Literary adaptation
Works of literature have been adapted for film from the dawn of the industry. Some of the earliest examples come from the work of Georges Méliès, who pioneered many film techniques. In 1899, he released two adaptations — "Cinderella" based on the Brothers Grimm story of the same name and "King John", the first known film to be based on the works of Shakespeare. The 1900 film "Sherlock Holmes Baffled", directed by Arthur Marvin featured Arthur Conan Doyle's detective character Sherlock Holmes intruding upon a pseudo-supernatural burglary. The film, considered the first detective movie, ran for only 30 seconds and was originally intended to be shown in hand-cranked Mutoscope machines.
The Hound of the Baskervilles (1983 film)
In 1982, American producer Sy Weintraub partnered with English producer Otto Plaschkes to make six television films of Sherlock Holmes stories. Charles Edward Pogue was enlisted to pen the screenplays but only "The Sign of the Four" and "The Hound of the Baskervilles" were ultimately filmed before Granada Television's "Sherlock Holmes" series premiered in 1984. A proposed third film, "Hands of a Murderer" (originally entitled "The Prince of Crime") was eventually made with Edward Woodward as Sherlock Holmes and John Hillerman as Dr. John H. Watson.