A Black Sherlock Holmes

A Black Sherlock Holmes (1918)

Detective Knick Garter and his sidekick Rheuma Tism are called for help by their friend, inventor I. Wanta Sneeze.

Date of release
1918-04-15
TMDB
7.0 / 10 (2)
Runtime
21m
Genres
Comedy, Mystery
Director
R.G. Phillips

Casting

Interesting facts

A Black Sherlock Holmes is an 1918 American silent slapstick comedy short film produced by the Ebony Film Corporation. Written by C.N Davis and directed by R.G Phillips, the film was shot by cinematographer Charles David and produced by Luther Pollard. Released on April 15, 1918, the single reel comedy has a runtime of approximately 21 minutes and 14 seconds.

Production and preservation

A Black Sherlock Holmes was produced by the Ebony Film Corporation, an African-American-led film production company active during the silent film era. The company specialized in slapstick comedies featuring all-Black casts, and A Black Sherlock Holmes represent a typical example of their output during this period.

Like many films of this era the original 35mm nitrate prints of the film suffered intense deterioration over time. In the 1960s, 16mm preservation prints were created from the surviving heavily damaged nitrate prints in an effort to save the remaining footage. These 16mm prints are believed to be the only copies of the film still in existence.

The Chicago Board of Censors removed a scene depicting a character thumbing his nose prior to the film's theatrical release.

Read on Wikipedia · Text from Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0. Data from Wikidata.

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