Young Sherlock Holmes (1985)

Young Sherlock Holmes is a 1985 American mystery adventure film directed by Barry Levinson and written by Chris Columbus, based on the characters created by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle.

Friendship is at the core of Young Sherlock Holmes, an imaginative recreation of how Sherlock Holmes and John Watson became friends. Their personalities are diametrically opposed. Holmes is independent and daring, and Watson is a “play it by the book” medical student, staunchly averse to risk, always worried about jeopardizing his academic future. However, he admires Holmes’s adventurous spirit. Despite their differences, their affection for one another grows and is celebrated in the many detective novels of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle.

The film begins in Victorian England on a dark night when we see a hooded assassin use a blowpipe to shoot a dart into an unsuspecting man. The dart causes the man to hallucinate and commit suicide. Two more people die under similar circumstances; and Holmes, a friend of one of the victims, tries to piece together clues to find the murderer. This leads to all sorts of escapades in which he and Watson put themselves in danger as they discover an Egyptian cult bent on taking revenge for a wrong committed many years earlier.

At the end of their adventure, Holmes and Watson take leave of one another, and Watson realizes he forgot to thank him. Watson reflects: “He had taken a weak, frightened boy and made him into a courageous, strong man. My heart soared.” The friendship has transformed Watson and for that he is eternally grateful. (http://koshermovies.com/2013/12/29/young-sherlock-holmes-1985-directed-by- barry-levinson/)

CLASSIC DETECTIVE STORIES

The classic English detective story, or ‘whodunit’, is a short account of a murder investigation by a police officer, private detective or amateur sleuth. The writer provides the reader with a series of clues, which the detective uses to solve the case. Very often it is difficult for the reader to guess ‘whodunit’ - often the writers made the methods of murder unusual, while at the same time blessing their detectives with flashes of brilliance in order that they may discover the truth.

Important elements of a detective story:-

1. A detective (someone clever enough to solve a problem or a crime that other people find impossible to unravel).

2. A problem - a crime that needs to be solved. Interest for the reader is to try to solve the crime, picking up the clues which the writer leaves scattered throughout the story, testing their own cleverness against the detective’s.

3. A solution - and an explanation of how the problem was solved.

Detective stories give readers excitement, pleasures of a puzzle and satisfaction of a solution.

Mysterious crime + clever detective = ingenious solution = happy ending!