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The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes (Boxed Set Collection)Rating:
Release Date: 28 May, 2002 Retail Price: $59.98 OUR Price: $44.99 You SAVE: $14.99! Cast: |
The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes (Boxed Set Collection) Reviews
True to the books...
If you like Sherlock Holmes books, you will probably like these films. The stories are right out of the books with very few changes. In fact, many of the dialogs are completely identical. I like that.
Of course, movies are never quite as good as books. "Watson's" unique style is lost a bit as the films can not convey his thoughts the way he can in the books.
My biggest complaint is the sound track. Unfortunately, the quality here is very poor with huge flactuations in volume level. You either need to turn the volume up very high to hear everything, or you will find yourself constantly adjusting the volume.
Overall however, I have to say that this is very good.
The definitive Master Detective - accept no subsititutes
I've been reading the Sherlock Holmes stories since I was a wee lad of 11. The very first story I ever read was `The Greek Interpreter', then `The Speckled Band'. But I didn't really become an admirer until my late teens, when I bought a volume containing Sidney Paget's incomparable and stunning illustrations of the Master Detective.
I was never entirely satisfied with past portrayals with Sherlock Holmes or Dr. Watson. They were either invariably portrayed as overly arrogant (Peter Cushing as Holmes), or as buffoons (Nigel Bruce as Watson). It wasn't until I discovered the work of Jeremy Brett (via an Amazon.com search), that I finally found THE DEFINITIVE portrayal of Sherlock Holmes and Dr. Watson - one that will probably never be surpassed in my lifetime. I was absolutely stunned at every aspect of each and every episode. Their attention to detail - everything from Production Design to the performance of every single actor, is a pitch perfect rendition of Sherlock Holmes adventures, straight from the pages of the Strand Magazine. And Jeremy Brett's very countenance is the exact mirror image of Sidney Paget's drawings - from his distinctive nose to his eloquent and articulate mannerisms.
Every single episode in this collection is an absolute classic. Interestingly enough, although they contain two recurring characters, each story has a different tone and atmosphere. `A Scandal in Bohemia' has a delightfully romantic and baroque feel, while `The Speckled Band' has all the tensions and scares of a horror story. But the crowning glory of each and every episode is Jeremy Brett's performance as Sherlock Holmes, and David Burke's rendition of Watson. Burke brings a positive aggression and proactive stance to Watson, that has never been seen in any rendition of the character before or since (with the exception of the always excellent Edward Hardwicke). And Jeremy Brett's portrayal of Holmes is pitch perfect in every single way imaginable - from the tiniest inflection, to the timbre of his voice.
The only gripe I have is not with the actual episodes, but the way they were presented on DVD. MPI did a straight video transfer, without any attempt at cleaning up the prints or agumenting the sound. As a result, we have a slightly grainy transfer which would make any DVD purist die of apoplexy, and a flat sounding mono soundtrack, which fails to convey the drama of either the music or sound effects. I have heard reports that the last two collections in the series (Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes, Case Book of Sherlock Holmes), have received better treatment. Here's hoping.
Other than that - these volumes are the greatest renditions of Sherlock Holmes ever committed to celluloid. Forget Rathebone - Jeremy Brett is THE Sherlock Holmes, and David Burke (and Edward Hardwicke) will always be his Watson.
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