This article refers to the character from the 1985 film, Young Sherlock Holmes, played by Nicholas Rowe.
Sherlock Holmes is a student at London's prestigious Brompton Academy who later becomes world's first consulting detective.
Plot[]
At Brompton, Holmes meets John Watson, another student having recently joined the school, whom he quickly befriends. Here Holmes has a mentor and friend, Rupert T. Waxflatter, a retired schoolmaster and inventor. Waxflatter's niece Elizabeth is also Holmes' close friend and love interest and Holmes competes for her affections with fellow student Dudley, though she shows a marked preference for Holmes.
Even at this age Holmes possess his renowned skills of deduction and observation, he possess a great love of science and drive to solve crimes. He also enjoys fencing and is friends with another school master of his, Professor Rathe, who is also his fencing Coach. He had not yet mastered the Violin, a fact which annoyed him.
Following being framed for cheating by Dudley, Holmes is expelled. However, following the murder of Waxflatter, he becomes determined to solve the case. He secretly stays in Waxflatters old laboratory and examines the case. He and Watson, discovers that the Rame Tep, a fanatical Egyptian cult, renowned for there sadistic rituals and there use of poisoned blow darts that cause nightmare like hallucinations are behind the murders of Waxflatter and several other distinguished gentleman, as well as the kidnapping of several young girls, who they mummified and then sacrificed to the god of the dead. He, Watson and Elizabeth manage to track down the Rame Tep's secret temple, and he sees them perform one of there sacrifices. Unable to take watch them kill her, in a rash moment Holmes reveals himself. Chased by the fanatical members, Holmes is hit by one of there blow darts, as are his friends. Still pursued by one member they run into a graveyard, there he is separated from Elizabeth. Finding Elizabeth he is unable to shake her from her nightmare and is forced to restrain her to stop her hurting herself. However Watson is also affected, trying to find him Holmes faces a nightmare hallucination of his father angry at him for uncovering his secrets and thus hurting his mother (its implied his father was having an affair and Holmes figured it out and revealed it) managing to break out of the Hallucination, he is attacked by member of the Rame Tep avoiding him he tries to fight back with a pole, however he is disarmed, but is saved by a caretaker. Who has them arrested, Lestrade convinces him to drop the charges, Holmes tries to convince him to start an investigation, but Lestrade doesn't believe Holmes. Holmes leaves him some of the darts they stole, hoping they might convince him.
Back at the Lab, he makes a breakthrough, discovering the final living member of the group Chester Cragwitch. However he is then found by Rathe, he warns Holmes that the board would have him arrested, but agrees not to tell them, however he insists that must leave and expels Watson. However not willing to give up, Holmes and Watson break out and go visit the last member of the gentleman alive. Cragwitch reveals the story that many years earlier all of them were working together to build a great hotel in Egypt, however they came across the Tomb of five Egyptian princesses, they had them excavated, this angered the natives. Fearing for there lives, the gentleman called in the British Army, as Egypt was a British Colony at the time, the soldiers killed many of the natives and burned the village to the ground. However one Anglo-Egyptian native boy named Eh Tar and his sister were staying with their Grandfather in England at the time. He swore vengeance on the men and promised to replace the five Egyptian Princesses. Already poisoned, Cragwitch tries to kill Holmes, believing him to be Eh Tar, however he is saved by Lestrade, who the darts finally managed to convince to investigate.
However returning to the Academy Holmes suddenly has an epiphany and realises that Professor Rathe is Eh Tar. Running back he finds himself to late, as Rathe escapes on a carriage having kidnapped Elizabeth planning to make her the fifth and final Princess. Faced with no other way of catching up in time, he and Watson take Waxflatters experimental flying machine and chase them to the Rame Tempe's Temple. Breaking in, Holmes is horrified that he can't think of an single idea what to do. But Watson manages to motivate him and convince him to calm down, formulating a plan. They stage a distraction which manages to bring the temple down and cause it to catch fire, saving Elizabeth. Holmes seeing Eh Tar's sister Mrs Dribb (who is also his best assassin) going for his friends. Holmes jumps from the rafters and takes her on. The two fight over the blow pipe she wields, getting the upper hand she tries to shoot him with the blow dart. But Holmes manages to blow back into the pipe, forcing the dart back into her own mouth. Pushing her off, she is overcome with her own poison, in the chaos her robes catch fire and she burns to death. Confronted by some of the last surviving members Holmes takes them on first with a fallen beam and then a sword he found in the temple, but is knocked out cold by one of the members trying a last assault on him and trapped in the fire.
Watson manages to formulate a plan, and saves both him and Elizabeth. Reunited with his friends, they begin to leave only to be confronted by Rathe, armed with a revolver he tries to shoot Holmes, but Elizabeth gives her life to save him and takes the bullet. Enraged, Holmes attacks Rathe with a sword he took from the Temple. Rathe takes his own blade, that he concealed in his cane. The two duel, Eh Tar tries to exploit Holmes anger, but Holmes manages to turn it back on him, pointing out how all his goals and plans have failed, he had lost everything and mocked him as a failure. Enraged the fight descended to hand-to-hand, before finally climaxing with the two trying to bludgeon each other to death with oars on the frozen River Thames. Eh Tar lost control of his anger and tried to deliver a killing blow, when his sudden actions caused the already cracking Ice to shatter pulling him into the deep water.
Running to the dying Elizabeth, Holmes promises her he would meet her again some day, in another world a better world, Elizabeth promised to wait for him and wished him a final goodbye before dying, this Watson describes being the second of only two occasions he saw ever Holmes cry (the first being the death of his Mentor, Waxflatter). After this, Holmes decides to leave Brompton Academy, deeming to many bad memories. Now deciding he will live his life alone. As he leaves explains the further details of the mystery to Watson. He also takes Rathe's Inverness Cape as a trophy of his victory, and his mentors Deerstalker Cap, which Elizabeth had earlier given him, to remember her. Saying goodbye to Watson, Watson gives him the pipe he brought while searching for clues about the Rama Tempe, as a present. As he leaves, Watson reminisces, how then he never thanked Holmes for making him a man, and that he knew then that the two of them were destined to meet again.
We are shown how Holmes became so cold and calculating later in life and why he stayed alone for the rest of his life. Holmes is very emotional in the film, he is ruled by emotion and falls in love with the love of his life. As a result of what happens in the films he becomes the person he was later on.[1]
Notes[]
- In this version Holmes deerstalker originates as a gift from Elizabeth which was previously worn by Rupert T. Waxflatter and his pipe similarly is a gift by Watson, who bought it in the shop in an exchange for information, that he and Holmes needed for their case.
Other Appearances[]
Nicholas Rowe appeared as Holmes again in 2010, alongside Alan Cox as Watson in some sketches for 50-Hour improvised marathon Improvathon.
Improvathon, London 2010
Improvathon, London 2010-0
Improvathon, London 2010-2
References[]
- ↑ Movie Review, Young Sherlock Holmes (1985), Imagine Sherlock as a boy..., By Leslie Bennetts, Published: December 1st, 1985.