Sherlock Holmes is one of those timeless characters who seems always to find a way to speak to the modern. Certainly the wild success of the BBC series Sherlock showed that the essence of the Sir Arthur Conan Doyle detective could be translated quite successfully into the 21st Century. That's really nothing new since for intents and purposes the same thing was done when Universal Pictures featured Sherlock and his biographer Watson battling Nazis in the WWII in the classic series which for many, myself included, defined the character. Rathbone is often my favorite Sherlock, having to share that position with Jeremy Brett in the 1980's television series which was more true to the original stories.
But part of the great Rathbone tradition I was unaware of for the most part was the radio shows he did with his onscreen partner Nigel Bruce as Dr. Watson. These half-hour mysteries, collectively titled The New Adventures of Sherlock Holmes were written by the likes of Anthony Boucher and Dennis Greene among others and offer up Sherlockian adventures from across time. The most exquisite conceit of the radio shows (which I picked up on CD last year and have been enjoying on those rare occasions I actually travel in these Covid-19 times) is that Nigel Bruce as Watson introduces the stories. He is once again elevated to his role as host and Bruce's delightful warmth of personality shines through.
He plays the role of Watson as a retired physician who has come to California to spend his last years and while doing so does on the radio what he did in the short stories and novels and that's relate the adventures he had with Sherlock Holmes. Nigel Bruce is ideal for this sort of role, and despite what many think of him in the Universal movies, I've always found his Watson so charming that I am well able to forgive its dubious connection to the more straight-laced and frankly somewhat dull Watson of the Doyle stories.
The gimmick is that a representative of the show's sponsor, which was California's Petri Wine, goes to see Dr. Watson and they have a jovial conversation for a few moments before the story proper begins. Though the show is titled after Sherlock Holmes it's easily Nigel Bruce's Watson that dominates the proceedings. The shows also incorporate several ads for Petri Wines, but these are often done with humor and lightness.
As in the stories we have Watson's voice relating to us though of course the bulk of the storytelling is done in traditional dramatic form with Basil Rathbone joining in to create a rousing little yarn. To be honest many of the mysteries are pretty flimsy as given the timeframe there's not much time for complications. But in addition to adaptations of the actual Doyle stories we get new ones which in almost every instance spin out of some detail from a canonical tale.
Listening to those vintage adventures has gotten my interested again in the old movies and I dug out my collection and gave them another viewing. Aside from the few which are in public domain, I've not actually seen these that often and it's been long enough that the details have faded sufficiently to make them solid entertainment all over again. You'd have to really like Sherlock Holmes to enjoy the radio plays, but if you then they might offer a reasonably priced way to get more Sherlock into your life.
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