Posted: 10/03/2010

The Search for Sherlock Holmes

(2010)

by Sawyer J. Lahr

Actor and Director David Hayman does the detective bit again, this time not in his television series (Trial & Retribution, Hope and Glory), but in the forthcoming documentary The Search for Sherlock Holmes released on DVD October 26. One can see why Hayman makes the perfect host of this in-depth, archival investigation of the “greatest detective in history,” Sherlock Holmes. Following author Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, the creator of the infamous character, Hayman sets out to find the real sleuth.

Hayman gets his hands on everything a Holmes fan could want: privileged access original manuscripts and interviews with the scholars who live and breath the idiosyncratic character. He discovers the influential people and places that filled Doyle’s greatest and most enduring stories, which the author found tedious though highly profitable. Like many artists, they would rather sacrifice their comfort once they have it.

The film’s focus on the inspiration for the character and environment of historic Edenburg London in the late 1800s give a richness to the stories that contemporary readers still find engaging. Hayman himself is proof that the public’s persistent interest in crime and mystery novels and dramatized forensic science on television is as morbidly fascinating today as it was to Victorian-era London. Crimes of passion were the rage for an increasingly literate proletariat.

The Search for Sherlock Holmes features exclusive interviews with stage and screen actor, Stephen Fry (Kingdom), the youngest living member of the Sherlock Holmes League as well as Hayman’s close friend and crime novelist Lynda La Plante.

Don’t let this understated documentary pass you by. Capturing a lot in little time, Hayman finds enough food for thought to inform many repeat readings of Holmes’ unforgettable adventures in deduction.

Watch the trailer and find out where to purchase your copy.

Sawyer J. Lahr is Chief Editor of the forthcoming online publication, Go Over the Rainbow. He also writes a monthly film column for Mindful Metropolis, a conscious living magazine in Chicago, IL.

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