The Complete Sherlock Holmes Collection

Description

The Complete Sherlock Holmes Collection stars Basil Rathbone as the legendary Sherlock Holmes and Nigel Bruce as the venerable Dr. John H. Watson. Comprised of all 14 films on 5 discs in high definition.Faces Death, The Secret Weapon, The Voice of Terror, In Washington, House of Fear, Pearl of Death, The Scarlet Claw, The Spider Woman, Dressed to Kill, Pursuit to Algiers, Terror By Night, Woman in Green, Adventures of Sherlock Holmes, & Hound of Baskervilles Review: An Extraordinary Set With All the Holmes Movies of an Extraordinary Actor! - This is a GREAT set because: ...A... Black & white movies have a special atmosphere. Additionally, the last 12 of the movies are remastered in both picture and sound. The viewing is great. ...B... I love mysteries, and there are some great plots among these movies. ...C... In addition to Rathbone's Holmes, there is some great character acting in this movie series. That includes femme fatales and master criminals. ...D... Though Nigel Bruce's Watson is not my favorite portrayal of the famed sidekick, in this series he is the comic relief and I think he does a good job with that. ...E... Rathbone's versatility is shown. When Sherlock dons one of his costumes, Rathbone really plays the part. No wonder he longed to get away from the character of Holmes. In this Complete Collection, you get all 14 of the Sherlock Holmes movies Rathbone and Bruce made together. That's 16 hours 14 minutes of mystery viewing. All of the movies can currently be purchased separately on disc and some of them have colorized versions, Commentary Tracks and Bonus Features. You can find more detailed descriptions of the plots on the pages for the single movie releases. All of the movies have English subtitles available on the discs. In addition, in this Collection, you get a Commentary Track for six of the movies. All in all, this is a really great set. I've already watched everything through twice. The disc content, with movies in order of release: ...Bonus A... "Introduction by Robert Gitt" (4 minutes, no subtitles) Gitt works at the Preservation Office of the UCLA Film and Television Archive. We have his team to thank for the crisp remastered versions available in this collection. Gitt explains that the first step is to preserve the film, where you copy it on to "modern polyester film, which, I'm told, will have a life of several hundred years." After preservation, there's restoration, which is a huge process. ...1... "The Hound of the Baskervilles" (80 minutes, 4 stars) The classic of the classic Sherlock Holmes. Though I loved the atmosphere, I knocked off a star because they deleted one of the key plot elements in in the original story. Watch it a second time with a Commentary by David Stuart Davies, writer and editor of "Sherlock" magazine. He gives interesting background information. Sherlock Holmes - The Hound of the Baskervilles ...2... "The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes" (82 minutes, 4 stars) Professor Moriarty threatens to crush Holmes for inconveniencing him one last time. And he plans to do it by using Holmes' own curiosity and restlessness against himself. Also includes a Commentary track by Richard Valley, late publisher and editor of "Scarlet Street" magazine. Recommended for good factoids and humor. The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes ...3... "Sherlock Holmes and the Voice of Terror" (66 minutes, 3 stars) It's WWII and England is fighting for its life. The Nazis have a radio broadcast, The Voice of Terror, which not only strikes fear into the hearts, but sets out to prove Nazi superiority by predicting sabotage on English soil. England has a mole. Sherlock Holmes: The Voice of Terror ...4..."Sherlock Holmes and the Secret Weapon" (68 minutes, 4 stars) The Swiss scientist, Dr. Tobel, has developed a new bomb sight, which both sides of WWII want. Can Holmes get him out of Nazi occupied Switzerland? Sherlock Holmes and the Secret Weapon (Colorized / Black & White) ...5... "Sherlock Holmes in Washington" (71 minutes, 4 stars) The British are sending a top-secret document to Washington D.C. The Nazis know the document is on a certain train, but they don't know who is carrying it. Sherlock Holmes in Washington ...6... "Sherlock Holmes Faces Death" (88 minutes, 4 stars) Doctor Watson works at an officer convalescent home at Musgrave Manor. When his assistant is attacked, he asks Holmes to investigate. This film has another Commentary Track by David Stuart Davies. Sherlock Holmes Faces Death ...7... "The Spider Woman" (83 minutes, 5 stars) Seven men have shot themselves in the head while in their pyjamas. Holmes is sure they've been murdered, but how? And why? Sherlock Holmes in the Spider Woman ...8... "The Scarlet Claw" (74 minutes, 4 stars) Holmes and Watson are in Quebec, Canada, for a meeting of an occult society. Strange lights are seen in the woods and animals have been found their throats torn out. When it happens to a woman, Holmes is on the case. Watch it a second time with the Commentary Track by David Stuart Davies. At one point of pulp-ish dialogue he says, "Penny Dreadful stuff in the mouth of a lesser actor.... [but] the brilliance of Basil Rathbone, whose assured, charismatic and dominating performance, lifts these movies out of the commonplace." Sherlock Holmes - The Scarlet Claw ...9... "Pearl of Death" (69 minutes, 5 stars) The cursed Borgia Pearl is heading to London where it will be put on display in a museum. It's protection is fool-proof. Until it's not. Sherlock Holmes in Pearl of Death ..10... "The House of Fear" (69 minutes, 3 stars) On behalf of his client, Holmes and Watson venture to Driercliff House, where members of The Good Comrades are being picked off one by one. Sherlock Holmes - The House of Fear ..11... "Woman in Green" (68 minutes, 5 stars) London women are being murdered, with a finger chopped off as a souvenir. Holmes must stop a diabolical plot. David Stuart Davies provides a Commentary Track to this excellent movie. Sherlock Holmes - The Woman in Green ..12... "Pursuit to Algiers" (65 minutes, 4 stars) The Home Office recruits Holmes to guard a young royal threatened with assassination. Sherlock Holmes in Pursuit To Algiers ..13... "Terror By Night" (60 minutes, 5 stars) The owner of the Star of Rhodesia, a huge and supposedly cursed diamond, is being brought back to England on an ocean liner. Holmes is hired to protect it. Sherlock Holmes: Terror by Night ..14... "Dressed to Kill" AKA "Prelude to Murder" (72 minutes, 5 stars) The Gaylord Art Gallery, London, has its weekly auction, including three music boxes made in a prison. When the man who purchased the first box is murdered, Holmes must find out why, and prevent more deaths. This has a recommended Commentary Track with David Gregory (monitor), Patricia Morison (plays Hilda Courtney) and Richard Valley. Hilda is the femme fatale in this movie and got to wear silly hats. Sherlock Holmes in Color: Prelude to Murder (a.k.a Dressed to Kill) ...Bonus B... Photo Galleries (12 minutes) Five slideshows of movie stills, posters and publicity shots ...Bonus C... Trailers (7 minutes) 6 trailers for Rathbone/Bruce Holmes movies, not restored ...Bonus D... Footage of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle (1 minute) This looks like one of those news items that runs before a movie. It is in black & white and was issued due to the passing of the author. He sits in his garden and briefly talks to the camera. Happy Reader Review: Excellent reproduction/transfer - This is the Basil Rathbone set to buy. Here, MPI has excelled in reproducing the ORIGINAL "Universal Studios" productions of Sherlock Holmes Series with Basil Rathbone as Sherlock Holmes and Nigel Bruce as Dr. Watson. Transfer: Excellent. Full (television) screen as I like it. Single-sided disks as I like for handling, especially with kids. Notes on Transfer: ORIGINAL music and introductions are in THIS collection-- much of the original music was cut as the series was passed down through time by various movie outfits.... disk one contains a special on all of the work that these guys did in restoring all of the movies -- pristine quality reproductions on full tv screen (not wide) format the way I like it. Content: excellent! If you enjoy this version of Sherlock Holmes with clever SH and somewhat comical Dr. Watson, you will enjoy the acting (superb), stories, and casting. Menu: The classical music for the menu needs to be adjusted to have the same volume as the series-- also, it needs to be much longer and less repetitive. Remove the silly Watson and Holmes speaking during the nice classical music as it becomes tiresome. Case: Beautiful front embossed case BUT terrible back lettering that is a piece of glossy paper that is glued only at the top. I had to tape it at the bottom to be sure that it would not be torn off. The disks open up somewhat in reverse with a cloth-like pull tab-- UNFORTUNATELY, the disks are mounted into REALLY HARD TO REMOVE PVC type of holders-- the holds "FLIP" because they are TAPED with a single piece of CLEAR TAPE-- my disks became UNTAPED after only a single removal and insertion of the DVD-- shoddy considering the time and care spent on the reproductions-- paper or plastic sleeves would have been better as I can't see this case lasting anytime--COME ON MPI-- DO IT COMPLETELY RIGHT and give us a proper storage case! OVERALL: Thank you MPI for preserving this series so well! The episodes are all very very well done and will provide quality entertainment. HIGHLY RECOMMENDED -- this is the set to buy to have a complete Basil Rathbone collection. Case: nice, but tough to get the double-sided disks out-- can't someone come up with a better way that this? Disks: so far, no problems with playing on any of the disks that I played including those episodes mentioned in other reviews. Conclusion: well worth the price, BUY IT! Please don't make us wait another 50 years to get season 2.