I watched the making of the new Guy Ritchie film Sherlock Holmes on cable TV last night. As a long time fan of Arthur Conan Doyle’s Sherlock Holmes stories, I came to the conclusion that this is not my Sherlock Holmes.

The film appears to be an action-packed, kind of cartoonish movie. Starring Robert Downey Jr. as Holmes and Jude Law as Doctor Watson, Ritchie presents the two as a Victorian-era Batman and Robin.

But as I’ve noted here before, my hope is that the Richie film will send a new generation of readers to the Conan Doyle novels and short stories.

With my interest in Sherlock Holmes renewed, I was pleased to come across Ben Macintyre’s column in the London Times. Macintyre writes that Doctor Watson may be the most unfairly overshadowed character in English literature.

I agree. Although I’ve enjoyed the early films with Basil Rathbone as Holmes, I’ve never liked Nigel Bruce’s portrayal of Watson as a simple sidekick and kindly goof.

Watson is the narrator of most of the Conan Doyle stories and he is a much stronger character than we’ve seen on the screen. He is a medical doctor, a military veteran and a man of principle — much like his creator, Conan Doyle. 

In his column, Macintyre attributes Watson with what he calls, “a peculiarly British sort of heroism that spans the ages: loyal, phlegmatic, doughty and modest.”

I’ll watch Ritchie’s Sherlock Holmes when it hits cable TV next year, but in the meantime, I think I’ll reread some of the Conan Doyle stories.             

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