Customer Reviews

Young Sherlock - The Mystery of the Manor House

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1 star:		(1)

 

 

My younger cousins were enthralled with the Steven Spielberg-produced "Young Sherlock Holmes" movie from the mid-'80s. They kept wanting to see more Sherlock (during his younger years in particular) so naturally I was happy to find this mini-series that had been long out of print. With good reason, it seems. This production is rumored to have inspired the aforementioned Spielberg flick. The young actor who plays Sherlock isn't the same as the one who appeared on the big screen, but he isn't bad at all, acting wise. His appearance is rather odd, however, and doesn't exactly fit the bill--except for his appropriately lean build. Unfortunately, there is no junior Watson, but a prototype in an older friend whom Sherlock calls "John". Holmes's future landlady makes an appearance, though she is not called Mrs. Hudson yet. The plot itself revolves around a sinister plan to replace Queen Victoria with a look-alike; this sounds more interesting than it plays out. If the pace weren't so funeral, I don't see why this wouldn't be a more well-known effort. Curiously, this plot idea is echoed somewhat in Disney's "The Great Mouse Detective", but that version makes it much more entertaining.

I was thoroughly dissappointed in this set. The plots were limp and dissapointing. This will be the first DVD that I will resell. I wish someone had steered me away from this one.

The entire videos are one story about a young Sherlock Holmes. It takes forever, but keeps your interest. The actors have gone on to bigger and better things and we learn about how Holmes & Watson end up at 221 B Baker St. And how Mrs. Hudson comes into home life. I bought this used and there were a few problems, but I bought a DVD Cleaning Kit for $5.00 from Amazon and it cleaned it up just fine. IF YOU BUY USED DVDS ALSO GET THE AMAZON KIT.

Although rather low-budget and somewhat slow-paced, it's not a bad little mini-series for kids. The villains' plot is rather complicated for what they're trying to accomplish, but not so much that kids can't follow it.

The story is presented as a series of recordings made by Sherlock Holmes to be played by Dr. Watson after his death. It starts as the young Holmes arrives home from boarding school for the holidays. He is earlier than his family expected because of an epidemic of typhoid at the school. To his shock, he finds that the manor house where he and his family have lived is inhabited by strangers who drive him away. He runs into his Uncle Gideon, who explains that Sherlock's father lost a great deal of money and was forced to sell the family home. Sherlock's parents have gone to France, and he will be spending the holidays with Uncle Gideon, Aunt Rachel, and his obnoxious cousin Charity. The new inhabitants of the manor house are the Turnbulls (a military man who has just returned from India and his wife, who suffers from poor health and rarely goes outside), a young man named Jasper Moran, and their Indian servants. Sherlock is depressed about losing his family's home and having to live with his strict aunt and uncle. However, he takes comfort from being near old friends, such as the local doctor (whose eccentric habits Sherlock later mimics himself), a young poacher called Newbugs, and Natty Dan, a traveling story-teller. When Natty Dan is found dead under mysterious circumstances soon after visiting the manor house, Sherlock becomes suspicious of the Turnbulls. His suspicion deepens as other strange things happen in the area, including the repeated theft of clothing store dummies and the footprints of a dog that no one admits to owning. The clues lead up to a plot that threatens Queen Victoria and first introduces Sherlock to Professor Moriarty.

I was pretty disappointed with this series. The actors do a very good job of the script they've been given, but the show is talky, looks like it's been filmed on a cheap set most of the time, and seems to never get to the point.

There is one quote from the movie that summarizes this entire production. It comes from chapter 9 and is a quote from Guy Henry, who plays S. Holmes (not too badly, if you leave out the sword play), "The dullest of my entire life." Imagine if you will all of those truly aweful high school drama performances you have ever seen. This is worse. A barrel of bad acting or overacting. Truly the worst DVD that I have ever seen. Avoid on penalty of being bored to death.

I rented this set of DVDs. It was okay. I viewed it mainly to see Christopher Villiers who played young Jasper Moran. Since I am a Sherlock Holmes fan I had to at least rent this to satisfy my curiosity. Now I have.

If you're a fan of Christopher Villiers then you might want to rent it just to get plenty of CV eye-candy. He is very easy on the eyes: a beautiful man in period costume of the Victorian age. I first saw Christopher Villiers in the 1982 made-for-TV movie "The Scarlet Pimpernel" where he played Lord Anthony Dewhurst. He's a fine actor.