"The Sign of Four (1983 film) The Sign of Four (a.k.a. Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's The Sign of Four) is a 1983 British made-for-television mystery film directed by Desmond Davis and starring Ian Richardson and David Healy. The film is based on Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's novel of the same name, the second novel to feature Sherlock Holmes and Doctor Watson. In 1982, American producer Sy Weintraub partnered with English producer Otto Plaschkes to make six television films of Sherlock Holmes stories. Charles Edward Pogue was enlisted to pen the screenplays but only ""The Sign of the Four"" and ""The"
"The name of the central character, William of Baskerville, alludes both to the fictional detective Sherlock Holmes (compare ""The Hound of the Baskervilles"" – also, Adso's description of William in the beginning of the book resembles, almost word for word, Dr. Watson's description of Sherlock Holmes when he first makes his acquaintance in ""A Study in Scarlet"") and to William of Ockham (see the next section). The name of the narrator, his apprentice Adso of Melk is among other things a pun on Simplicio from Galileo Galilei's ""Dialogue""; Adso deriving from ""ad Simplicio"" (""to Simplicio""). Adso's putative place of origin,"
"to unravel it, and isolate it, and expose every inch of it."" The story, and its main characters, attracted little public interest when it first appeared. Only 11 complete copies of the magazine in which the story first appeared, ""Beeton's Christmas Annual"" for 1887, are known to exist now and they have considerable value. Although Conan Doyle wrote 56 short stories featuring Holmes, ""A Study in Scarlet"" is one of only four full-length novels in the original canon. The novel was followed by ""The Sign of the Four"", published in 1890. ""A Study in Scarlet"" was the first work of"
"Inspector Lestrade Inspector G. Lestrade, or Mr. Lestrade ( ), is a fictional character appearing in several of the Sherlock Holmes stories written by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. Doyle used the name of a friend from his days at the University of Edinburgh, a Saint Lucian medical student, Joseph Alexandre Lestrade. In ""The Adventure of the Cardboard Box"", Lestrade's first initial is revealed to be G. He is described as “a little sallow rat-faced, dark-eyed fellow” in ""A Study in Scarlet"" and “a lean, ferret-like man, furtive and sly-looking”,"" in ""The Boscombe Valley Mystery"". In the popular London media, Lestrade"
"to Masongill passing through Holme Head. In 1886 when Conan Doyle wrote ""A Study in Scarlet"", the first Sherlock Holmes story, he was originally going to call his hero Sherrinford Holmes. That same year, St Mary the Virgin, Ingleton, was rebuilt to the design of Cornelius Sherlock, the celebrated Liverpool architect responsible for the Picton Reading Room and the Walker Art Gallery, both now listed buildings in Liverpool. Pupils of Storrs Hall School, Ingleton, raised the funds to purchase a brass lectern for the new church. Pupils of this private school for young ladies at that time included Conan Doyle's"
"""A Study in Scarlet"", ""The Sign of Four"", ""The Boscombe Valley Mystery"", ""The Adventure of the Greek Interpreter"", and ""The Adventure of the Naval Treaty"". It includes the very first mention of the phrase ""Elementary, my dear Watson"". While Conan Doyle wrote the original version, it is unclear how much of his material survived in the play as performed, which was written by Gillette. Conan Doyle and Gillette later revised the play together; it has since been revised by others twice. The Speckled Band (or The Stonor Case) (1902) Around 1902, Doyle wrote and produced a play based on his"
"and physician Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. He appeared in four novels and fifty-six short stories, all but four stories narrated by his associate, the notable Dr Watson. These works cover in fiction a period from around 1878 up to 1907, with a final case in 1914. Both characters also appear in many pastiches. Holmes is a brilliant London-based and self-styled ""consulting detective"". In their debut (the 1887 novel, ""A Study in Scarlet""), he tells Watson that this occupation is unique (which at that date it was). As a retired army doctor, Dr Watson is far closer to the stereotypic English"
"of making dissenters disappear without a trace. A particularly well-known example is Arthur Conan Doyle's fictionalization of the Danites in ""A Study in Scarlet"", the first Sherlock Holmes novel, published in 1887. In the story, the Danites constitute a brutal group of enforcing vigilantes operating under the direction of Brigham Young—and more particularly the fictional ""Sacred Council of Four,"" silencing criticism and questioning, and preventing dissenters from leaving the Salt Lake Valley. Doyle's embellishment of the folklore surrounding the original Missouri band transplanted to a romantic wild west setting, the established criminal notoriety of Rockwell, and rumors of Young's ""Avenging"
"is set in a school. All four novels of the canon – ""A Study in Scarlet"", ""The Sign of the Four"", ""The Hound of the Baskervilles"" and ""The Valley of Fear"" – are dramatised in the puppetry, which Mitani says may be the first case among screen adaptations of Arthur Conan Doyle's work. At a March 2014 press conference for the show, Mitani said that only real Sherlockians can enjoy the show. Though the comment aroused criticism, he stated that what he wanted to say is that real Sherlockians should have the playfulness of mind to accept and enjoy any"
"Richard Cabell Richard Cabell (d.5 July 1677), of Brook Hall, in the parish of Buckfastleigh on the south-western edge of Dartmoor, in Devon, is believed to be the inspiration for the wicked Hugo Baskerville, ""the first of his family to be hounded to death when he hunted an innocent maiden over the moor by night"", one of the central characters in Conan Doyle's novel ""The Hound of the Baskervilles"" (1901-2), the tale of a hellish hound and a cursed country squire. When asked in 1907 about his inspiration for the novel Conan Doyle wrote in reply: """"My story was really"
"and inaccurate in others, due to the passage of time if nothing else. At the end of ""A Study in Scarlet"", Holmes demonstrates a knowledge of Latin. Despite Holmes's supposed ignorance of politics, in ""A Scandal in Bohemia"" he immediately recognises the true identity of ""Count von Kramm"". His speech is peppered with references to the Bible, Shakespeare, and Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, and the detective quotes a letter from Gustave Flaubert to George Sand in the original French. At the end of ""A Case of Identity"", Holmes quotes Hafez. In ""The Hound of the Baskervilles,"" the detective recognises works"
"The episode is loosely based on ""A Study in Scarlet"" and contains allusions to other works by Arthur Conan Doyle. Moffat said of ""A Study in Pink"" and ""A Study in Scarlet"": ""there are many elements of the story, and the broad shape of it, but we mess around with it a lot"". Tom Sutcliffe of ""The Independent"" points out, ""Fans will recognise at once that the close-reading Sherlock applies to John's mobile phone is drawn from an almost identical analysis of a pocket watch [taken from ""The Sign of the Four""]. More slyly oblique is the conversion of the"
"woman whose failure to establish an independent career results in her marriage to Young before she wakes to discover she's been dreaming. Arthur Conan Doyle based his first Sherlock Holmes novel, ""A Study in Scarlet"", on Mormon history, mentioning Young by name. When asked to comment on the story, which had ""provoked the animosity of the Mormon faithful"", Doyle noted, ""all I said about the Danite Band and the murders is historical so I cannot withdraw that though it is likely that in a work of fiction it is stated more luridly than in a work of history."" Doyle's daughter"
"would not have considered publishing this work, he continued to use quotes, character frames, and themes of ""The Narrative of John Smith"" in many of his other works, such as ""The Stark Munro Letters"", ""Through the Magic Door"", ""A Study in Scarlet"", and ""The Hound of the Baskervilles"". In 2004, the then untitled manuscript of Arthur Conan Doyle's rewritten unpublished first novel was purchased at auction by The British Library. It was first published in 2011 by The British Library, edited by Jon Lellenberg, Daniel Stashower, and Rachel Foss. At the age of twenty-three when Conan Doyle wrote ""The Narrative"
"where the author wrote some of his best-known work. Doyle lived at Undershaw for a decade between 1897 and 1907 (Louise died in 1906). The house was the place where many of Doyle's most famous works were written including ""The Great Boer War"", ""The Hound of the Baskervilles"", ""The Adventures of Gerard"", ""The Return of Sherlock Holmes"", and ""Sir Nigel"". Doyle also entertained many notable house guests at Undershaw. These included Sherlock Holmes illustrator Sidney Paget, the famous Sherlock Holmes actor William Gillette, and the author of ""Dracula"", Bram Stoker. Other notable visitors included E.W. Hornung, J.M. Barrie, Thomas Wemyss"
"be in ""The Sign of the Four"". The film references ""A Study in Scarlet"", ""The Adventure of Black Peter"", ""The Adventure of the Musgrave Ritual"" and ""The Adventure of the Speckled Band"". Fox would go on to play the character of Alistair Ross in another Sherlock Holmes pastiche, ""The Crucifer of Blood"". According to author Kingsley Amis, ""the reviews were excellent."" Alan Barnes calls the film ""part-deconstruction, part-parody of Doyle"" that ""ends up resembling a long drawn-out shaggy dog story."" Doctor Watson and the Darkwater Hall Mystery Doctor Watson and the Darkwater Hall Mystery is a 1974 British made-for-television mystery"
"the ghost of Richard III Cabell connected with the structure. Richard Cabell Richard Cabell (d.5 July 1677), of Brook Hall, in the parish of Buckfastleigh on the south-western edge of Dartmoor, in Devon, is believed to be the inspiration for the wicked Hugo Baskerville, ""the first of his family to be hounded to death when he hunted an innocent maiden over the moor by night"", one of the central characters in Conan Doyle's novel ""The Hound of the Baskervilles"" (1901-2), the tale of a hellish hound and a cursed country squire. When asked in 1907 about his inspiration for the"
"claims that the Victorian-era detective who featured in Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's novels was based on Jerome Caminada's life. “Caminada became a national figure at just the time that Sherlock Holmes was being created. There are so many parallels that it is clear Doyle was using parts of this real character for his,"" Buckley was quoted by the Telegraph as saying. Dubbed 'the Garibaldi of Detectives', Caminada rose to prominence in the mid-1880s, shortly before Doyle's debut Holmes novel, ""A Study in Scarlet"", and during his time as an investigator is said to have helped imprison 1,225 criminals. The detective"
"the best-selling mystery novel of the Victorian era; in 1990 John Sutherland called it the ""most sensationally popular crime and detective novel of the century"". This novel inspired Arthur Conan Doyle to write ""A Study in Scarlet"", which introduced the fictional consulting detective Sherlock Holmes. Doyle remarked, """"Hansom Cab"" was a slight tale, mostly sold by 'puffing'."" After the success of his first novel and the publication of another, ""Professor Brankel's Secret"" (), Hume returned to England in 1888. His third novel was titled ""Madame Midas"" and it was based on the life of the mine and newspaper owner Alice"
"Four"" in which he was played by Ian Hunter. Athole Stewart played Watson in the 1931 film ""The Speckled Band"" Reginald Owen played Watson in the 1932 film ""Sherlock Holmes"" Warburton Gamble played Watson in the 1933 film ""A Study in Scarlet"" The series of Sherlock Holmes films with Basil Rathbone as Holmes and Nigel Bruce as Watson portrayed the doctor as a lovable but incompetent assistant. Some later treatments have presented a more competent Watson. Watson was played by actor André Morell in the 1959 film version of ""The Hound of the Baskervilles"", wherein Morell preferred that his version"
"and Watson (Jeremy Brett played Watson on stage in the United States prior to adopting the mantle of Holmes on British television, and Howard Marion-Crawford played Holmes on British radio and Watson on American television; Carleton Hobbs played both roles in British radio adaptations; while Patrick Macnee played both roles in US television movies). A Study in Scarlet (1933 film) A Study in Scarlet is a 1933 American Pre-Code drama film directed by Edwin L. Marin and starring Reginald Owen as Sherlock Holmes and Anna May Wong as Mrs. Pyke. The title comes from Arthur Conan Doyle's novel of the"
"the story strongly mirrors the opening chapters of the original Holmes novel, ""A Study in Scarlet"", from which it takes its name. Whilst almost none of the characters are explicitly identified in the text, it is strongly hinted by the twist ending that 'Rache' is Holmes, and the detective and his veteran friend are Professor James Moriarty and Colonel Sebastian Moran (who, in Doyle's original stories, are the criminal mastermind enemy of Sherlock Holmes and his right-hand man and accomplice respectively). The 'Limping Doctor', meanwhile, is identified explicitly as ""John (or perhaps James) Watson"". In particular: Conan Doyle's Sherlock Holmes"
"paint. He completed illustrations for the July 1888 edition of the first Sherlock Holmes novel ""A Study in Scarlet"" by his son. . During his period at the asylum he continued to work, producing volumes of drawings and watercolours in sketchbooks with fantasy themes such as elves, faerie folk, and scenes of death and heavenly redemption, with accompanying notes featuring wordplay and visual puns, described as a ""sort of bucolic phantasmagoria: mammoth lilypads and leafy branches, giant birds and mammals, sinister blossoms sheltering demons and damsels alike"". Doyle created these illustrations to both protest his confinement and provide evidence of"
"in November) Arthur Conan Doyle's first detective novel, ""A Study in Scarlet"", was published, introducing the consulting detective Sherlock Holmes and his friend and chronicler Dr. Watson. Ward Lock and Bowden’s business in New York and Melbourne were doing well and in the mid-1890s, the company opened an office in Toronto, Canada; however, this was closed in 1919. The books published by the firm reflected the changes in English life. These included Oscar Wilde’s The Picture of Dorian Grey, George Meredith’s ""The Tragic Comedians"", Joseph Hocking’s ""All Men are Liars"", Guy Boothby’s In Strange Company and George Hutchinson’s ""Winning a"
"Sayers speculates that Mary may be using his middle name Hamish (an Anglicisation of 'Sheumais', the vocative form of 'Seumas', the Scottish Gaelic for James), though Doyle himself never addresses this beyond including the initial. David W. Merrell, on the other hand, concludes that Mary is not referring to her husband at all but rather to (the surname of) their servant. In ""A Study in Scarlet"", Watson, as the narrator, establishes having studied at St Bartholomew's Hospital in London, receiving his medical degree from the University of London in 1878, and subsequently being trained at Netley as an assistant surgeon"
"Study in Scarlet"", ""The Adventure of Silver Blaze"", ""The Adventure of the Priory School"", ""The Hound of the Baskervilles"", ""The Boscombe Valley Mystery""); using tobacco ashes and cigarette butts to identify criminals (""The Adventure of the Resident Patient"", ""The Hound of the Baskervilles""); handwriting analysis and graphology (""The Adventure of the Reigate Squire"", ""The Man with the Twisted Lip""); comparing typewritten letters to expose a fraud (""A Case of Identity""); using gunpowder residue to expose two murderers (""The Adventure of the Reigate Squire""); comparing bullets from two crime scenes (""The Adventure of the Empty House""); analyzing small pieces of human"
"Poes und Doyles Novellen"" (""The Hound of the Baskervilles: a play in four acts set in the Scottish Highlands. Freely adapted from the stories of Poe and Doyle"") which was written by Ferdinand Bonn. By 1914, Oswald was working as a script supervisor at ""Union-Vitascope"" studios in the Berlin-Weißensee. Films based on mystery novels were very successful in German cinema at the time so Oswald found himself in the position to pen a film script based on ""The Hound of the Baskervilles"". Richard Oswald penned the tale which blended Doyle's original story and ""Der Hund von Baskerville"" and Rudolf Meinert"
"with a British editor and British contributors. The dinner was also attended by Oscar Wilde, who eventually contributed ""The Picture of Dorian Gray"" to the July 1890 issue. Doyle discussed what he called this ""golden evening"" in his 1924 autobiography ""Memories and Adventures"". The novel first appeared in the February 1890 edition of ""Lippincott's Monthly Magazine"" as ""The Sign of the Four; or The Problem of the Sholtos"" (five-word title), appearing in both London and Philadelphia. The British edition of the magazine originally sold for a shilling, and the American for 25 cents. Surviving copies are now worth several thousand"
"later life. William of Baskerville is a logically-minded Englishman who is a friar and a detective, and his name evokes both William of Ockham and Sherlock Holmes (by way of ""The Hound of the Baskervilles""); several passages describing him are strongly reminiscent of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's descriptions of Holmes. The underlying mystery of the murder is borrowed from the ""Arabian Nights"". ""The Name of the Rose"" was later made into a motion picture starring Sean Connery, F. Murray Abraham, Christian Slater and Ron Perlman, which follows the plot, though not the philosophical and historical themes, of the novel. In"
"the play, Frohman felt that it was unfit for production and instead persuaded Conan Doyle that actor William Gillette would be an ideal Holmes and would also be the perfect person to rewrite the play. Gillette, a successful playwright, donned a deerstalker and cape to visit Conan Doyle and request permission not only to perform the part but to rewrite it himself. The play itself drew material from Conan Doyle's published stories ""A Scandal in Bohemia"", ""The Final Problem"" and ""A Study in Scarlet"", while adding much that was new as well. As the plot was largely taken from Doyle's"
"Richard Hurndall Richard Gibbon Hurndall (3 November 1910 – 13 April 1984) was an English actor. Hurndall was born in Darlington and he attended Claremont Preparatory School, Darlington and Scarborough College, before training as an actor at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Arts. He then appeared in several plays at Stratford-upon-Avon. Hurndall acted with the BBC radio drama repertory company from 1949 to 1952. In 1959, he played Sherlock Holmes in a five part adaptation of ""The Sign of Four"" He continued to play roles on BBC radio until about 1980, often as the leading man. In 1958 he became"
"as tie-in editions, with cover art featuring Cumberbatch and Freeman. ""A Study in Scarlet"" and ""The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes"" were released in Autumn 2011, with introductions by Moffat and Gatiss respectively. ""The Hound of the Baskervilles"", ""The Sign of Four"" and ""The Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes"" were released in March 2012, with introductions by Cumberbatch, Freeman and Thompson respectively. Two more books, ""The Return of Sherlock Holmes"" and ""His Last Bow"", were released in December 2013, ahead of the premiere of the third series. They featured introductions by Gatiss and Moffat respectively. According to ""Radio Times"", the popularity of"
"as Wali Dad, Kaleem Janjua as Durga Das, and James Coyle as Birdy Johnson, and was directed by Heston's son Fraser Clarke Heston. The Crucifer of Blood The Crucifer of Blood is a play by Paul Giovanni that is adapted from the Arthur Conan Doyle novel ""The Sign of the Four."" It depicts the character Irene St. Claire hiring the detective Sherlock Holmes to investigate the travails that her father and his three compatriots suffered over a pact made over a cursed treasure chest in colonial India during the Indian Rebellion of 1857. The play, directed by the author, opened"