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Young Sherlock Holmes
Directed by	Barry Levinson
Produced by	Mark Johnson Henry Winkler
Written by	Sir Arthur Conan Doyle (characters) Chris Columbus (screenplay)
Starring	See below
Music by	Bruce Broughton
Cinematography	Stephen Goldblatt
Editing by	Stu Linder
Distributed by	Paramount Pictures
Release date(s)	December 6, 1985 (USA)
Running time	109 min.
Language	English
Budget	$18,000,000 (estimated)
IMDb profile

Young Sherlock Holmes (1985), directed by Barry Levinson and written by Chris Columbus, depicts a young Sherlock Holmes and Dr. Watson meeting and solving a mystery together at a boarding school.

Contents 1 Plot 2 Trivia 3 Cast 4 External links

A group of wealthy, well-established men in London become the target of a mysterious cloaked figure, who uses a blowpipe to shoot thorns into the targets' necks. The thorns, dipped into a solution of various botanical extracts, causes the victims to have violent and frightening hallucinations. These images ultimately result in the victim's death. Sherlock Holmes notices that his mentor and retired schoolmaster, Professor Waxflatter, is very curious about the deaths. When Waxflatter himself dies, Holmes suspects foul play, and he, his girlfriend Elizabeth (Waxflatter's granddaughter), and Watson (who had newly arrived in Holmes' school) begin to investigate. Clue by clue, Holmes traces the mysterious cloaked figure to a warehouse in the Wapping area of London known as Froggit and Froggit.

The trio proceed to the warehouse to find abandoned Egyptian figurines and a large pyramid. Holmes suspects that the pyramid is larger than initially thought, and the floor boards break to reveal the structure's full body beneath them. They all enter and view, from a hiding spot, an Ancient Egyptian themed cult, known as the Rame-Tep (also known as Rametep and Ramatep), performing a ceremony in which a young girl is hypnotized, wrapped in linen and killed with the pouring of boiling wax atop her body. The trio gets spotted, though they escape back to the school. With the following of more clues, Sherlock Holmes eventually tracks down the killers to be Rathe, his present schoolmaster, and the school nurse, Mrs. Dribb. Holmes discovers that the two are siblings of anglo-egyptian decent who were angry at the uncovering of the graves of five Egyptian princesses and the related deaths of their parents at the hands of the aforementioned wealthy men. They vowed to kill off those responsible for disturbing the tombs and their parents' murder and performed the ceremony to "replace" the bodies of the princesses. So far, four girls were killed leaving only one left.

By this time, Elizabeth gets captured and the same ceremony the trio witnessed earlier gets performed on her. Holmes and Watson manage to stop the ceremony part way through. Rathe and Holmes participate in a sword fight after Elizabeth gets shot by the schoolmaster and Rathe apparently perishes under some cold ice. Holmes gets back in time to talk to Elizabeth for a little bit before her death. This occurrence also tries to explain Holmes' single life in the works of Arthur Conan Doyle. The movie ends when Sherlock Holmes departs the school. After the credits, however, we find out that Rathe survived the sword fight and lived to be Moriarty, Holmes' future arch nemesis.

Recent viewers of the film have noticed similarities between the characters, setting, events and tone of Young Sherlock Holmes, and those of the Harry Potter series. Such an observation may be explained by the fact that the first two Harry Potter films were directed by Chris Columbus.

The film is also notable for including the first fully computer-generated character, a knight composed of elements from a stained glass window. The effect was created for Lucasfilm by John Lasseter (now executive vice-president at Pixar Animation Studios), who would go on to create Toy Story 10 years later.

In Britain the film was re-titled Young Sherlock Holmes and the Pyramid of Fear, in a nod to the previous year's Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom.

In the television series House, Gregory House deals with a patient that is suffering aphasia. In explaining his solving of what the patient has actually been trying to convey to the doctors, he gives a riddle about a room with an all southern view and a polar bear to his lackies. This is exact same riddle that Holmes gives to Watson in the film. House is well known for the parallels between its main character and that of Sherlock Holmes.

One criticism of the film is that Holmes does not solve the principal mystery by means of logical deduction. His methods are partly demonstrated during an investigation into the disappearance of a school trophy, but Holmes expends more energy on physical stunt work than on case analysis. The plot itself does not follow the traditional format of the original Conan Doyle stories. However, the story does explain Holmes' canonical behavior in that since young Holmes' actions costs him the life of Elizabeth, and Rathe taunted his inability to separate his actions from his emotions ("Never replace discipline with emotion!"), it serves to explain adult Holmes' stoicism and reliance on pure logic.

References to the literary Holmes and how he acquired his distinct characteristics:

• Holmes has started learning to play the violin during the opening scenes (frustrated he has not mastered the instrument after 3 days of practice)
• The scar on his cheek is acquired during a fencing match with Rathe
• His deerstalker cap belonged to his mentor Waxflatter, is given to him after his death
• His pipe is originally bought by Watson to allow them to question an antique shop dealer; in the conclusion, Watson presents it to Holmes as a parting gift
• His jacket originally belonged to Rathe, and is also his first trophy

• Nicholas Rowe as Sherlock Holmes
• Alan Cox as John Watson
• Anthony Higgins as Rathe
• Sophie Ward as Elizabeth Hardy
• Roger Ashton-Griffiths as Lestrade
• Freddie Jones as Cragwitch
• Nigel Stock as Waxflatter
• Brian Oulton as Master Snelgrove
• Susan Fleetwood as Mrs. Dribb
• Earl Rhodes as Dudley
• Patrick Newell as Bentley Bobster
• Donald Eccles as Reverend Duncan Nesbitt

• Young Sherlock Holmes at the Internet Movie Database
• Amazon.com: Young Sherlock Holmes DVD
• Barry Levinson Online: Young Sherlock Holmes
• Elementary, My Dear Potter - article outlining Chris Columbus connection