“Tuesday evening!” I
exclaimed. “And this is Thursday morning. Why didn’t you go down yesterday?”
“Because I made a
blunder, my dear Watson—which is, I am afraid, a more common occurrence than
anyone would think who only knew me through your memoirs.”
--Arthur Conan Doyle, “Silver Blaze”
Leigh:
When I first started reading this
story again, I thought, "I wish I knew something about horse racing."
When I was done reading the story I though, "I STILL wish I knew something
about horse racing."
The good thing about this mystery though is that while horse racing
is a good portion of it, the story can still be enjoyed by those who know
nothing about horse racing. When it gets to the race, just go make a cup of tea
and come back when it's all over.
 |
| They don't even know what's going on. It's all about their bloody hats with this lot... |
I have to admit that I think that this is a pretty clever mystery.
We have another dead body and a suspect and a missing horse and yet the
murderer isn't who you would think it is. It's also possibly the best example
of the audience and Sherlock Holmes getting the same set of clues to solve the
mystery but not necessarily coming to the same conclusion. The first time I
read this story, I definitely didn't think that, of all people (or lack there
of) the horse did it. And I certainly couldn't figure out the curious incident
of the dog in the nighttime. So what? It's a dog. If it were a Disney film, the
dog and the horse would've been best friends and the dog would've gone to save
the horse. But aside from that possibly animated adventure, the dog doesn't seem
to be THAT important until Holmes explains it all. Of course, it could just be
me being thick and not getting it. That has been known to happen. I also think
that this is one of the more lighthearted mysteries. I mean, sure a man dies in
it, but he was having an affair and spending way too much money on a woman who
wasn't his wife and he wanted to injure a prize-winning horse so he kinda
deserved it. It's more lighthearted to me because Holmes seems more playful. I
can just picture him and Watson walking across the moors and Holmes smirking
during the race when he knows for a fact that the missing horse isn't missing.
It could easily be made into a Disney movie if the dead guy just got injured
and then repented for his affair.
I love that we have character development. The characters of Watson
and Holmes aren't always the most detailed characters but Watson shows that he
is learning from being Holmes' companion when they are on the train. Watson
doesn't just let Holmes go off on his tangents but he asks questions that are
relavent to the mystery.
So what do you
think about this mystery? Lighthearted or cold blooded murder? Disney potential
or Season 3 of Sherlock material?
Austin: I'm
excited for our review later in the week when we're going to watch a short film
adaptation of this story starring Christopher Plummer. Due to the nature of the
horse-racing world, that has a certain cinematic value beyond just another dead
body somewhere in the UK.
Also because this story was all about the location. It was all about
the particulars about what happened at the barn, whether doors were locked,
whether dogs barked and where that damn horse went. Even the most amusing bit
involved Sherlock knowing the speed of their ride by knowing the distance
between telegraph poles. It was all about the detail and order of which things
happened. I could easily see Benedict Cumberbatch retreating to his mind palace
or walking through a frozen crime scene with Irene Adler by his side. That
seemed more plausible than a Disney dog film. A dog and a horse being friends?
Don't be ridiculous.
 |
| On the other hand, this is a cinematic masterpiece. |
I really liked the structure of this story because it seemed to move
faster than some of his other stories. There was a nice little psych out around
the 2/3rd mark where it seemed like the story was over with a traditional
outcome before Sherlock makes his famous comment about the "curious
incident of the dog in the night-time"--the title of one of my favorite
books. Then like a lot of the best Doyle stories, it never overstays its
welcome. This one is such a wonderfully abrupt ending, Sherlock basically drops
mic and walks away with the line "If you care to smoke a cigar in our
rooms, Colonel, I shall be happy to give you any other details which might
interest you."
By the way,
should we be trying to notice any differences between the stories in Adventures
and the stories in Memoirs? Or are they just packaging?
Leigh: I thing
the obvious difference is that it does end differently than most. Adventures,
you know what is going to happen when. There's going to be an opening scene,
there's the presentation of the mystery, then Holmes says, "Hmm.
Indeed." and goes off and figure out the mystery and then there's the
reveal. So far (we only have one story but) there is a difference with the
formatting at least. The opening scene is between Holmes and Watson and them
sharing a moment about a mystery that's in the newspapers and then Holmes and
Watson go on location. I think because we aren't stuck in the house as soon as
we start reading, the story does seem to move faster. Having a huge middle bit
that is the collecting of clues also tends to bog it down but this one Holmes
walks into the story knowing most of the clues. I do really enjoy the structure
of this one a lot. It shook things up a bit which, when dealing with crime and
mysteries, especially television versions, seems to be neigh impossible (get
it? I like my pun. I didn't even come up with it because I'm terrible at puns
but I felt we needed to have at least one horsey joke in here). Now we just
have to see if ACD keeps it up for the rest of the book.
I love it when Holmes is a smart ass. I feel like his mic drop exit
was him being a smart ass. You can tell that he didn't like the Colonel and for
good reason because he wasn't a likable character. He was pompous
because of a horse's talent. It wasn't even something he did, he just happened
to own the really successful horse. He wasn't the jockey either so he couldn't
make that claim. All he could do is stand there and say, "But I OWN that
horse." Holmes is someone who respects talent and owning horses is no more
a talent than being super rich is a superpower. (Yeah, I said it. Wanna fight
about it?) Holmes knows that if he is obvious about his criticism, then the
Colonel will just get angry and storm off but being subtle about it not only
gets his jab in but reaffirms that Holmes is the superior man in this situation
even if he doesn't win a prize winning horse.
What do you
think? Is Holmes showing his superiority to a pompous man or is he being a
jerk? Or perhaps both? Can we fault him though?
Austin: First
off, Batman is also a world trained ninja as well as super rich. I'd say that
combo makes you more of a superhero than the ability to talk to fish.
Sherlock Holmes should always be a smart ass. The way his world sees
him is isolating, but he isn't moody about it. He embraces and admires his own
intelligence, thus his ridiculous mystery solving business which we're still
not sure if he ever is properly paid for any of these crimes. So if I'm going
to make a comparison to Doctor Who (which I haven't done for months, by the
way), I'm happy that he's more of a Jon Pertwee than David Tennant. This
arrogance allows for an expectation from the audience for him to be able to
solve the incredible crimes in an efficient way while also allowing for shocking
characterizations that don't distract from that mystery. His rational mind
juxtaposed with a complex culture leads to great moments like him keeping a
murderer's secret and his relationship with authority.
 |
| How do you reverse the polarity of the neutron flow? My dear Jo Grant, this is elementary. |
To properly answer your question, he is being a jerk and that makes
him a greater, richer character. In a few days we'll see how Christopher
Plummer (The Sound of Music, Beginners) interprets that cocky behavior
with the 30 minute film Silver Blaze, which you can watch on YouTube here.
And here is
Leigh Montano with the last word/pun...
Leigh: I bet our readers are champing at the
bit for our next post! THANK YOU! I'll be here all week!
No comments:
Post a Comment