Young Sherlock Holmes (1985) was a groundbreaking film with the younger days of the great detective, but he is thrown into a great adventure! This is the third film written by Chris Columbus, he previously wrote Gremlins (1984), and made a name for himself for family friendly movies, he went on to direct Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone (2001) and also the musical Rent (2005). It launched a genre of movies looking to revitalize (or start) franchises by showing the younger days, I recall (gasp!) Young Einstein (1988) with Yahoo Serious, and The Young Indiana Jones Chronicles tv series. In Europe, the film was known as Pyramid of Fear, strange that the title didn't include the recognition of Sherlock Holmes' name.
I was caught up in reading Arthur Conan Doyle, possibly from seeing this film, this was of course twenty four years before the Guy Ritchie movie and twenty-five years before Benedict Cumberbatch returned him to iconic status in the Sherlock series. There has of course been a long legacy of cinematic adventures for Holmes & Watson, Peter Cushing played Holmes in the tv movie, Sherlock Holmes and the Masks of Death (1984), a well known adaptation, The Private Life of Sherlock Holmes (1970) directed by Billy Wilder, all the way back to Sherlock Holmes (1922) with John Barrymore as the detective. The film is interesting since it was released by Amblin Entertainment, the Steven Spielberg productions were near-flawless at the 80’s box office, except this one. It is directed by Barry Levinson who directed The Natural (1984), Rain Man (1988) in which he won the Academy Award, and Sphere (1998) based on the Michael Crichton novel.
A man in a coat leaves a building on a snowy London street when a hooded shadow appears with the tinkling of bells. The bearded man, Mr. Bobster (Patrick Newell), makes his way through the streets followed by the figure with the large hood. The mysterious person fires a blowgun at Bobster who believes it so kind of insect sting and enters a restaurant. He is served a dish of pheasant, he is about to cut into it, when the dinner pops out a head and begins attacking him! Time to go vegan? The head of the bird pecking at his face is disturbing, this should have been PG-13, but he finds nothing in his hands! Bobster rushes back to his house and locks himself in his room. His hat suddenly lands on his head and he finds that his hat rack come to life and wraps around him! The room is set on fire and he leaps to his death as the shadow passes by.
Another shadow is followed through the streets until we get the text explanation that the story is not based on the works of Arthur Conan Doyle. Then, there is narration by John Watson (Michael Hordem) explaining his earlier days as we see him as played by Alan Cox. He was in the drama, An Awfully Big Adventure (1995), and the sci fi movie, Speed of Thought (2011). Watson is in a carriage looking at London while it is explained that he moved from his school in the country to a city school in the Victorian era. Watson is taken to his bunk next to a young man trying to play the violin. He tells his roommate not to smash the violin which he was attempting to play in three days. Before he introduces himself, the older boy (Nicholas Rowe) examines him, and tells him about his life. Except that he calls him James Watson. Rowe is an actor with credits including Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels (1998) and Mr. Holmes (2015) with Sir Ian McKellan. Then, goes about showing him the evidence that he gathered. Before they leave, he introduces himself as Sherlock Holmes!
Holmes gives Watson a riddle of figuring out a room with a Southern view and the color of a bear that passed by. They go to chemistry class with a doddering professor. There is a rap at the window, Holmes goes to a take a note from a young woman (Sophie Ward), Watson is shocked at seeing a girl in an all boys school. Ward was in Little Dorritt (1998), Wuthering Heights (1992) and two adaptations of Crime and Punishment. Holmes tells Watson that she is Elizabeth and is staying with her uncle. Elizabeth is an interesting character, young, but later joins Holmes and Watson in the adventure. Next, they head to the library where Elizabeth is talking to a posh boy. Holmes upstages Dudley by realizing his expensive watch is a forgery. Elizabeth notes that Holmes is jealous about Dudley’s attention to her.
Watson is up a ladder checking out books when he hears a tinkling of bells. He falls after trying to find out who is making the noise. Holmes and Elizabeth check on him. They walk the school grounds when Elizabeth’s uncle, Rupert T. Waxflatter (Nigel Stock), calls out to Holmes. Stock was Cavendish in The Great Escape (1963) and wasMr. Pickwick in The Pickwick Papers (1985) series. He takes off on his new invention, a flying machine that gets all of the school kids cheering, until it crashes into a tree. The friends take the pieces of the machine back to the retired professor’s work room. Rupert notes that he has to rebuild the machine, Holmes asks him if that will be difficult, he replies, “Elementary my dear Holmes, elementary.” A mysterious man, Chester Cragwitch (Freddie Jones) knocks on Rupert’s window and he sends the friends out so he can talk. Jones was Thufir Hawatt in David Lynch’s Dune (1984) and starred in the series Emmerdale.
Next, we get a church were Reverend Duncan Nesbitt is hit by the blowpipe, he sees a stained glass window of a knight that leaps out and threatens him. This is the first CG character on film and part of the stunning visual effects by ILM. At fencing class, Holmes studies the duel, as the fencing master knocks his student down. He unmasks, it is Professor Rathe (Anthony Higgins) and he has Mrs. Dribb (Susan Fleetwood) check on the student’s injury. Higgins was Gobler in Raiders of the Lost Ark (1981) and starred in the adaptation of Bel Ami (2012). Fleetwood played Athena in Clash of the Titans (1981) and was in the Jane Austen adaptation Persuasion (1995). Mrs. Dribb is the caring figure for the school. Rathe is a mentor figure for Holmes and their duels are matches of skill and minds. The duel, bully with his group, and school setting remind me more than a little about Harry Potter.
He calls up Holmes to fence against him, Holmes gets in two touches, but gets Rathe’s foil against his neck. Rathe tells the class it is his emotion that caused his loss. At dinner, the students sit in the hall, Dudley, Watson, and Holmes are at the table taking about professions. Holmes looks out the window at Elizabeth walking her dog and says, “I never want to be alone.” The dog hears the tinkling of bells and a shadow passes a school wall. Unkas chases after the hooded stranger and takes a piece of the coat. Later, Dudley challenges Holmes to a contest of deductive skill, with one hour to solve it. Holmes races to put together the clues. This so reminds me of Harry Potter especially with a trophy. Holmes finds another news item circled by Rupert and tries to bring it to the attention of Detective Sergeant LeStrade (Roger Ashton-Griffiths). The actor played Mace Tyrell in Game of Thrones and was in the sci fi movie Brazil (1985)
Holmes is expelled from the school by the trickery from Dudley. He is about to leave when there is another death. In this case, Rupert, when he is shopping at an antique store and sees strange gargoyle figures come to life! This spurs Holmes to solve the murders with Watson and Elizabeth. It brings them into a secret society lying in the underbelly of London. The film made me very much think of the Spielberg movie a year earlier, Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom (1984). The credits note illustrator Mike Ploog, he is a well known comic book artist, he also worked on the animated film Wizards (1977) and Jim Henson films including The Dark Crystal (1982). Young Sherlock Holmes is a “great adventure” with nods to Arthur Conan Doyle, great characters especially seeing Sherlock develop into his later adult persona, and some stunning effects!
#YoungSherlockHolmes, #BarryLevinson, #NicholasRowe, #AlanCox
Comments
Post a Comment