The Great Detective Sherlock Holmes, a series of children's illustrated novels by Lai Ho, features different animals in the leading roles. Sherlock, an observant dog with an analytical mind, is matched with a cat as Dr Watson. Other cast members include Scarface the bear, Gordon 'Gorilla' Riller and Lanky the monkey prison guard. The stories carry forth from Sir Arthur Conan-Doyle's character Sherlock Holmes, investigating seemingly mysterious cases often by means of scientific knowledge. This film is an adaptation of 'The Greatest Jail-Breaker' from the series. The character designs as well as the basic structure of the jail-break are faithful to the original. The identity of the main character Mack was changed from a swindler to a heroic outlaw who robbed from the rich to give to the poor. The character of the daughter was re-written to be staying in an orphanage, setting the stage for a touching father-daughter relationship. Besides the score, which was performed by a European symphony orchestra, every other element was created locally in Hong Kong. Experienced animation director Toe Yuen also wrote the script, while co-director Matthew Chow led Simage Animation and Media Limited in production work, resulting in a highly acclaimed Hong Kong animated production. The drawing technique, compositing, shot sequence, editing and music scoring of the entire film was deemed to be above the standard of the day. There is an intriguing plot that also has emotional content, hilarious and quirky interactions among the animal characters, the Cantonese dialogue is colloquial and witty, often requiring quick mental twists and turns from the audience to add to the fun and suspense of the film.

Courtesy of Golden Scene Company Limited

# Post-screening talk with Lai Ho & Toe Yuen

The contents of the programme do not represent the views of the presenter. The presenter reserves the right to change the programme should unavoidable circumstances make it necessary.