Friday, July 15, 2011

The Dark Beginnings of Sherlock Holmes

There are just so many adaptations of the adventures of Sir. Arthur Conan Doyle’s great detective that it’s hard to find one that’s not only original, but that stands on its own as well as being part of the Sherlock Holmes canon. Hence the utter joy of seeing Ian Richardson and Robin Laing bring a new twist on the dynamic duo of literary crime. In the film, Richardson plays Dr. Joseh Bell, a distinctly Holmesian instructor at a medical university who just happens to help the local police investigate crimes using the latest scientific methods. Laing plays Conan Doyle, not as a great writer, but as a struggling university student who gets assigned to assist Bell in his lab and on the cases he investigates. When a serial killer starts butchering the local ladies of the night, the pair swing into action in a most delightful way.

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