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.
Sherlock Holmes in the Great Murder Mystery
Sherlock Holmes in the Great Murder Mystery is a 1908 American silent film directed by an unknown director. The film was released on 27 November 1908 and is an adaptation of Edgar Allan Poe's short story "The Murders in the Rue Morgue" (1841), which is considered the first detective story, though the plot was altered to include Arthur Conan Doyle's detective Sherlock Holmes instead of Poe's C. Auguste Dupin. Dr. Watson makes his film debut here, though the actors playing Holmes and Watson are unknown, as the rest of the cast. It is considered a lost film.