overblik
The earliest known film featuring Sherlock Holmes was produced for showing in Mutoscope machines in amusement arcades. Running time: 30 seconds. The production date was 26th April 1900.
with a satiric "story" completely unrelated to any written tale we may know. It's a half-minute of nonsense.
A burglar can appear & disappear at random. Holmes tries to ignore him by smoking a cigar, then tries to reclaim the sack of stolen goods, but the sack vanishes from his hand. It is so ridiculous to think the baffled man is Holmes that it really is good for a laugh.
It would be a delight to have known who the actor was who first brought Holmes to moving pictures, but his identity is uknown. The precise date of production is unknown, probably 1900, though its copyright date is 1903.