cimorene | sherlock holmes: the priory school (15 caps) (Reply)

'the priory school' was chiefly exciting for its plot, as opposed to its slashiness. the father of the kidnapped child seems a sinister figure at first, and when holmes asks him what the value of privacy is next to his son's life, he replies at first that he might as easily ask the value of continuing the line without honor. (???) the plot is a bit complex, which is i suppose why they chose to leave the boy's unpopularity with his peers out of the filmed version.

when it starts, w. is cracking the door open and whispering with mrs. h. as he takes a calling card from her. he tucks it in holmes's waistcoat pocket where holmes is lying on his back on the couch--not actually asleep. he's looking at the card when the man--that is to say, dr. huxtable, the headmaster--stumbles into the room and faints on the hearthrug. they revive him, he relates the kidnapping, and after accepting a scold for not calling sooner they set off for the school.

there are several money shots of the villain and several beautiful ones of the architecture of the school and the duke's county seat. also of the moors themselves. there are a few striking scenes midway--holmes smoking at dinner while watson gossips about the duke, dr. huxtable's defensive bluster about his patron's honor, and an eerie voiceover from holmes as he has watson re-enact the movements of the (also missing) german master on the fateful night.

high points: at the inn, whose inkeeper seems astonished that h. and w. would approach his establishment in search of food despite the fact that he sells it. plus the several confrontations between holmes and the duke. plus the highly dramatic climax which involves h. and w. racing about separately--h. bicycling, w. spying; then a dark and dramatically lit scene of a the search party entering an underground cave. the overwhelming coolness of the cow-hoof-shaped-horseshoes.