Painfully Gay Holmes.

Ah, I can see I should have waited until I watched the whole movie before posting. The actual offence is clearly greater by orders of magnitude.



******

I don't think we're in CONUS any more, Toto...

basil rathbone, he ain't

How can any adult with two neurons to rub together read the Holmes stories, and NOT wonder if Holmes played for the home team?

But to be fair to this movie, there's infinitely more to it than the raising of that particular question. It's one of the better Holmes films ever made, with some intriguing mystery elements, a wonderfully luscious score, good performances, a few extremely funny moments, and some depth to its Holmes. I recommend it.

I've always found the question of Holmes' sexuality in this film to be quite ambiguous and not as clear cut as some people claim. The "you're being presumptuous" moment, as well as his tenderness for Watson suggest repressed same-sex desire-- however, there's also the sad story of Holmes' fiancee, who died hours before their wedding. Holmes' recounting of the event suggests he's shut himself off from other people (women and men both, perhaps) because of this loss. His saddened reaction to Gabrielle's death at the end also suggests possible romantic feelings, though in that case I'm more inclined to think he respected her as a worthy intellectual adversary. Her naked body does not tempt him when she "sleepwalks," but he seems much more interested in her once it becomes clear how clever she is.

The original cut of the film also included a flashback to Holmes' college years in which he loves a woman from afar and idealizes her as an icon of purity, only to discover she's a prostitute. Like the fiancee story, this serves to emphasize Holmes' feelings toward romantic involvement-- namely, that it isn't worth the risk because (in his experience) women "are not reliable."