Mina Hoffman | Sherlock Holmes and the Adventure of the Furtive Festivity / 2018

the case of the hidden key

by Douglas Messerli

 

Caroline Duessel (screenwriter, based on the characters by Arthur Conan Doyle), Mina Hoffman (director) Sherlock Holmes and the Adventure of the Furtive Festivity / 2018 [12 minutes]

 

I am sure that nearly every LGBTQ individual, at one time or another, has pondered the sexual relationship of Arthur Conan Doyle’s Sherlock Holmes and his dear friend Dr. John Watson. In this short film, writer Caroline Duessel and director Mina Hoffman have taken matters into their hands, and quite thoroughly make clear that the two men were Victorian lovers.

    Watson tells us that his favorite moments with Sherlock Holmes have not been the exciting adventures with the criminal world, but his own domestic times with Holmes that are far too private to write about. But on this day he is going celebrate a surprise birthday party for his dear friend, hoping that the master sleuth has “rubbed off on me in more ways than one,” as he attempts to conceal his party plans.

      But hardly can the couple enjoy their tea together snuggled up in bed than Mrs. Hudson (Hazel Leroy) calls out that they have a visitor, which leads Watson to suggest that they really must leave London for a while, just “too many interruptions.”

     The entire day, in fact, is filled with surprise visits. Their first guest, Inspector Lestrade (Bryan Gannon), hopes he hasn’t come at a bad moment. Lestrade begins to tell Holmes of another break in, but interrupts to wish Holmes a happy birthday, Watson quickly hurrying him out of the room before he can finish his words. Watson reminds him of the surprise birthday party, while Lestrade, who clearly know about their relationship suggests: “How about I let you and Holmes nick my handcuffs for the night?” Watson sends him on his way.

       Holmes wants to know why Watson sent him off.

     Soon after, while Watson checks on the invitations, Holmes sneaks up behind him to give him a good hug, his assistant quickly throwing a hat over what he has been spying on. Suddenly, without any warning, Mary Watson (Allison Beauregard), John’s former wife, shows up, quite shocking Mrs. Hudson, but apparently not Holmes or Watson himself. Holmes quickly sticks himself in the finger with a pin, suggesting he may have poisoned, which, of course, requires Watson to suck out the blood, at which he most sensually succeeds. Scolded by Mary, Holmes suddenly points to his neck, arguing the same thing has happened again, forcing his lover switch to suck, vampire like, on vein in his neck, sending the now exasperated Mary out of the house.

       The moment she’s left, however, Watson races after her to ask whether or not she’s still planning on attending their party. “I suppose so,” she answers as she makes her way down the street. Obviously, Mary’s visits are simply a small irritant joke she plays on the man she has lost to Sherlock.

       When Mrs. Hudson herself now appears with balloons and a birthday message, Watson rushes to pull it out of her hand, but Holmes now himself playing along, suggests it must be a message from his evil brother Moriarty, come back from the dead.

        As Mrs. Hudson attempts to refill the balloon with air, Holmes grabs it from her, screaming that the air of the balloon is surely poisoned, sending Mrs. Hudson to her room where the air will be pure and demanding Watson take the balloons off.

      While he’s out, suggests his friend, perhaps Holmes, who after all has already had a hard day, might partake of his secret vice, as Holmes nicely puts it, “celebratory cocaine.”

      But almost as soon, Sherlock discovers a suspicious package at the door, looking very much like a small birthday cake, convincing him that indeed Moriarty has returned. He also grabs up the package that Inspector Lestrade is carrying, having just returned to the house for the surprise party.

       Lestrade gathers all the packages up and moves on into Holmes drawing room where the clever sleuth fears that he might die.  Watson calms him down with a kiss proclaiming that he is perfectly happy to spend the rest of his life with Holmes hiding out from Moriarty in the little Sussex cottage that they keep talking about. Holmes, however, pulls the sliding door open to see what Watson has been hiding only to find Mrs. Hudson, Mary, and Lestrade all waiting with an announcement for which we’ve all been waiting.

 

      The cake, which Watson claims was meant to represent a microscope looks very much like balls and cock. When Mary digs in with a knife, both men lean over in mock pain.

        Lestrade quietly asks Holmes if Watson has in fact surprised him, the devilish smart Holmes suggesting that he knew Watson had sent the invitations out last week and has been making things purposely difficult for his lover all day.

      In a final birthday box which Watson presents him he finds a new deerstalker hat and under a key—which seems to be a true surprise for the detective—to the Sussex cottage about which they have so long spoken.

 

Los Angeles, December 26, 2023

Reprinted from My Queer Cinema blog (December 2023).