Another fantastic piece, Paul. One thing I'll suggest is (and it's just an opinion, rather than a hard fact) in the mind of the fans, that Moriarty took time to grow into the colossus of crime. If you look at some of the fin-de-seicle movies and plays—particularly the un-authorized ones—Raffles was more often than not the villain in Holmes stories. But over time, Moriarty grew in stature, and these days Raffles is largely forgotten.
Indeed (rather than 'Lord Lister', known as Raffles, which is a whole other rabbit hole). But A.J. Raffles was the villain is two of Viggo Larsen's Holmes films (around 1908/09). And there was a very popular play called 'The Burglar and the Lady' written approx. 1905 or so in which Holmes and Raffles are adversaries. In the US, Raffles was played by 'Gentleman' Jim Corbett. They later made a film version—but I assume due to copyright issues—Holmes has changed to Hadley Stone. Of course, Holmes and Raffles weren't always adversaries; Kendrick Bangs had Holmes marry Raffles' daughter, and later they were both in the Infallible Detective series of shorts by Carolyn Wells.
Good stuff. It's also a turning point in Holmes's life. This is the only time in his career in which he's taken a life. He comes back chastened more humane I think.
Another fantastic piece, Paul. One thing I'll suggest is (and it's just an opinion, rather than a hard fact) in the mind of the fans, that Moriarty took time to grow into the colossus of crime. If you look at some of the fin-de-seicle movies and plays—particularly the un-authorized ones—Raffles was more often than not the villain in Holmes stories. But over time, Moriarty grew in stature, and these days Raffles is largely forgotten.
Are we talking here about the A. J. Raffles created by W. E. Hornung, Doyle’s brother-in-law?
Indeed (rather than 'Lord Lister', known as Raffles, which is a whole other rabbit hole). But A.J. Raffles was the villain is two of Viggo Larsen's Holmes films (around 1908/09). And there was a very popular play called 'The Burglar and the Lady' written approx. 1905 or so in which Holmes and Raffles are adversaries. In the US, Raffles was played by 'Gentleman' Jim Corbett. They later made a film version—but I assume due to copyright issues—Holmes has changed to Hadley Stone. Of course, Holmes and Raffles weren't always adversaries; Kendrick Bangs had Holmes marry Raffles' daughter, and later they were both in the Infallible Detective series of shorts by Carolyn Wells.
Good stuff. It's also a turning point in Holmes's life. This is the only time in his career in which he's taken a life. He comes back chastened more humane I think.
Thx for reading and commenting, and I appreciate your point about Holmes taking a life and coming back more humane in his outlook...
He and Watson shot Tonga in Sign of Four, so Holmes did have a Kill Count before this.