The Big Book of Reel Murders: Stories that Inspired Great Crime

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The history of motion pictures is closely intertwined with mystery, crime, suspense, espionage, and detective fiction.

There are any number of arguments about which is the first motion picture of all time, and the definition of what makes a motion picture is often unclear. In 1878, Eadweard Muybridge produced what is acknowledged as the first moving picture — a series of photos of a running horse taken with several cameras, joined together. Identifying the first narrative film is more difficult, but an argument could be made for a very brief, thirty-second vignette titled Sherlock Holmes Baffled, which has been dated as a 1900 production by some film scholars but 1903 by others.

In the film, Holmes walks into a room and sees that he is being burgled. The thief instantly vanishes. Holmes, clearly confused, lights a cigar in an attempt to ignore the event, no doubt to try to deduce what has just happened. But the burglar reappears and, when Holmes tries to take back the stolen items by pulling a pistol from the pocket of his dressing gown and firing it at the crook, he again vanishes, leaving Holmes looking utterly, yes, baffled.

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