Rating:

By contrast, Basil Rathbone was a fencing swashbuckler, athletic and dashing; a talented actor who loved the stage. Rathbone made a fine Holmes in my opinion and most of his 14 films as this famed sleuth are most enjoyable. But when reading Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, one’s mind, I’d say, surely conjured up a far more complicated man than that played by Mr. Rathbone. Mr. Brett brought much of that man to life, I’d argue, and, at least in part, some of that was no doubt helped along by Mr. Brett’s own experiences as a talented, but troubled, individual. After all, geniuses do not seem to be cut from the same cloth as most folk; in the sense that abnormality, in some measure, seems to make extraordinary talent a bit more possible. Sherlock Holmes was such a extraordinary character. That’s what makes Mr. Brett’s performances herein so interesting. Jeremy Brett most certainly brings to the fore the depth of a true Sherlock Holmes type character and makes Mr. Holmes a lot more real. After watching any of these fine episodes you too ought be inclined to be happy that Mr. Brett’s audition to replace Sean Connery as James Bond was less than successful, allowing Mr. Brett to eventually find the role measurably more suitable for him and one in which he thoroughly excelled.

Rating:

I have seen the original MPI releases, as well as a Japanese/Chinese collection, and without question, this new set features the best picture and sound quality. (Perhaps the PAL version released a couple years earlier in the UK is slightly superior, but I doubt anyone could really see the difference.) The uniform menu screens and the sharp design of the packaging are also an improvement upon previous releases.

My complaints are few and rather inconsequential, but they are as follows:

1) There are no additional special features, but in fact *fewer* special features than the original DVD releases.

2) The pictures on the faces of the DVDs were chosen somewhat haphazardly, e.g. Hardwicke is featured on Disc 1 where surely Burke belongs. And

3) as to the series itself, during the second half of its run, more and more stories were merely “based” on Conan Doyle’s work, and with questionable results. “The Last Vampyre” is a prime example.

In short, if you already own the original DVD releases and you are satisfied with that picture quality, you may want to pass on purchasing this set. For all other admirers of the series, this is a must have.

Rating:

Jeremy Brett was the only actor who ever managed to perfectly portray Holmes’s imperiousness, bitingly ironic sense of humor and apparently indestructible self-control without at the same time neglecting his genuine friendship towards Dr. Watson and the weaknesses hidden below a surface dominated by his overarching intellectual powers. The series takes the titles of its four cycles of shorter episodes – “The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes,” “The Return of Sherlock Holmes,” “The Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes” and “The Casebook of Sherlock Holmes” – from four of the five short story collections featuring London’s self-appointed only “consulting detective” (published 1892, 1905, 1894 and 1927, respectively); thus nominally omitting the 1917 collection “His Last Bow,” which is, however – but for its title story – completely represented in individual episodes spread out over the other four cycles. While the grouping of instalments doesn’t necessarily correspond with Conan Doyle’s original story collections, and the series’s premise – Holmes’s and Watson’s shared tenancy of rooms at 221B Baker Street – was no longer true even at the beginning of the “Adventures,” this excellently produced series is a must-have for any mystery fan. This is particularly true for the first two cycles (“Adventures” and “Return”) and the movie-length versions of the novels “The Hound of the Baskervilles” and “The Sign of the Four,” which alone makes this set well worth the purchase; even if the movie-length dramatizations of the short stories “The Eligible Bachelor” (a/k/a “The Noble Bachelor”) and “The Last Vampyre” (a/k/a “The Sussex Vampyre”) are less than faithful to Conan Doyle’s originals: in fact, their quality rests almost exclusively on an already ailing Jeremy Brett’s shoulders (as well as in “Vampyre” on the extraordinary guest performance of Roy Marsden in the episode’s title role), thus emphasizing even more the significance of Brett’s achievement.

This set contains (in “volumes” or episodes grouped on discs as originally released):

THE ADVENTURES OF SHERLOCK HOLMES

* A Scandal in Bohemia

* The Dancing Men (from “Return”)

* The Naval Treaty (from “Memoirs”)

* The Solitary Cyclist (from “Return”)

* The Crooked Man (from “Memoirs”)

* The Speckled Band

* The Blue Carbuncle

* The Copper Beeches

* The Greek Interpreter (from “Memoirs”)

* The Norwood Builder (from “Return”)

* The Resident Patient (from “Memoirs”)

* The Red-Headed League

* The Final Problem (from “Memoirs”)

THE RETURN OF SHERLOCK HOLMES

* The Empty House

* The Abbey Grange

* The Second Stain

* The Six Napoleons

* The Priory School

* Wisteria Lodge (from “Last Bow”)

* The Devil’s Foot (from “Last Bow”)

* Silver Blaze (from “Memoirs”)

* The Bruce-Partington Plans (from “Last Bow”)

* The Musgrave Ritual (from “Memoirs”)

* The Man With the Twisted Lip (from “Adventures”)

THE CASEBOOK OF SHERLOCK HOLMES

* The Disappearance of Lady Frances Carfax (from “Last Bow”)

* The Problem of Thor Bridge

* The Boscombe Valley Mystery (from “Adventures”)

* The Illustrious Client

* Shouscombe Old Place

* The Creeping Man

THE MEMOIRS OF SHERLOCK HOLMES

* The Three Gables (from “Casebook”)

* The Dying Detective (from “Last Bow”)

* The Golden Pince-Nez (from “Return”)

* The Red Circle (from “Last Bow”)

* The Mazarin Stone (from “Casebook”)

* The Cardboard Box (from “Last Bow”)

THE FEATURE FILMS

* The Sign of Four (adaptation of the 1890 novel)

* The Hound of the Baskervilles (adaptation of the 1901 novel)

* The Last Vampyre (adaptation of the short story “The Sussex Vampyre” from “Casebook”)

* The Eligible Bachelor (adaptation of the short story “The Noble Bachelor” from “Adventures”)

* The Master Blackmailer (adaptation of the short story “The Adventure of Charles Augustus Milverton” from “Memoirs”)

For completion’s sake, this leaves only the first and last Holmes novels (“A Study In Scarlet,” 1887, and “The Valley of Fear,” 1915) as well as the following short stories unrepresented in this series:

From THE ADVENTURES OF SHERLOCK HOLMES:

* A Case of Identity

* The Five Orange Pips

* The Adventure of the Engineer’s Thumb

* The Adventure of the Beryl Coronet

From THE RETURN OF SHERLOCK HOLMES:

* The Adventure of Black Peter

* The Adventure of the Three Students

* The Adventure of the Missing Three-Quarter

From THE CASEBOOK OF SHERLOCK HOLMES:

* The Blanched Soldier

* The Lion’s Mane

* The Veiled Lodger

* The Retired Colourman

FROM THE MEMOIRS OF SHERLOCK HOLMES:

* The Yellow Face

* The Stock-broker’s Clerk

* The “Gloria Scott”

* The Reigate Puzzle

From HIS LAST BOW:

* His Last Bow

Also recommended:

The Complete Sherlock Holmes: All 4 Novels and 56 Short Stories

Sherlock Holmes: A Baker Street Dozen

Sherlock Holmes of Baker Street

Bending the Willow: Jeremy Brett As Sherlock Holmes

Dr. Bell and Mr. Doyle – The Dark Beginnings of Sherlock Holmes

Murder Rooms – The Dark Beginnings of Sherlock Holmes

The Life of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle

Conan Doyle, Detective: The True Crimes Investigated by the Creator of Sherlock Holmes

Arthur and George