The Bruce Partington Plans

I'm interested in Holmes because he changed the nature of narrative, a revolution every bit as significant as the invention of human rights. I'm interested as well because he reflects an odd battle we haven't settled and probably won't: the battle between those who believe in the supernatural and the other extreme, that all behavior and especially human behavior is rational. Its a fascinating war that we all see ourselves in somehow.

And I'm interested in Holmes because it is almost a perfect textbook case of the challenges of mapping the core notions of the literary to the cinematic. Well, other authors would be more interesting, but this one is so well known...

But I don't find the stories themselves that much fun. The much advertised Holmes method of deduction is often tossed and we have disguises, what today would be called footwork by the Baker Street irregulars, and traps. (This story has more actual deduction than most.) Of all the Holmes stories, the one feature that I love is the usually invisible brother, Mycroft. He's seven years senior and very much Holmes' superior in logic. He's as far from Holmes in talent as Holmes is from Watson, our designated ordinary man. He's obese and never leaves his comfortable chair at the Diogenes Club, where he entertains a stream of needy supplicants including his brother. Imagine Orson Welles.

He's an amazing character. He's in this story. He's not impressive or interesting here.

Ted's Evaluation -- 1 of 3: You can find something better to do with this part of your life.

The Bruce Partington plans is another great episode from a top notch series, the story itself isn't particularly deep or complex, it is simply a case of find the missing papers, but it is hugely absorbing, beautifully acted, and superbly produced.

The appearance of Mycroft always elevates an episode, Charles Gray a fantastic performer, who seemed to inspire Brett. There's a great scene where Mycroft dismisses Holmes vocation as something minor, almost pointless, but of course Sherlock has the last laugh.

The episode is fast paced, energetic, edgy and has an energy to it that wasn't evident in the last few episodes. Not the standard of The Devil's Foot (What is though?) but certainly better then Silver Blaze and Wysteria Lodge.

Excellent. 9/10

I was surprised that of all the Sherlock Holmes stories that they would make "The Bruce Partington Plans". After all, they filmed two similar previous stories with Jeremy Brett ("The Naval Treaty" and "The Second Stain")...all about missing state secrets or treaties.

The story begins with something only a state problem could accompany...Mycroft coming to 221B Baker Street to see his brother, Sherlock. This also happened with "The Naval Treaty".... Mycroft leaving his sanctuary of the Diogenes Club. It seems a man was found dead...and with some state secrets on his body. But some of the stolen documents are still missing...such as the plans for a revolutionary submarine.

This is a decent but very familiar episode. Worth seeing but one that is easy to mix up with the other two similar stories. Well done apart from that.

A very nice episode, certainly. Conan Doyle seemed to get caught up on some plot elements, however. From "Scandal in Bohemia" to the present effort, we have people who have either carelessly or through victimization, lost some sort of item of worth, be it a photograph, a set of blueprints, or a letter, Holmes spends a goodly amount of time trying to recover these things. Of course, in most situations, there have been other crimes committed, even murder. Often the fate of the world hangs in the balance, as in the "Bruce Partington Plans. A body has been found by a railroad track with three pages of a major plan to build a submarine in his pocket. What is interesting is that he apparently didn't die in this setting but was moved there. This leads Holmes and Watson to deal with two things: recovering the document and figuring out what happened to this man. It's all about location and opportunity. This is a very well done mystery with lots of twists and turns and a not-so-simple solution.

This is yet another "missing important document" mystery just like "The Naval Treaty" and "The Second Stain" but it is still very well done. This time it features Holmes's older, wiser brother Mycroft as he presents Sherlock with a case involving missing naval documents called "The Bruce Partington Plans" that were taken from a man who died coming off of a moving train. Everything in the story comes together nicely and the explanation as to how the man was killed from the train is as Watson states "a masterpiece." The pacing is very good and the production values are superb. As usual Brett and Hardwicke delight as Holmes and Watson and Charles Gray is wonderful as the man that Holmes's often refers to as "Brother Mine." Fun Fact: BBC's "Sherlock" did a modern twist on this story in the episode called "The Great Game."