Young Sherlock Holmes
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Movie Reviews of Young Sherlock Holmes
Movie Review: The game's afoot!
Summary: 5 Stars
Sherlock Holmes is one of the best known detectives in the world -- so famous in fact, that 221B Baker Street in London continues to get mail addressed to this fictional character almost a century after he would have died had he been a real person. There are groups of people -- Sherlockians and Holmesians, the distinction between which is rather subtle -- who delight in retelling the tales; it has become somewhat traditional to try to fill in the gaps, things left out of the 'canonical' stories by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle -- 56 short stories and 4 novels. The official tales allude to happenings beyond them -- some authors take up the point there, and others create fanciful tales altogether. These have been made into films, television programmes and radio programmes for most of the history of their publication.
This film, 'Young Sherlock Holmes', derives from the mid-1980s film of the same name, produced by Steven Spielberg and directed by Barry Levinson as an homage to Holmes and Holmes fans. The screenplay, written by Chris Columbus, was adapted into novel form by Alan Arnold. This story fills in the gaps of Holmes' childhood and education.
There are many wonderful pieces here -- it breaks with the canon in that it introduces Holmes (then 16 years old) and Watson as school mates at a private school. Holmes is struggling to learn to play the violin (a canonical piece), and already displays prodigious powers of observation and deduction. He is a loner for the most part, a bit of trouble with authorities and often underestimated. Lestrade is also introduced here, as a junior policeman.
The game is afoot in short order when Holmes' favourite, highly-eccentric professor dies mysteriously; this death mirrors in a fashion several other deaths, which leads Holmes and his new sidekick Watson on a merry chase, along with Elizabeth (this early relationship and its outcome is meant to explain the later absence of women in Holmes' life). The headmaster is generally supportive of Holmes, but is his support all that it seems?
The chase leads Holmes through the London underworld he will later come to know very well, tracking down a mysterious cult with Egyptian origins. Arnold's researching into the Egyptian lore, as well as details about London and Holmesian detail is impressive. Arnold holds Holmes as an ideal, stating in an author's epilogue that Holmes is as much the chivalric medieval knight as a Victorian and Edwardian gentleman.
This is a mystery very much in the spirit of Conan Doyle. The clues are there -- one merely needs to follow them to a logical conclusion. Some purists may balk, but this is an intriguing addition to the body of post-Conan Doyle literature, a worthy pastiche.
The lead is played by Nicholas Rowe, an actor deserving of more recognition. Alan Cox plays John Watson - had the Harry Potter stories come about twenty years earlier, he might well have been cast in that role. Sophie Ward plays the love interest for Holmes - Holmes is noted in the stories for not being particularly amorous of nature, and this story attempts to explain that. Anthony Higgins is the villain (do be sure to see the final bonus scene after the credits for the transformation of the villain), assisted by Susan Fleetwood as his 'moll' of sorts. Rounding out the cast is Freddie Jones as Cragwitch and Nigel Stock as Waxflatter, an eccentric (possibly mad) scientist/academic who is friends with Holmes.
The CGI graphics stand up with to time - the walking stained-glass window knight is reminiscent of the knight in 'Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade'. The sets, costumes and other effects of the film are really well tended, as is the care taken to add elements faithful to the original stories of Holmes.
Movie Review: The Game is afoot!
Summary: 5 Stars
Young Sherlock Holmes got a rough ride when it came out - not so much for the notion of Holmes and Watson meeting as children (there'd been a more straight-laced British childrens' TV series about just that a few years earlier that passed without any noticeable outrage) but because it was felt that it owed far more to executive producer than Steven Spielberg than Arthur Conan Doyle. The fact that after it opened to mediocre business Stateside it was retitled Young Sherlock Holmes and the Pyramid of Fear to add an Indiana Jones spin to the marketing only added to their impression. Egyptian cults in the heart of London committing human sacrifices, hallucinogenic drugs leading to fatal encounters with turkey dinners and stained-glass windows, flying machines and, worse still, a girl was hardly the stuff of The Strand Magazine's most famous creation. But Doyle himself might have been a bit more forgiving - after all, he had Holmes come up against demon dogs, vengeful Mormons, deadly pygmies and even a vampire, and wasn't adverse to penning tales about vampires and monsters on the side when not attending séances or declaring children's photographs of fairies to be genuine proof of ethereal beings. In many ways the screenwriters have been rather more sympathetic to his creations and their world than they were ever given credit for, speculating on the origins of Holmes' strained relationship with Inspector Lestrade, his reticence with the opposite sex and even his vicious feud with Moriarty (you'll have to stick around for the post-end credits coda for that). And while critics complained that the film was special effects heavy, with his love of camera trickery it's affair bet whatever else he thought of the film, he'd have been delighted by the groundbreaking early CGI effects, which still manage to impress without overwhelming the film (the 2-D stained glass knight in armour is particularly cleverly designed)
Nicholas Rowe is an entirely convincing young Holmes, with an air of natural superiority without being unlikeable, and for the most part Alan Cox (rather unflatteringly used by his father Brian as the model for his turn as Hannibal Lektor!) avoids turning Watson into a clown, while a young Sophie Ward is a very fetching female lead and Anthony Higgins a dashing mentor-figure. The story is enjoyable even if it veers into adventure more than detection by the end, climaxing with a fine swordfight on a thin ice on a frozen river Thames. Not everything is entirely successful - there's a nightmare sequence with some pastries that really should have stayed on the cutting room floor - but the film's much more enjoyable than it has any right to be. It's also beautifully designed with a rather splendid score by Bruce Broughton that ensures it sounds as good as it looks. Great fun.
Movie Review: His first case
Summary: 5 Stars
In Sherlock Holmes of Baker Street, his "biography" of the Great Detective, W. S. Baring-Gould tells us that Holmes was born in 1854 and sent, c. 1865-7, to "a board school" (name unspecified), of which he says "It is a pity that we do not know more about the two years Sherlock spent there." The creators of this movie must have read that sentence and taken off from it, and in this fast-moving adventure movie they show us a young Holmes who clearly has the roots of his adult self already in place. A keen observer, impatient with incompetence, and the master of a vast store of esoteric knowledge, young Holmes (Nicholas Rowe) is older than Baring-Gould's version of him--probably around 17--when, attending Brompton School in London, he meets an even younger (about 11) John Watson (John Cox), who's immediately dazzled by his skills and overwhelming personality. But Holmes isn't just a future British eccentric (a species common to that nationality). When the school's clergyman (Donald Eccles) runs out in front of a carriage and is killed, Holmes is quick to connect his death with the apparent suicide of Bentley Bobster (Patrick Newell), and soon figures out that both were murdered in a very exotic way. Although his obsession gets him expelled, he doggedly pursues his findings and follows the trail to a hidden pseudo-Egyptian temple that is the headquarters of the Rametap, a fanatical religious group that has survived since the heyday of Ancient Egypt.
This Steven Spielberg presentation has all the pace, thrills, and stunning special effects (by George Lucas's ILM) that we might expect, along with a scary and sinister band of villains and some really unforgettable characters, including the eccentric retired Prof. Waxflatter (Nigel Stock), who's obsessed with creating a working ornithopter, his niece Elizabeth Hardy (Sophie Ward), with whom Holmes is in love, and Prof. Rathe (Anthony Higgins), Brompton's headmaster, who proves to be more than he appears. The look of Victorian London is brilliantly recreated and the script gives us several hints into the roots of Holmes's future, including his notorious use of cocaine. Though the vivid effects and the Rametap in their hideout are occasionally a bit scary, no one over 11 or 12 should be seriously troubled by them. I don't watch or collect very many movies made since about 1970, but this one is thoroughly my kind of flick.
Movie Review: An intriguing and entertaining 'what-if' fantasy adventure
Summary: 5 Stars
With Steven Spielberg in the producing chair it should come as no real susprise that 1985s YOUNG SHERLOCK HOLMES as a definite Indiana Jones influence to it - most specifically Spielberg's most recent entry (at that time) into the popular frnachise INDIANA JONES AND THE TEMPLE OF DOOM. Nowhere is this more evident than in the ancient hidden temple setting where our young heroes uncover much of the villains evil plot.
For a Sherlockian the movie is a curious anomaly, but incredibly entertaining. We know from the books of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle that Dr. Watson met Sherlock Holmes when both were in adulthood, yet this movie poses the irresistible `what-if' they had met earlier when both were in boarding school.
As one would expect with a movie from Spielberg's Amblin company, this movie is very colorful and filed with dazzling special effects - courtesy of Industrial Light and Magic. The plot essentially takes a back seat to the fun of spotting Holmesian references, watching his already developing deductive intellect solving puzzles and rooting for a bittersweet, blossoming romance between Holmes (played by Nicholas Rowe of LA FEMME MUSKETEER) and Elizabeth (Sophie Ward).
For what it's worth the central plot involves a poisoned darts, hallucinations, DaVinci inventions, a strange Egyptian religious cult and a mysterious secret several distinguished men have kept buried for years. It all makes for some very Spielbergesque style adventure entertainment that director Barry (RAIN MAN) Levinson manages to weave into an enjoyable and intriguing movie.
Sherlockian purists will likely find this premise hard to swallow, but as a diehard fan of the Great Detective, I for one had a great time with this movie.
Unquestionably the chracterization of Watson is influenced more by the Rathbone-Bruce movies of the 1930s and 1940s than Conan Doyles novels with this movie featuring Alan Cox in the part of the future doctor, a role he handles well with warmth and good humor.
Also of note in this movie is some wonderful period costumes and impressive sets.
With doses of mystery, fantasy, intrigue and adventure this movie is easy to recommend, not only for Sherlockians but for those of us who simply enjoy good, solid, fun movies.
Movie Review: A legend is born (Spielbergian way at least!)
Summary: 5 Stars
After "Raiders of the Lost Ark" (1981), "Poltergeist" (1982), "The Twilight Zone: The Movie" (1983), "Gremlins" (1984), "Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom" (1984) and "The Goonies", Steven Spielberg continued to amaze audiences with "Young Sherlock Holmes" (1985), a movie that stayed in the vein of themes immersed on the occult that Spielberg so much adores to explore. This one directed by Barry Levinson ("Rainman") and written by Chris Columbus ("Gremlins", "Goonies")follows the adventure in which a teenager Holmes launches himself, with an equally young Watson, to discover a murderous plot that threatens some British men with nothing apparently in common.
The importance of this film is not only the fact that it shows the first digital character in movie history, but the freshness that Columbus brought to the story and the extremely original point of view with which he aproaches one of literature's most precious and serious characters.
The story will keep you nailed to your chair, and you'll start seeing shadows around the corner. Production Design is equally impecable as you're transported magically to Victorian London... with its fog and misterious streets.
The seriousness that Sir Arthur Conan Doyle imprinted to his character is still there, but comic relief has an important presence, courtesy of young Watson.
There are some mistakes, alright, but the movie's exceptional 80's innocence will be forgiven by almost every one who gets to see it.
Bruce Broughton's score is one of a kind!
I couldn't nearly believe when I discovered this movie is going to be released on the DVD format, it has been one of my favorites of all time and you can feel the Spielbergian scent all over it! With the Indiana Jones Trilogy being released this
October, I will be the proud owner of almost every Spielberg (directed or executive produced) movie related with the occult.
I know it's kinda hard for the Twilight Zone Movie to be released on the Digital Disc format, but, Hey! I'm satisfied to own all the others.
Sit back and enjoy being a little scared and excited.
P.s: Don't stop your DVD until the credits roll up to the end. If you're a Sherlock Holmes avid reader... You'll be amazed!!!