Volume II: Filmography

SURELOCK JONES, DETECTIVE

February 16, 1912 (Friday)

Length: 1 reel

Character: Drama (per Thanhouser); comedy (per reviewers)

BACKGROUND OF THE SCENARIO: Arthur Conan Doyle's fictional Sherlock Holmes detective stories reached a wide audience beginning in the late 19th century, following the publication of A Study in Scarlet, one of four book-length Holmes stories. In many stories, detective Holmes remains in his London study at 221B Baker Street while Dr. Watson performs various investigative duties. It falls to Holmes to use his powers of deduction to unravel the mystery, after which time the solution to the hitherto seemingly impenetrable puzzle becomes quite obvious.

Sherlock Holmes spawned a host of parodies in print and on the screen. Such names as Picklock Holes, Holmlock Shears, and the present Thanhouser offering of Surelock Jones are obvious copies, as are several films (by Champion Photoplays), contemporary to the Thanhouser offering, featuring the characters Sherlocko and Watso. In 1913 Thanhouser dramatized for the screen The Sign of the Four, in a film titled Sherlock Holmes Solves The Sign of the Four, not a parody, but an adaptation of Doyle's original work. The 1915 Thanhouser (Falstaff) film, Lulu's Lost Lotharios, employs two characters named Suburban Homes and Dr. Wopson, after Sherlock Holmes and his aide, Dr. Watson.

In Surelock Jones, Detective the tantalizing mention of solutions to crime cases, "The Mystery of the False Face" and "The Strange Case of the Missing Heiress," involving the use of such disparate things as a dachshund, sausage, old trunk, and party of merrymakers, but without enlightening the reader on how the mysteries were unravelled, is a touch worthy of Arthur Conan Doyle himself, who was fond of inserting unexplained references (e.g., the giant rat of Sumatra) into Holmes stories. Presumably, the solutions were revealed in the film itself.

ARTICLE, The Moving Picture World, February 10, 1912:

"Have there been any mysterious strangers in your neighborhood of late? Have any of your children been kidnapped? Has your wife missed her false teeth? Does your horse shy as you drive him by a certain old house on your street? Then get the Thanhouser Company on the wire and beg them to send around their sleuth, Surelock Jones. If Surelock isn't busy posing in a picture when you ask for him, he'll be around in a jiffy - and he'll clear up your mys-tuh-ree in a jiffy. Bert Adler cracks him up to be some hawkshaw, but then part of Bert's job is press agent, and you can't always believe press agents - especially on the phone. When Bert phoned in about Surelock on Wednesday, he said the sleuth had just discovered that a film of the Delhi Durbar and Cardinal Farley's return had been released."

Note: The last two named events, the reception of British royalty in Delhi and the return of Cardinal Farley from Europe to the United States, were filmed by several other companies, advertised extensively, and by that time, were quite "common" in the trade; the point was to show that Surelock Jones might be naive, a typical "twist" written by Bert Adler, who created Thanhouser's news releases and advertising at the time.

SYNOPSIS, The Moving Picture News, February 3, 1912:

"A learned professor who lives in a small country town, and whose life has always been cast in the most peaceful surroundings, is secretly a student of criminology and a profound believer in the deduction theory. The person he most admires is one Surelock Jones, a sleuth of renown, who has attained much notoriety by his bizarre methods. The detective has seen and admired the professor's daughter, which is one reason why he accepts an invitation to visit the professor at his country home. For the girl is a problem. Surelock can prove to his satisfaction, by deduction, that she loves him, and he is anxious to demonstrate that his theory is correct. The girl, however, loves another, a young man who is not a detective, and does not want to be one. All he desires is to win the girl of his choice, and she has told him that she will be his, which is much better than any deduction.

"Surelock arrives in the country and finds that the father favors his suit. The girl, however, does not care for him, even though he tells her some of his wonderful cases, and proves them by newspaper clippings. And the young man of the girl's choice finds that he has a stormy time ahead, due to parental opposition. So he decides to 'show up' the detective. While the distinguished guest is a visitor in the country, two mysterious crimes are committed. There is first 'The Mystery of the False Face,' and, second, 'The Strange Case of the Vanished Heiress.' These are the kind of crimes that he has always reveled in. Strange to say, he does not solve either. Oddly enough, the girl's sweetheart, although absolutely devoid of detective standing, scores in each instance. He clears up 'The Mystery of the False Face' by means of a dachshund and a sausage, while 'The Strange Case of the Missing Heiress' unraveled by the aid of an old trunk and a party of merrymakers. Surelock Jones goes back to town without the girl, wondering at his failure as a detective. He cannot explain it, but the girl and his sweetheart, who is now high in the father's favor, could. But they never did, because the father had always believed in deduction."

REVIEW, The Morning Telegraph, February 18, 1912:

"Many have been the travesties on 'Sherlock Holmes' in pictures, as well as in books and comic papers. This repetition of the humor is none the less amusing, for it is in fact quite as funny as any yet presented, and is assuredly better presented than most such offerings. In point of settings, character make-up, portrayals and plot it is well to the fore among recent comedies as well as among those of the same basis. It shows how a young lover counters on the alleged cleverness of a famous detective who is revered by his sweetheart's father, and how the young man proves the other a faker and wins the girl against all odds. At times it is broad in action but never jarringly so. It is more than up to anticipations."

REVIEW, The Moving Picture World, February 24, 1912:

"An amusing burlesque showing how a girl and her sweetheart got rid of Surelock Jones, whom her father wanted her to marry. The quality that this picture has comes from the way the theme was handled. There have been other pictures that have followed the same general outline and burlesquing the 'great' detective; but there have been none quite so good as this. It caused many a laugh. It is also well photographed. Where burlesque is wanted, this will make a first class feature."

REVIEW, The New York Dramatic Mirror, February 21, 1912:

"This merry little travesty on a certain great detective and his ways leaves little to be desired in the way of suggested humor and is played in delicate caricature and in excellent spirit of buoyant comedy. The fun of the play is the manner in which the young lover proves that Surelock is not the wise and worthy being he would have the world suppose. The young chap robs the father with the aid of his daughter, and when Surelock with the aid of his huge bloodhound is unable to find the thief he returns things he had stolen. The daughter then permits herself to be kidnapped. When Surelock seeks the place mentioned by the 'black hand' he is thrust into a trunk and promptly returned. That is quite enough for the dignity of the great detective and he departs, while the lover gains his life's reward. The story is admirably told and put on."

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