Sherlock Holmes Baffled is a very short American silent film

Silent film

A silent film is a film with no synchronized recorded sound, especially with no spoken dialogue. In silent films for entertainment the dialogue is transmitted through muted gestures, pantomime and title cards...

 created in 1900 with cinematography by Arthur Marvin

Arthur Marvin

Arthur Marvin , was an American cinematographer who worked for the American Mutoscope and Biograph Company in which his brother Henry Marvin was one of the four founders .He shot 418 films between 1897 and 1911, including The Adventures of Dollie , the...

. It is the earliest known film to feature Arthur Conan Doyle

Arthur Conan Doyle

Sir Arthur Ignatius Conan Doyle DL was a Scottish physician and writer, most noted for his stories about the detective Sherlock Holmes, generally considered a milestone in the field of crime fiction, and for the adventures of Professor Challenger...

's detective character Sherlock Holmes

Sherlock Holmes

Sherlock Holmes is a fictional detective created by Scottish author and physician Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. The fantastic London-based "consulting detective", Holmes is famous for his astute logical reasoning, his ability to take almost any disguise, and his use of forensic science skills to solve...

, albeit in a form unlike that of later screen incarnations. The inclusion of the character also makes it the first recorded detective film

Mystery film

Mystery film is a sub-genre of the more general category of crime film and at times the thriller genre. It focuses on the efforts of the detective, private investigator or amateur sleuth to solve the mysterious circumstances of a crime by means of clues, investigation, and clever deduction.The...

. In the film, a thief who can appear and disappear at will steals a sack of items from Sherlock Holmes.