The Dying Detective

I watched "The Dying Detective" starring Jeremy Brett. I enjoyed the film because it expanded upon the book's version and added more plot. I thought the book's pace went too fast and was jumbled, leaving very little clues and details, and me scratching my head, wondering what I had just read and what was the point. I thought the film did a really good job based on the material and I would give the movie three out of four stars. I though it captured how sick Victor was and how sick Holmes was pretending to be much better than the story in the book. I like how the film added Mrs. Hudson, saying to Holmes, "You are the worst tenant in all of London," after he tells her, his sickness was a ruse, which nodded to the starting paragraph of the book, where Watson talks about Holmes's rocky relationship with her and how he "disliked and distrusted" women. Seeing Culverton Smith in his office with all his bugs, made his character seem more believable as a scientist and as a villain. I enjoyed Holmes screaming up at Smith while he was in his office, after he has kicked out Adelaide and the kids. Holmes threatening to bring Smith to justice, to his face, before he had all the details, was very interesting but I thought it seemed out of character for him. Holmes normally wants to have the last word and not let the suspects know he knows what they are up to before he wants them to know, leading them to believe they are fooling him. I thought the book and the end of the film captured Holmes's personality better, such as what he did with faking the sickness and having Smith, the culprit, examine him, while he gets them to confess.



"The Dying Detective" starring Jeremy Brett, starts with Adelaide Savage lying in bed, sleeping, while her husband Victor writes her a note, saying "Forgive Me." We see Victor riding a horse, leaving his estate. Adelaide asks Victor's cousin, Culverton Smith, where her husband has gone, and blames him for his addiction. Watson goes to visit Holmes, as Holmes is watching Adelaide pace up and down the street in front of his window. Victor meets with a man named John Gedgrave, who exchanges money with him, to take him to a Chinese opium house. Adelaide finally calls upon Holmes, telling them Victor is a director of a bank, which is having problems and he really wants to be a poet, believing he will write better under the effect of opium. Holmes and Watson attend a dinner party, being thrown at the Savages's house. Victor collapses after he slides across the wooden floor on a rug, and is taken to the hospital, having convulsions before he dies. Smith examines him and believes he had a "disease transmitted through broken skin," blaming the opium. Victor's lawyer visits Adelaide, telling her the will names Smith as the heir to the estate and tells Adelaide she will be given "enough money to live." Holmes concurs the disease with a professor, who tells him he found a "insect bite" on Victor's body. Holmes interviews Gedgrave, who suggest someone else set up the appointment for Victor to go to the opium house. Smith evicts Adelaide and the children from the home and Holmes confronts Smith about bringing him to justice, calling him "the sole expert" of the disease. Holmes receives a box of tobacco in the mail. Watson gives Adelaide some money and is urgently called to Holmes's bed side by Mrs. Hudson. Holmes refuses Watson's examination and asks for Smith. Watson goes to get Smith, apologizing for Holmes. Watson arrives back first and Holmes tells him to hide. Smith confesses he infected Victor with a mosquito and mailed Holmes the box of tobacco. He tells him there were "two tacks" in the bottom of the box. Smith turns up the gas and Holmes stands up behind him. The Inspector rushes in. Holmes asks Watson to retrieve the box, but to not open it. Watson and Smith fight over the box, with the tacks falling out onto Smith. Adelaide and the kids are able to move back into their home.



"The Adventure of The Dying Detective" by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle is a case about an Eastern disease called Tapanuli Fever, which is deadly. Mrs. Hudson, Sherlock Holmes's landlady, calls upon Dr. Watson, to get him to visit the deathly ill Holmes. Watson makes an observation about Holmes and the women in his life, such as Mrs. Hudson, saying, "He disliked and distrusted the sex, but he was a chivalrous opponent." Watson arrives to see his friend, deathly ill, at Baker Street. Watson spots a "black and ivory" box sitting on the mantel and goes to examine it, which makes Holmes scream, yelling, "Put it down! Down, this instant. Watson- this instant, I say." Holmes insists Watson stays standing in the sick room, saying, "If you stand there I will talk. If you do not you must leave the room." Holmes has Watson bring Mr. Culverton Smith to examine him, because he doesn't think Watson is "qualified" enough to examine illnesses of that nature, which hurts Watson's feelings. Watson runs into Inspector Morton who asks Watson, how Holmes is feeling. Smith claims he knows Holmes, "through some business dealings" Watson tells Smith, Holmes got the disease from "working among Chinese sailors down in the docks" and has had the disease for three days. Watson arrives first, and Holmes instructs him to hide, while Smith is visiting. When Smith arrives, he confesses to Holmes, that he was the one who infected Victor Savage, his nephew. After being infected, Savage died four days later. The box on the mantle was sent Mr. Culverton Smith who tried to get Holmes off his trail. The box has a "sharp spring" which draws blood from the finger, infecting someone with the disease. Inspector Morton shows up to arrest Smith. Holmes apologizes for what he said about Watson's medical skills.



"The Dying Detective," starring Jeremy Brett and the story, "The Adventure of The Dying Detective" by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle are similar in plot but are very different in execution of the story. The book's story is fast paced while the film adds to the story with more details which makes the case more intriguing. The film version provides back story between Victor Savage, Culverton Smith, and Sherlock Holmes, which makes the case seem more real instead of just one exchange. Victor Savage is only briefly mentioned in the novel as Smith's nephew and first victim, with little to no details about his life or Smith's motive for infecting him. In the film, Savage is Smith's cousin, with a wife and two children, who he happens to be staying with at the time of his death. The film also shows more of Smith's diabolical characteristics by having him evict Adelaide and the children after Victor's death. The book summarizes Victor's murder in a few sentences, where as the film shows his illness and his death. The film gives Smith a motive for infecting Savage, as he inherits his estate upon his death. Smith infects Savage with an "infected mosquito in the neck" in the film, whereas we don't know how he was infected in the novel. In the film, Holmes confronts Smith with a threat before faking the illness to get him to confess, like in the book. Watson is with Holmes throughout his investigation in the film, whereas in the book, meets Smith for the time when he calls upon to examine Holmes. In the film, Holmes claims to have contacted the disease at the opium house, while in the book, he claims to have gotten the disease from "working among Chinese sailors down in the docks." In both versions, Smith mails Holmes a box to get rid of him and is captured by the police in the same way.