Is Sherlock Holmes relevant?

February's featured "Home Fry-ed Movie" is The Woman in Green (1945), a Sherlock Holmes mystery starring Basil Rathbone as Holmes and Nigel Bruce as Dr. Watson. In the 1930s and 40s, Rathbone and Bruce created the iconic figures of the world's greatest detective and his bumbling assistant for film and radio. In 2009, we saw a revival of interest in Holmes with the Hollywood blockbuster Sherlock Holmes starring Robert Downey Jr. and Jude Law, portraying the characters as modernistic action heroes.

One of the interesting things about Rathbone and Bruce's portrayals is that for most of the films, the characters were set in contemporary times. The stories, which were originally set in Victorian England, were flash forwarded to the 1940s, so Holmes and Watson could fight the Nazis. So, in a way, Rathbone and Bruce were more modernistic than Downey and Law.

One thing I've noticed is that the Holmesian-type detective has become more popular on television. For many years, TV detectives were tough guys, using their fists and their guns rather than their wits to solve crimes. We can see the roots of these tough guy cops in movies from the 1970s, like Dirty Harry and The French Connection. More recently, TV detectives use their keen sense of observation and deduction to solve crimes. And like Holmes, these modern detectives are quirky and difficult to get along with.

Think Monk, the obsessive-compulsive detective, who like Holmes walks into a room and can figure out everything that happened. Or Det. Goren from Law & Order: Criminal Intent, who uses his vast knowledge of a variety of subjects to solve crimes, while at the same time freaking people out with his odd personality. There's also the investigators from Psych and The Mentalist, who are keen observers. And the most obvious comparison is not a detective at all, but a doctor: House, M. D. There's no denying the pun between the names "Holmes" and "House." The series creator admits he is a Sherlock Holmes fan, and the character of Dr. House is very similar to Holmes. House even has his own Dr. Watson, his friend Dr. Wilson, whose relationship with House is very similar to Watson's relationship with Holmes, especially since they moved in together.

So I think Holmes is very relevant, and was so even before this new movie came out.

Watch The Woman in Green on Friday, Feb. 26 at 7 p.m. or Sunday, Feb. 28 at 10 a.m. on UALR University Telelvision (Channel 62 on Little Rock Comcast Cable)!