The best Sherlock Holmes ever is Jeremy Brett in the series he did for Granada TV, he captures all of Holmes eccentricity, mercurialness, and is not, at times, to make him thoroughly dislikeable. A wonderful dangerous performance. Unofrtunately, in the later series, Jeremy is sick and the medicine he is on bloats him up.
When I worked with him in Crucifer of Blood at the Ahmanson, where he played Watson to Charlton Heston's Holmes, Brett was just as good a Watson as he was a Homes. He said: Over in England, I always get these weight of the Empire roles; it's so nice to come here and play Winnie-the-Pooh, which is exactly how I'm playing Watson.
My favourite Holmes movies are my own HOUND OF THE BASKERVILLES starring Ian Richardson, aformidable Holmes in his own right. and THE ADVENTURES OF SHERLOCK HOLMES with the great Basil Rathbone. Christopher Plummer makes a good Holmes in MURDER BY DECREE and James Mason a very nice, if elderly, Watson. "You mashed my pea."
For films that sort of send the character up, I would have to pick Billy Wilder's THE PRIVATE LIFE OF SHERLOCK HOLMES, which also has maybe my favourite film score by the astounding Miklos Rozsa.
Favourite Holmes plays would be my own THE EBONY APE, a Sherlock Holmes Tales of Victorian Horror & Bizarre Mystery...The plot is an original concoction of my own borrowing from the original stories the Speckled Band, The Creeping Man, The Devil's Foot...with sprinklings from several others. I'm also very fond of THE CRUCIFER OF BLOOD by Paul Giovanni.
Of the original tales, I like the HOUND; SIGN OF FOUR; THE DISAPPERANCE OF LADY FRANCES CARFAX; CHARLES AUGUSTUS MILVERTON; THE PROBLEM OF THOR BRIDGE; THE DEVIL'S FOOT...I'm probably missing a few.