| The Valley of Fear | |
| Director: | Alexander Butler |
| Producer: | G. B. Samuelson |
| Starring: | Harry Arthur Saintsbury Daisy Burrell Booth Conway Arthur M. Cullin |
| Studio: | G.B. Samuelson Productions |
| Distributor: | Moss Pictures |
| Country: | United Kingdom |
| Language: | English |
The Valley of Fear is a British silent adventure film of 1916 directed by Alexander Butler and starring Harry Arthur Saintsbury, Daisy Burrell and Booth Conway.[1] The film is an adaptation of the 1915 novel, The Valley of Fear by Arthur Conan Doyle featuring Sherlock Holmes. This is now considered a lost film.[2]
After the success of A Study in Scarlet in 1914, producer G. B. Samuelson decided to make another feature-length adaptation of Sherlock Holmes.[3] French company Eclair owned the cinematic rights to Conan Doyle's stories up to 1912 which left only one full length story available, The Valley of Fear[3]
While James Bragington was considered a virtual doppelgänger of Sherlock Holmes in A Study in Scarlet, the role in The Valley of Fear required more from an actor so H.A. Saintsbury was cast instead.[3] Saintsbury had played the role onstage more than any other actor,[3] over 1,000 times in both William Gillette's Sherlock Holmes as well as Conan Doyle's The Speckled Band.[4] Arthur Cullin was cast as Watson, a role he would repeat seven years later in 1923's The Sign of the Four opposite Eille Norwood as Holmes.[5]