"The game is afoot!" (Young Sherlock Holmes (DVD))

Member Name: Jake Speed

Product:	Young Sherlock Holmes (DVD)
Date:	30/10/09 (104 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Charming at times

Disadvantages: Too much action & special effects

Young Sherlock Holmes is a 1985 adventure film directed by Barry Levinson and written by Chris Columbus. The film depicts a young Holmes (Nicholas Rowe) and Watson (Alan Cox) meeting at the exclusive Brompton Academy as schoolboys and shows us how they become friends and solve their first mystery together. Holmes' embryonic deductive powers are put to the test when apparently healthy and normal men start suffering deadly hallucinations before dying in what appear to be suicides. When Mr Bobster (Patrick Newell) and Rev Nesbitt (Donald Eccles) fall victim, Holmes believes he has stumbled across a link to the deaths and attempts vainly to convince the police investigator, Lestrade (Roger Ashton-Griffiths). There is of course much more to the whole affair as Holmes discovers when he attempts to unravel this mystery with the help of Watson, nutty inventor and mentor Waxflatter (Nigel Stock) and his first great love Elizabeth (Sophie Ward).

Young Sherlock Holmes is an interesting, occasionally charming film that creates a rich and enjoyable Victorian atmosphere (naturally it always seems to be snowing) with numerous little references and jokes for the benefit of Conan Doyle fans. Unfortunately, the film loses its way at some stage and frequently bombards the viewer with far too much action and special effects work as it slips uncomfortably into Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom territory. The end result is not completely without interest though for Sherlock Holmes fans and the lanky and floppy-haired Nicholas Rowe - who looks a lot like a youthful Oscar Wilde - is inspired casting as the young Holmes. You do actually feel like Rowe could become the adult Sherlock Holmes we know so well when he grows older and we amusingly see how he picked up some of his more specific stereotypical traits and accessories - like his deerstalker hat and pipe. "On second thoughts, take it off! It looks very silly!" comments Watson when Holmes tries on his iconic headgear for the first time. Although the film plays fast and loose at times with the Holmes canon, it displays a palpable affection for Conan Doyle and the world he created, attempting with varying degrees of success to give it all a diverting twist.

One of the best things about the film is the warm and enjoyable narration throughout by Michael Hordern as the elderly Watson looking back on his first meeting with Holmes. Hordern's distinctive voice and nostalgic narration adds a good dose of charm and cosiness into a film that is often a bit too frantic and modern for its own good. "It was a cold, snowy day in early December," recalls Watson via the narration at the beginning of the film. "Lack of funds had forced my old school to close. I was being sent to a new one. I was in the heart of London at the height of the Victorian Era. The streets were teeming with every activity imaginable. I was very taken by what I saw. As I stepped from my carriage, the sight of my new school filled me with fear and apprehension, yet, I was swept with a wave of curiosity. However, nothing could prepare me for the extraordinary adventure that lay ahead, or the extraordinary individual who would change my life." It helps a great deal that Hordern's rich voice seems to belong to a bygone era.

The major weakness with Young Sherlock Holmes is that it does ultimately slip between two stools and give one a sense of two different films competing against one another. The Victorian atmosphere, Holmes in-jokes and references and detective elements would - I think - have sufficed alone to make an enjoyable and entertaining film speculating on Holmes as a schoolboy. There are though never quite enough of these elements to satisfy and the film gradually slides into increasingly tiresome chases and fights as it blitzes the viewer with special effects. While the adventure elements are not without their charms and of course the young Holmes, an athletic and brave fellow and expert fencer, would have his scrapes and physical escapades in the course of an investigation, the action and effects often seem jarring and overplayed and sometimes rather too nasty for the young audience the film is intended for. Young Sherlock Holmes could I feel have been a lot more restrained and toned down all the stained glass windows coming to life, zombies, and Egyptian temple capers. I do though like the fact that the film looks like it cost a lot of money to make. A Spielbergian gloss is daubed all over Young Sherlock Holmes with snowy Victorian streets, horse drawn carriages and looming great rooms and set decorations.

Rowe presents us with a Holmes who not yet become detached from life and is still youthful and enthusiastic but there are nice little moments of sadness and reflection that point to the more complex person he will become as an adult. He has an air of arrogance and a sometimes terse quality that reminds you of the literary Holmes but obviously this is a rather watered down, family friendly version of Holmes. It's fun though when Holmes illustrates his great detective skills, such as a challenge by his smug school rival Dudley (Earl Rhodes). "On this occasion, the entire school was bursting with excitement," narrates Hordern. "Dudley had challenged Holmes to a test of ingenuity, skill, and perception. Dudley had snatched the school's fencing trophy and hidden it in a secret place. He gave Holmes sixty minutes to find the trophy. Holmes accepted the challenge with confidence." As far as the rest of the cast goes, Nigel Stock is ok as Waxflatter, Holmes' eccentric mentor. "Retired schoolmaster," says Holmes of him. "Degrees in Chemistry and Biology, well versed in Philosophy, Mathematics and Physics. Author of 27 books." While Waxflatter's flying bike capers become slightly wearing after a while, the film has fun in inventing a source of inspiration to the young detective. "Elementary, my dear Holmes," says Waxflatter. "Elementary."

Sophie Ward is decent enough in a standard English Rose type of role and Anthony Higgins is quite suave as Holmes' urbane teacher and fencing master Rathe. As Watson, Alan Cox is likeable although the film does veer towards making him out to be something of a nerdy buffoon who is more likely to grow up to be Nigel Bruce than anyone else. The Victorian, slightly gothic school atmosphere with period uniforms, Watson's spectacles and general swirling air of mystery and adventure does actually make you wonder at times if Young Sherlock Holmes was an influence in some way on the Harry Potter universe and phenomenon. I should mention Roger Ashton-Griffiths, who is quite a nice addition as a snotty Lestrade with little time for the speculations of the young Holmes. "Oh, not again," groans Lestrade when Holmes enters his office. "It's been a long time. Three, four days since your last visit? Just like last month when you were convinced that the French ambassador had embezzled 300 thousand pounds from the Bank of England?" It's a mildly amusing idea to speculate that the schoolboy Holmes pestered Lestrade with his theories and investigations - their paths to cross many, many times in future decades on numerous cases.

Young Sherlock Holmes is entertaining and mostly pleasant with some nice doffs of the cap to Conan Doyle and fun speculations on the early days of Holmes. It perhaps though tries a little too hard at times to be an effects driven popcorn summer blockbuster - an attitude that sometimes sits uncomfortably with the Victorian atmosphere and decent performances. This is a film that could have been so much better but it certainly has its moments and Rowe makes a fine youthful incarnation of Sherlock Holmes.

Summary: Mildly diverting spin on the Holmes legend