Young Sherlock Holmes is a 1985 film directed by Barry Levinson and written by Chris Columbus. The movie depicts a young Sherlock Holmes and Dr. Watson meeting and solving a mystery together at a boarding school.
Sir Arthur Conan Doyle explicitly states in the first Sherlock Holmes novel A Study in Scarlet that Holmes and Watson had not previously met, meaning the film cannot be considered part of the Holmes canon.
Plot Synopsis
In this fanciful imagining of the Holmes canon, teenagers John Watson and Sherlock Holmes meet at the prestigious Brompton Academy. The reticent Watson and intellectual Holmes quickly become good friends as they begin their studies together. Watson also meets Holmes’s mentor Rupert T. Waxflatter, a retired schoolmaster and inventor working on a complete self-propelled, heavier-than-air flight. His niece, Elizabeth, is also Holmes’s close friend and love interest; Holmes competes for her affections with fellow student Dudley.
At the same time, two prominent men, Mr. Bobster and Rev. Nesbitt fall victim to an hallucinogen which drives them to their deaths. Noticing newspaper clippings of their deaths in Waxflatter’s office, Holmes starts to notice a connection between them. He takes his suspicions to investigator Mr. LeStrade, only to be rebuffed. Later, Holmes is expelled from the Academy due to Dudley’s machinations. Before he leaves, Holmes has one last match with his fencing instructor and equal Prof. Rathe; he only loses due to being distracted by Rathe’s ring. Meanwhile, the mysterious hooded figure responsible for the deaths poisons Waxflatter, driving him to suicide as he attacks imaginary gargoyles. His last words to Holmes are “Eh Tar.”
Having been barred from attending Waxflatter’s funeral, Holmes instead meets with Watson and Elizabeth to discuss the deaths that he determines to be murders. Piecing together the first clues: a jingling sound, a piece of cloth, and a blowpipe, the three of them discovers the existence of Rame Tep, an ancient cult of Osiris Worshippers. The cult’s main weapons were blowpipes, which shot thorns dipped in a hallucinogen that drove their enemies to their deaths. Their investigation then leads to a warehouse of Frogett and Frogett, a Wapping-area manufacturer; they then discover a modern-day revival of Rame Tep. When they interrupt the ceremonial sacrifice of a young girl, the three are attacked by the worshippers. Only through Holmes’s endurance and the intervention of a graveyard caretaker are the three able to survive the hallucinations.
The following morning, after being lectured by an angry Mr. LeStrade, Holmes, Elizabeth and Watson continue their investigation. At Waxflatter’s loft, Holmes and Watson discover a picture the previous three victims and a fourth man, Chester Cragwitch. Unfortunately, Prof Rathe and School Nurse Mrs. Dribb catch them and separate them, preparing to expel them in the morning. But the three soon escape, and while Elizabeth returns to the loft to salvage her uncle’s work, the other two locate Mr. Cragwitch. He explains to them that in their youth, he and the other men discovered the underground pyramid of Rame Tep in Egypt. Their find led to an angry revolution by the local populace which was violently put down by the British Army; one boy, Eh Tar, who along with his sister lost their parents in the uprising, swore revenge. Having been poisoned by the hooded figure, Cragwitch suddenly attacks Holmes, who is saved by Mr. LeStrade.
As they return to campus, Holmes suddenly realizes that Prof. Rathe is the one responsible. He and Watson return just as the hooded figure, really Mrs. Dribb, leaves with Elizabeth. Using Waxflatter’s flying machine, they arrive at the Rame Tep warehouse just in time to prevent Rathe from sacrificing Elizabeth. As Rathe escapes with Elizabeth, Holmes battles Mrs. Dribb, which results in her fiery death. Meanwhile, Watson successfully thwarts Rathe’s escape by stopping his carriage. Rathe then tries to shoot Holmes, but Elizabeth takes the shot instead. Enraged, Holmes duels Rathe and manages to get the better of him; Rathe then falls through the frozen Thames to his doom. Holmes returns to Elizabeth’s side just before she dies.
Later, as he exchanges goodbyes with Watson, Holmes explains how he figured the identity of Rathe and Mrs. Dribb, who are actually Eh Tar and his sister. In the closing credits, Rathe is revealed to be alive; he checks himself in an inn as “Moriarty.”
The film also directly notes that it has no place in canon and was made out of respect for the characters.
References to the Holmes canon
- Holmes has started learning to play the violin during the opening scenes, and is quite frustrated that he has not mastered the instrument even after 3 days of practice and wants to smash the violin because he fears it will drive him insane.
- His pipe is originally bought by Watson to allow them to question an antique shop dealer; in the conclusion, Watson presents it to Holmes as a parting gift.
- His Inverness cape originally belonged to Rathe, and is also his first trophy.
- His deerstalker cap belonged to his mentor Waxflatter, but is given to him after Waxflatter's death by his niece Elizabeth. Holmes refuses to wear it at first but due to Elizabeth's and Watson's persistence he puts it on, and by the end of the adventure Holmes has started to wear the cap regularly (understandably to remember her always).
- True to form, Holmes utilises a magnifying lens to catch the slightest details of anything he investigates.
- Holmes mentions his brother, Mycroft, when preparing to leave the school.
- Elizabeth's death, and Holmes' promise to wait until the day they are re-united, provides an explanation for Holmes' bachelor life.
- Prof. Rathe is stated to have been Holmes' future nemesis as an adult detective; 'Professor Moriarty'.
Riddle of the Bear
Holmes suggests a riddle to Watson, and Watson puzzles over it for much of the film.
"You are seated in a room with an all-southern view. Suddenly a bear walks past the window. What colour is the bear?"
The answer is white. The only room with an all-southern view would be at the North Pole, meaning that the bear in question must be a polar bear.
Production
Tagline — "Before a lifetime of adventure, They had the adventure of a lifetime"
The film is notable for including the first fully computer-generated character, a knight composed of elements from a stained glass window. The effect was created by Lucasfilm's John Lasseter (now executive vice-president at Pixar Animation Studios) before Pixar was sold the next year. Lasseter would go on to create Toy Story 10 years later.
In Britain the film was re-titled Young Sherlock Holmes and the Pyramid of Fear, in a nod to the previous year's Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom.
Awards
1985 - Academy Award for Visual Effects (nominated)[1]
Music
The film music was composed by Bruce Broughton who has a long-standing history of scoring orchestral film soundtracks. The music for the film was nominated for Grammy and also received a Saturn Award. Among the memorable themes are the suspenseful main title theme with the flute and string sections, the "Holmes Triumphant" theme which closed the film, and the "Waxing Elizabeth" piece which accompanied the scenes of the gruesome ceremonies of the Rame Tep. The film soundtrack is currently unavailable on CD, but earlier audio tape and vinyl editions may be found online.
Illusionist David Copperfield (illusionist) used the music from the soundtrack for several segments of his David Copperfield: Orient Express television special, in which he levitated an entire train car from the famed Orient Express.
Cast
Reunions
Nicholas Rowe (Holmes) and Roger Ashton-Griffiths (Lestrade) starred together in the 2002 film version of Nicholas Nickleby.
Nicholas Rowe (Holmes), Alan Cox (Watson) and Roger Ashton-Griffiths (Lestrade) were reunited in Margaret a 2009 British mini-series concerning the life of Margaret Thatcher. [1]
References
External links
|
Steven Spielberg productions |
|
| 1970s/1980s |
|
|
| 1990s |
|
|
| 2000s |
|
|
| Television |
|
|
| Games |
|
|
| Short films |
|
|
