Sherlock Holmes (1939 Film Series) - Move To Universal

Move To Universal

20th Century Fox dropped the series after the second film, Adventures. There is no clear reason for this, although Holmes scholars such as the late Richard Valley (editor of Scarlet Street magazine) and others have suggested that the poor critical reception for Hound in the United Kingdom may have been a factor. Due to the series' shift from the late nineteenth century to the 1940s, the subsequent 12 films later produced by Universal Studios are not directly related to the first two Fox pictures (except in the casting of Rathbone and Bruce, as well as Mary Gordon as housekeeper Mrs. Hudson), although the films are regarded as a single series.

Universal Studios purchased the rights to some of the short stories from the Conan Doyle estate in early 1942 and planned a new series of films, including both original scripts and loose adaptations of the canon. Rathbone and Bruce (who had continued playing Holmes and Watson in radio broadcasts after the films were discontinued by Fox) were the likely choice for the leading roles.