Study in Scarlet’. Gillette played Holmes with the colourful accessories —bent-stemmed briar pipe, ornate dressing gown, deerstalker — identified ever since with the character. Film restorer Robert Byrne said of the restoration at the time: “It’s an amazing privilege to work with these reels that have been lost for generations. William Gillette’s Sherlock Holmes has ranked among the holy grails of lost film and my first glimpse of the footage confirms Gillette’s magnetism. Audiences are going to be blown away when they see the real Sherlock Holmes on screen for the first time.”
Sherlock Holmes (dir. Albert Parker, 1922; 2 hours 17 minutes), starring John Barrymore.
By 1922 John Barrymore was an established star on both sides of the Atlantic, and director Albert Parker was determined to have him play his Sherlock. The realities however were to prove somewhat difficult. Upon the director’s arrival in England, he discovered that “Barrymore couldn’t be seen or found anywhere. I finally tracked him down to a tiny little attic room at the Ritz Hotel and I went in and there was Barrymore sitting up in bed blind drunk. The room was in a terrible state …. Eventually I got him to work, and I can tell you I had a pretty rough time with him on location in England. We had rows; it was a very tricky time. We went to Switzerland; more rows …. Barrymore was drunk most of the time.” It didn’t inhibit his performance, however, or his creation of a famously romantic Sherlock. Again, supposed lost for decades, the film was rediscovered in 1975, its reconstruction produced by Kevin Brownlow and William K. Everson (aided in the early stages by director Albert Parker himself, then in his late 80s), with a second reconstruction (incorporating newly found elements) undertaken by the George Eastman Museum in 2001.
📽️ Doors open 5.30, for drinks, nibbles & classic cocktails.
📽️ Films start 6.30 with a brief introduction from the curators.
📽️ Entry is free with a yearly ticket, although we suggest a small donation of £5 per person to help keep the lights on. Yearly tickets can be purchased on the door (£7.50 adult / £6.00 concessions).
📽️ If you buy tickets and are subsequently unable to attend, please let us know as soon as possible so that we can give your seat(s) to someone else.