This story always reminds me of another, the name of which doesn't come to me. "The Second Stain"? It's been years since I read the tales, but the plot is similar -- a crime takes place quickly in a small room with only one or two entrances and no one is seen going in or out.
The producers have done wonders with the flabby, innocent, old charwoman and her children, all of them dirty and ragged, looking straight out of Dickens.
And then there is Holmes' "dramatic" trick played on the victim at the end -- the stolen treaty presented to the man on a silver platter.
The victim, by the way, is an old friend of Watson's and, though young and healthy, must be powerful weak. When he discovers the all-important treaty has been stolen (and his career and character possibly ruined), he collapses and has a "brainstorm." It take him months to recover. But "shock" is a medical condition and doesn't last long. And the usual response to an extreme psychological stressor is depression, not lying around in bed for a month, your head in your fiancée's lap. If it had been MY treaty stolen and MY career ruined, I'd have reacted quickly enough. Found the nearest helpless dog and stomped him to death.
Marvelous set dressing and period decor, as usual.
The producers have done wonders with the flabby, innocent, old charwoman and her children, all of them dirty and ragged, looking straight out of Dickens.
And then there is Holmes' "dramatic" trick played on the victim at the end -- the stolen treaty presented to the man on a silver platter.
The victim, by the way, is an old friend of Watson's and, though young and healthy, must be powerful weak. When he discovers the all-important treaty has been stolen (and his career and character possibly ruined), he collapses and has a "brainstorm." It take him months to recover. But "shock" is a medical condition and doesn't last long. And the usual response to an extreme psychological stressor is depression, not lying around in bed for a month, your head in your fiancée's lap. If it had been MY treaty stolen and MY career ruined, I'd have reacted quickly enough. Found the nearest helpless dog and stomped him to death.
Marvelous set dressing and period decor, as usual.