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Storyline
Sherlock Holmes is asked by Jack Bennett to investigate after his fiancée Edith Presbury sees the shadow of a man in her window in the middle of the night. The problem is that her bedroom is on the second floor and there is no way for any man to have been able to get to that window. Edith is the daughter of a notable natural scientist, Professor Presbury, a widower who is engaged to be married to a much younger woman, Alice Morphy. The Professor is quite displeased at hearing that Bennett, who also happens to be his assistant, has hired the Great Detective and Holmes and Watson are unceremoniously escorted off the property.When Holmes reads of a rash of thefts from zoos - all monkeys and apes - he slowly begins to unravel the mystery of the shadow Miss Presbury saw in her window. Written by
garykmcd
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Trivia
Just after the introduction, when the naturalist's office is shown for the first time, sounds of typing can be heard in the background. They actually form the monotonic rendition of the intro music. (Performance, however, is far from perfect.)
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Quotes
[
first lines]
Professor Presbury:
You may inform the Secretary of the Royal Society that I have entitled my Michaelmas lecture 'Darwin's Fundamental Error'.
Jack Bennett:
That'll raise a few hackles, sir.
Professor Presbury:
Will it not.
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Connections
Version of
Splhající profesor (1992)
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Jeremey Brett is fantastic as always, but the plot is beyond ridiculous. I won't give it away, but the conclusion had me laughing out loud due to its implausibility. The direction almost seemed tongue-in-cheek to me at times--especially the shots of an obviously fake grunting gorilla. There's a few token nods to Darwin thrown around, and the sets show lots of stuffed monkeys and skeletons, but the theme of man vs. beast is not treated seriously. I have to admit, this is one of Doyle's very weakest stories, so one can't expect too, but even still, the climax and denouement are rushed, melodramatic, and don't even begin to provide any kind of teleological explanation for what we saw. Overall, it's an embarrassment to waste Jeremy Brett's talents on such a ludicrous storyline.