Sherlock Holmes, Jr.

From The Arthur Conan Doyle Encyclopedia
The Moving Picture World, 22 july 1911, p. 92

Sherlock Holmes, Jr. is an American silent movie released on 20 july 1911 (in USA), produced by Rex Motion Picture Co. Black & White.

Survival status: unknown.



Cast

  • The juvenile sleuth : Helen Anderson
  • His father : unknown
  • Bridget the cook : unknown
  • The policeman : unknown
  • Burglar #1 : unknown
  • Burglar #2 : unknown


  • Producer or writer : Mr. Porter (Rex Motion Picture)


Rex Ad

  • The Moving Picture World, 22 july 1911, p. 92

Sherlock Holmes
never solved a mystery

more absorbing and suspense-compelling than the one presented in and solved by

"SHERLOCK HOLMES, Jr."
THE REX BOY DETECTIVE!

In a picture released Thursday, July 20th, a juvenile sleuth worthy of the great name with which we have endowed him and endowed with the great analytical gift that made that name what it is, solves the great mystery of

The Shrinking Whiskey Bottle!
A picture with Mystery and Mirth!

A kid picture equal to our last kid masterpiece, "The Little Major."

Let SHERLOCK HOLMES, JR.
Help you get new business!


Plot summary

The Moving Picture World, 22 july 1911, p. 148
  • The Moving Picture World, 22 july 1911, p. 148

SHERLOCK HOLMES, JR. (July 20). - Little Sherlock Holmes, Jr., reads of the doughty doings of his hero-god, and at once determines to become a detective himself. Providence favors him by at once giving him a mystery to solve. His father has noticed that in some weird, unaccountable fashion the whiskey in the decanter Is ever vanishing, and father swears he doesn't drink it as fast as all that. So Sherlock Holmes, Jr., assigns himself the task of discovering who tampers with his father's soothing beverage. Concealed behind a table, he sees Bridget, the cook, come in and at once proceed to get on the outside of a man's size pull on the flask. At once the embryo detective makes his report to his father, with the astounding solution of the mystery. The father decides to use Dr. Brown's Sure Cure for the Liquor Habit on the cook, and obtains a bottle of the fluid. This he puts in the room near the whiskey, intending to pour some In the bottle a little later. Sherlock Holmes, Jr., discovers the bottle, and follows the "Do it Now" maxim. There are friends visiting the house at the time, who are sitting on the lawn with his parents, awaiting, tea which the maid is to bring them. Sherlock, Jr., pours a goodly quantity of the fluid into the tea. One of the results of taking the liquid is falling into a deep slumber, and In a few moments the host and hostess and guests are fast asleep. Then happens along Bridget's beau, the policeman, for whose particular benefit Bridget essays to go inside and procure a glass of "buttermilk." After imbibing, the policeman forgets all about everything except that he is awfully drowsy, and the next thing he, too, is asleep. It must have been contagious—or could Bridget not have forgotten herself?—but at any rate she, too. wanders off into the Land of Nod. Then Sherlock dons the policeman's clothes and club, and marches through the house, monarch of all he surveys.

At this opportune moment, two burglars arrive on the scene, and seeking the sleepers, think they have been transferred to Burglars' Paradise. They sneak upstairs, fill their bags with silverware and then fall for the whiskey on the table, little Sherlock watching eagerly. At last they get themselves off, followed by the creator of all the mischief, but they have not gone far when they are overcome by the liquor cure and fall In their tracks to sleep. Little Sherlock now takes the manacles from the policeman's coat pocket, and ties both legs of the burglars together. In due time the household awakes, they seek the boy, and eventually find him covering the two burglars, prisoners of Sherlock Holmes. Jr.


Reviews

The Moving Picture World, 5 august 1911, p. 291
  • The Moving Picture World, 5 august 1911, p. 291

Sherlock Holmes, Jr. (Rex)

People at the Fourteenth Street Theater applauded little Helen as "Sherlock Holmes, Jr.," more than they did the vaudeville acts and that is going some for a picture play. They laughed, too, all the way through the comedy. I suppose Mr. Porter, of the Rex Company, should be credited with the laughs. The situations were funny, but I think Helen Anderson is a wonderful child actress. She makes no mistakes, looks the part, and plays it as well as any of the grown-up children do theirs, and I mean those over twenty- one at that. There was fun and lots of it from the time the kid Sherlock got an idea into his curly head that he could detect. He detected everything including a spoony couple, and showed that he was cut out to be a Central Office man for fair by taking graft to keep quiet about it. He detected the fat cook pouring hookers from the sideboard decanter and reported to his dad, who had been credited with a printer's thirst for strong drink. Dad put up a job on the cook by providing some knockout medicine and fixed the decanter with a dose of dope in Sherlock's presence. After Dad had gone, it occurred to the bud detective that it might do the rest of the family good and he therefore poured some of the anti-bun in the tea about to be served to guests on the veranda. Everybody went to sleep; papa and mamma with Maizie and Georgie on the porch and fat Biddy with her cop in the cookery. The cop had laid aside his articles of war-pistol, club and handcuffs, and Sherlock, Jr., appropriated these for parade purposes.

Hist! The child's mischievous tendencies had brought about a serious situation. Two real thieves approached this burglar's paradise. The whole family was asleep on the porch and the trusty scout in blue was snoring in the kitchen. What a cinch! It was easy so they thought, but Sherlock, Jr., was on their trail. Armed to the teeth with the sleeping policeman's weapons, he followed stealthily, keeping "under cover of darkness" every moment. It looked very much as though the thieves would get away with the swag, but they stopped to take a nightcap. They drank heavily and left the house, Sherlock ever on their track. Out in the woods the dope took effect, and Sherlock made a clever capture while they were sleeping by handcuffing their feet.

It is one straight laugh all through, Biddy getting her share, and a big hand at the end, but I think that little Helen — with a respectful bow to Mr. Porter for training her drew most of the applause.




The Moving Picture World, 5 august 1911, p. 295
  • The Moving Picture World, 5 august 1911, p. 295

"Sherlock Holmes, Jr." (Rex). — There is plenty of good fun in this fresh story of a small boy's exploits. He was Sherlock Holmes, Jr., and he made plenty of trouble for the household, including the cook and the cook's friend, the cop; but he landed a brace of burglars. It is a picture that demanded good acting to make it truly funny and every player in it from the chief character, the small boy, to the cop, the cook and the crooks, do splendidly.