"I Shall Be Back" [SIGN]

by Scott Monty February 12, 2011

The Culture Warrior column at Film School Rejects poses a question that must be asked: Why Is Sherlock Back?

Of course, we know that he never left us. But there were times after Conan Doyle's passing in 1930 when Holmes seemingly dominated the public consciousness - Rathbone, Howard, Cushing, Wilmer and Stephens took us from 1940-1970 or so on the big and small screen, but after Rathbone's indomitable presence in film, it was difficult to find a successor.

Then of course, the significance of Nicholas Meyer, BSI ("A Fine Morocco Case") and his book The Seven Per-Cent Solution came roaring to the screen and blazed another trail that eventually ended in the coda that was Jeremy Brett.

But the author of Why Is Sherlock Back? wants to know why we need three treatments of Holmes nearly simultaneously: namely, the Robert Downey Jr. "Sherlock Holmes," the BBC's "Sherlock," and "Cold Weather." We have our own ideas, complete with many other examples in recent and current popular culture, that show the argument isn't simply limited to this triad, but we're interested in what you think.

Why indeed is Sherlock back? And if he never went away, what's behind the current fascination with him again?

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