A Brief History of Sherlock Holmes

Turning the Tables
The 1988 British comedy Without a Clue featured two of the nation's best-loved actors, Michael Caine and (Sir) Ben Kingsley. The admittedly novel premise is that Holmes is a fictional character created by Watson (Kingsley) to allow him to solve crimes incognito. But when the public yearns to see Holmes in person, he hires an alcoholic unemployed actor, Reginald Kincaid (Caine), to play him. Inevitably, "Holmes" hogs the limelight but (spoiler alert!) the pair must work together to solve a mystery for the government. Needless to say, this picture wouldn't trouble Oscar.

• TIME's Sherlock Holmes Video