The Final Problem - Adaptations

Adaptations

William Gillette's 1899 stage play Sherlock Holmes is based on several stories, among them "The Final Problem." Films released in 1916 (starring Gillette as Holmes) and 1922 (starring John Barrymore), both titled Sherlock Holmes, were based on the play, as well as a 1938 Mercury Theatre on the Air radio adaptation titled The Immortal Sherlock Holmes, starring Orson Welles as Holmes, although in none of these retellings does Holmes die (and indeed in the two film versions he marries).

The 1931 film The Sleeping Cardinal is based in part on "The Adventure of the Empty House" and "The Final Problem." The scene from "The Final Problem" in which Moriarty confronts Holmes at Baker Street and attempts to persuade Holmes to stop his investigations is used in the films The Triumph of Sherlock Holmes (1935) and The Woman in Green (1945). A variation on this scene is also used in "The Great Game," the third episode of the 2010 BBC television series Sherlock.

In the 1939 film series starring Basil Rathbone as Holmes and Nigel Bruce as Watson, a number of films borrow elements from "The Final Problem". Most noticeable of these elements is the methods of killing Moriarty off; in The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes, Sherlock Holmes and the Secret Weapon and The Woman in Green Moriarty is seen in all three films falling a great height to his death.

The story was later adapted for radio by John Kier Cross; it was broadcast on 17 April 1955 and starred John Gielgud as Holmes, Ralph Richardson as Dr. Watson, and Orson Welles as Professor Moriarty. BBC Radio also broadcast an adaptation of "The Final Problem" on 4 November 1992.

In 1975, DC Comics published Sherlock Holmes #1, a comic which adapted "The Adventure of the Empty House" and "The Final Problem". It was intended to be an ongoing series, but future issues were cancelled due to low sales.

In the 1985 television series Sherlock Holmes starring Jeremy Brett, the story begins with the theft of the Mona Lisa, masterminded by Moriarty in order to sell prepared fakes to collectors. Holmes recovers the original painting just before Moriarty makes a sale to a "Mr. Morgan". Holmes's interference with his plans convinces Moriarty that the detective must be eliminated, and Holmes is subsequently presumed to have died in a tumble down Reichenbach Falls. This was the last episode to star David Burke as Dr.Watson. Burke was replaced by Edward Hardwicke until the end of the show's run, starting with the adaptation of "The Empty House" which acted as the first episode of The Return of Sherlock Holmes.

The first episode of the 1999 animated television series Sherlock Holmes in the 22nd Century begins with the climax of "The Final Problem".

The 1999 comic series The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen adapts "The Final Problem" almost verbatim and shows Holmes triumphing over Moriarty and climbing the cliff, although Moriarty survives as well. The film adaptation references these events, but does not show them.

The 2011 film Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows is based in part on "The Final Problem". Like the story, it ends with Holmes and Moriarty plummeting into the falls, and Watson is shown writing the final sentences of "The Final Problem" on his typewriter. However, in the film, the characters are attending a European Peace Conference held near the falls which Moriarty seeks to sabotage, and the two plunge down from a balcony overlooking the falls rather than from the ledge of the original story. Holmes is also shown falling over the edge with Moriarty rather than simply being assumed to have fallen, being too injured to defeat Moriarty in a straight fight but knowing that Moriarty will go after Watson if he lives. As in "The Adventure of the Empty House", it is revealed that Holmes survives in this version, having used his brother's oxygen inhaler to survive the water at the bottom of the falls, but this is not learned until the final moments of the film.

The story is also the basis of "The Reichenbach Fall", the third episode of the second season of the TV series Sherlock, which first aired on 15 January 2012 and shows Holmes falling from the roof of a hospital, supposedly leading to his death. Throughout a confrontation between Sherlock and Jim Moriarty in Baker Street, Moriarty repeatedly utters "the final problem".

In Kim Newman's 2011 book Professor Moriarty: The Hound of the D'Urbervilles, told from the point of view of Col. Sebastian Moran, the story "The Problem of the Final Adventure" reveals that Professor Moriarty's plan had been to lead Sherlock Holmes to destroy Moriarty's rival, the German criminal Doctor Mabuse.