Want to know the best Basil Rathbone movies? How about the worst Basil Rathbone movies? Curious about Basil Rathbone box office grosses or which Basil Rathbone movie picked up the most Oscar® nominations? Need to know which Basil Rathbone movie got the best reviews from critics and audiences and which got the worst reviews? Well, you have come to the right place….because we have all of that information.
Basil Rathbone (1892-1967) was an Oscar®-nominated English actor. Rathbone frequently portrayed suave villains or morally ambiguous characters. His most famous role was that of Sherlock Holmes in fourteen Hollywood films made between 1939 and 1946 and in a radio series. His IMDb page shows 124 acting credits from 1921 to 1968. This page will rank Basil Rathbone movies from Best to Worst in six different sortable columns of information. Television shows, shorts, cameos, uncredited roles, and movies that were not released in North American were not included in the rankings.
Basil Rathbone Movies Ranked In Chronological Order With Ultimate Movie Rankings Score (1 to 5 UMR Tickets) *Best combo of box office, reviews and awards.
Basil Rathbone Movies Can Be Ranked 6 Ways In This Table
The really cool thing about this table is that it is “user-sortable”. Rank the movies any way you want.
- Sort Basil Rathbone movies by his co-stars
- Sort Basil Rathbone movies by adjusted domestic box office grosses using current movie ticket cost.
- Sort Basil Rathbone movies by domestic yearly box office rank
- Sort Basil Rathbone movies how they were received by critics and audiences. 60% rating or higher should indicate a good movie.
- Sort by how many Oscar® nominations and how many Oscar® wins each Basil Rathbone movie received.
- Sort Basil Rathbone movies by Ultimate Movie Rankings (UMR) Score. UMR Score puts box office, reviews and awards into a mathematical equation and gives each movie a score.
Possibly Interesting Facts About Basil Rathbone
1. Philip St. John Basil Rathbone was born in Johannesburg, South Africa in 1892.
2. Basil Rathbone rose to prominence in the United Kingdom as a Shakespearean stage actor.
3. Basil Rathbone fought in the British Army during World War I and was awarded the Military Cross for bravery under fire.
4. Basil Rathbone Is generally considered the greatest swordsman in Hollywood history, superior even to on-screen foes Errol Flynn and Tyrone Power. However, because he was so frequently cast as the villain, he won only two on-screen duels in his career–as Tybalt in Romeo and Juliet (1936), for which he earned an Oscar nomination, and as Capt. Esteban Pascuale against the friar (Eugene Pallette), who was so outclassed by “the Capitan” he was harmlessly disarmed in a matter of seconds, in The Mark of Zorro (1940). His last, filmed when the actor was 63, was with Danny Kaye in The Court Jester (1955). It is considered by some the best sword fight ever filmed.
5. Basil Rathbone was the favorite choice of Gone with the Wind (1939) author Margaret Mitchell to play the role of Rhett Butler.
Check out Basil Rathbone‘s career compared to current and classic actors. Most 100 Million Dollar Movies of All-Time.
Back in the late 1960s/early 1970s television over here showed for a while continual re-runs of the Basil Rathbone/Nigel Stock Sherlock Holmes big-screen Universal series of twelve feature films made between 1941 and 1944 for release from 1942-1947 and I liked them.
That series has re-surfaced on TV in recent times but I find that it no longer holds the same appeal for me as the re-runs of the programs featuring the more modern television detectives such as Columbo and Perry Mason and Ben Matlock. of grocery store fame in real life
Nevertheless back when I liked his Holmes movies Basil was a joy to watch in the role. I also enjoyed him very much in 1956’s The Court Jester where he was the ideal villainous foil [Lord Ravenhurst] for Danny Kaye as Kaye got up to his usual madcap antics and engaged in his signature pitter-patter recurring routines such as the great one in The Court Jester: “Get it? Got it! Good!”
“Many great writers of detective stories have invented better mysteries for their sleuths to solve than Sir Arthur Conan Doyle did – but they never invented a Sherlock Holmes.” [quote from Cultural Historian].
Basil Rathbone has never been on the Oracle of Bacon Top 1000. These are the actors on the 2020 list he appeared with.
16 DENNIS HOPPER Queen of Blood (1966)
53 JOHN SAXON Queen of Blood (1966)
68 JOHN CARRADINE Autopsia de un fantasma (1968)
68 JOHN CARRADINE Casanova’s Big Night (1954)
68 JOHN CARRADINE Hillbillys in a Haunted House (1967)
68 JOHN CARRADINE The Black Sleep (1956)
68 JOHN CARRADINE The Court Jester (1956)
68 JOHN CARRADINE The Garden of Allah (1936)
68 JOHN CARRADINE The Hound of the Baskervilles (1939)
68 JOHN CARRADINE The Last Hurrah (1958)
93 PETER USTINOV We’re No Angels (1955)
98 DAVID NIVEN A Feather in Her Hat (1935)
98 DAVID NIVEN The Dawn Patrol (1938)
207 JEFF COREY Paris Calling (1941)
248 ANGELA LANSBURY The Court Jester (1956)
509 AKIM TAMIROFF The Black Sleep (1956)
549 VINCENT PRICE Casanova’s Big Night (1954)
549 VINCENT PRICE Tales of Terror (1962)
549 VINCENT PRICE The Comedy of Terrors (1963)
549 VINCENT PRICE Tower of London (1939)
597 PAUL FIX Sherlock Holmes and the Secret Weapon (1943)
667 PETER LAWFORD Above Suspicion (1943)
667 PETER LAWFORD Sherlock Holmes Faces Death (1943)
759 CHARLES BOYER The Garden of Allah (1936)
759 CHARLES BOYER Tovarich (1937)
805 CHARLES LANE Rhythm on the River (1940)
810 JEAN-PIERRE AUMONT Heartbeat (1946)
837 BRODERICK CRAWFORD The Black Cat (1941)
851 ALDO RAY We’re No Angels (1955)
869 CAMERON MITCHELL Autopsia de un fantasma (1968)
914 GLYNIS JOHNS The Court Jester (1956)
Basil appeared with 24 Oscar winners.
BARRY FITZGERALD The Dawn Patrol (1938)
BING CROSBY Rhythm on the River (1940)
BING CROSBY The Adventures of Ichabod and Mr. Toad (1949)
BRODERICK CRAWFORD The Black Cat (1941)
CLAIRE TREVOR Crossroads (1942)
CLAUDETTE COLBERT Tovarich (1937)
DAVID NIVEN A Feather in Her Hat (1935)
DAVID NIVEN The Dawn Patrol (1938)
DONALD CRISP CONFESSION (1937)
DONALD CRISP THE DAWN PATROL (1938)
DONALD CRISP THE LAST HURRAH (1958)
FREDRIC MARCH Anna Karenina (1935)
GALE SONDERGAARD CRAZY HOUSE (1943)
GALE SONDERGAARD PARIS CALLING (1941)
GALE SONDERGAARD THE BLACK CAT (1941)
GALE SONDERGAARD THE MARK OF ZORRO (1940)
GARY COOPER The Adventures of Marco Polo (1938)
GINGER ROGERS Heartbeat (1946)
HUMPHREY BOGART We’re No Angels (1955)
JANE DARWELL Private Number (1936)
JANE DARWELL The Last Hurrah (1958)
JOAN CRAWFORD Above Suspicion (1943)
JOAN CRAWFORD The Last of Mrs. Cheyney (1937)
JOAN FONTAINE Casanova’s Big Night (1954)
JOAN FONTAINE Frenchman’s Creek (1944)
JOSEPH SCHILDKRAUT THE GARDEN OF ALLAH (1936)
LIONEL BARRYMORE The Personal History, Adventures, Experience, & Observation of David Copperfield the Younger (1935)
LORETTA YOUNG Private Number (1936)
NORMA SHEARER Romeo and Juliet (1936)
NORMA SHEARER The Last of Mrs. Cheyney (1929)
OLIVIA DE HAVILLAND Captain Blood (1935)
OLIVIA DE HAVILLAND The Adventures of Robin Hood (1938)
PETER USTINOV We’re No Angels (1955)
RONALD COLMAN A Tale of Two Cities (1935)
SPENCER TRACY The Last Hurrah (1958)
VICTOR MCLAGLEN Rio (1939)
Hey Dan. Good though short lists compared to most of the other ones you have put together. Not surprised Basil is not on the list….but I bet he would have been in the Top 100 if the Oracle list was around in the early 1950s. John Carradine gets the honors as most frequent Oracle co-star. 24 is a solid number especially when you consider his career started before the Oscars even existed. Good information as always.
The great Basil, one of my favorites.
I’ve seen 29 of the 70 films on the chart, favorites include – all the Sherlock Holmes films starring Rathbone (there should be 14 on the chart), Adventures of Robin Hood, Captain Blood, The Mark of Zorro, The Court Jester, The Dawn Patrol, Son of Frankenstein, Tales of Terror, Comedy of Terrors and The Great Mouse Detective.
Good to see Robin Hood and Captain Blood at the top of the charts.
Looking at the trivia – interesting that Margaret Mitchell fancied Basil as Rhett Butler considering how English he was, than again Scarlett O’Hara was played by a British actress. I wonder if Basil ever attempted an American accent in any of his films.
Good work Bruce. Vote Up!
Hey Steve. Thanks for checking out our latest page. I very close tally count, but you just edge Flora…..29 to 27. I am only 19 behind you. My two Basil favorites are among your favorites as well. Robin Hood is of course a classic….but I like Captain Blood almost as much. As for Gone With The Wind….I think the list of those not concerned or wanted for roles is that movie, might be smaller than those that were….lol. Good stuff.
Great UMR Page
Thank you Mike.
I have seen 27 of the Basil Rathbone films you have listed. According to my letterboxd account I have seen 31.
I will focus on the ones in your table.
The HIGHEST rated movie I have seen is The Adventures of Robin Hood.
The highest rated movie I have NOT seen is Bathing Beauty.
The LOWEST rated movie I have seen is The Bishop Murder Case.
Favourite Basil Rathbone Movies:
The Adventures of Robin Hood
The Mark of Zorro
The Court Jester
The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes
Captain Blood
David Copperfield
A Tale of Two Cities
The Dawn Patrol
Romeo and Juliet
Crossroads
Confession
We’re No Angels
If I Were King
Sin Takes a Holiday
The Lady of Scandal
Sherlock Holmes and the Voice of Terror
The Woman in Green
Dressed to Kill
Terror By Night
Fingers at the Window
The Bishop Murder Case
Other Basil Rathbone Movies I Have Seen:
Anna Karenina
Frenchman’s Creek
Son of Frankenstein
The Last Hurrah
The Black cat
Above Suspicion
Hey Flora….thanks for sharing your thoughts on Basil Rathbone. A close tally count between you and Steve. 29 for him and 27 for you. I barely reached double digits..with 10. I have seen 7 of your favorites and one of your “others”. Robin Hood and Captain Blood would be my favorites. Interesting that you have seen 4 other Basil movies….granted he made a ton of movies. Good stuff as always.