The Speckled Band: An Adventure of Sherlock Holmes is a 1910 play in three acts by Arthur Conan Doyle based on his own Sherlock Holmes short story "The Adventure of the Speckled Band", premiering at London's Adelphi Theatre.
It was adapted into a film in 1931, featuring Raymond Massey in his film debut as Holmes.
Tropes
- Adaptation Expansion: So much so that Holmes himself doesn't even appear until the second scene of the second act! The first act deals with the inquest of Enid's sister mysterious death. Dr. Watson is present because in this adaptation he is made to be an old family friend, having known Endid's mother in India.
- Adaptation Name Change: Dr. Roylott becomes Dr. Rylott and Helen Stoner becomes Enid Stonor.
- Canon Foreigner: In the original short story, there were no servants at Stoke Moran save for an old woman from the village who did the cleaning because of Dr. Roylott's fearsome reputation. Here he has a whole household of servants: his khitmatgar note Ali, a harpy of a housekeeper in Mrs. Stuanton, and the poor broken down old butler Rogers.
- Canon Immigrant: Billy the Page Boy joins Holmes and Watson in this adventure, which he did not do in the original story.
- Undying Loyalty: Dr. Rylott's servants are fiercely loyal to him and only him doing whatever he orders no matter what their legality. Rogers is a subversion but he's too afraid to stand up for himself.
