The Adventure of The Empty House - Adaptations

Adaptations

This story was filmed in 1921 as part of a series of silent films starring Eille Norwood as Holmes.

The 1931 film The Sleeping Cardinal (also known as Sherlock Holmes' Fatal Hour) is loosely based on "The Adventure of the Empty House" and "The Final Problem".

Elements of "The Adventure of the Empty House" were used in the 1939-1946 Sherlock Holmes series starring Basil Rathbone and Nigel Bruce. In Sherlock Holmes and the Secret Weapon (1943), Holmes appears as a phony German secret agent disguised as a bookseller in Switzerland. The Woman in Green (1945) uses the scene in which a sniper attempts to shoot Holmes from across the street and shoots a wax bust instead, and he is apprehended by Holmes and Watson who lie in wait. Colonel Sebastian Moran appears as the villain in Terror by Night (1946) as the last of Moriarty's gang.

The story was adapted for a 1951 TV episode of Sherlock Holmes starring Alan Wheatley as Holmes.

The story was adapted in 1980 as an episode of the Soviet TV series The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes and Dr. Watson starring Vasily Livanov. The episode is very close to the source, as was typical of the entire series, with some minor departures: Adair is still alive at the start of the episode, Watson unsuccessfully tries to protect him as instructed by Holmes, Watson briefly becomes a prime suspect in Adair's murder, Watson and Mrs. Hudson faint when the presumed deceased Holmes appears at Baker Street, and both Holmes and Moriarty are made masters of the martial art baritsu, with a dramatic battle between the two.

The story was later adapted in 1986 as an episode of The Return of Sherlock Holmes starring Jeremy Brett. The episode is rather faithful to Doyle's story, except that Moran tries to shoot Holmes in Switzerland instead of dropping boulders on him, and Watson – not Holmes – deduces the reason that Moran had for killing Ronald Adair.

The 2009 radio play The Return of Sherlock Holmes, dramatised by M. J. Elliott combines "The Empty House" and "The Final Problem".

In the final scene in the 2011 film Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows, it is revealed that Holmes survives his encounter with Professor Moriarty (the film is influenced by "The Final Problem").

Mark Gatiss, the co-creator of the modern day adaptation series Sherlock, has announced that the first episode of the show's third series will be based on "The Adventures of The Empty House".