Rating: 
Summary: Sherlock Holmes
Review: I purchased volume 2 and REALLY have enjoyed it. I have viewed 2 of the 4 films so far. The restoration by UCLA is outstanding. You must be a Sherlock Holmes/Basil Rathbone to really enjoy this series. Highly recommended. Amazon has been great and free shipping does not hurt either.
Rating:
Summary: A EXCELLENT RESTORATION OF SHERLOCK HOLMES
Review: I"m a man of few words. If you enjoy Sherlock Holmes, As I do .
Dont Hesitate to buy these wonderful restored versions of the great Holmes Classics, I had purchased a previous version by a company called Focus Film....No Comparision to these wonderful
MPI Volumes. The Picture and Sound Is fresh and Crisp, As though they were made Yesterday, Rather then 60 Years ago. Buy them , Settle back in your easy chair , And watch Holmes and Watson
Deduce the Culprits, I promise you will be In for a wonderful Evening..........
Rating: 
Summary: whats the selections on it???
Review: It would be nice to know what movies are on this set of disc's.. Could we hope for the Hound Of The Baskervilles!! I notice Amazon.com is doing that with multi packed sets. They'd create more excitment if we knew what was on it like we alrady do with set one , thanks folks
Rating:
Summary: At Last ...The Scarlet Claw!!!!
Review: Lets be thankful that we are going to soon be treated to restored versions of these classics. I have purchased versions of the Scarlet Claw that were nearly inaudible and blurred. And it has been out of print for some time. So I am writing this pre-review to express my Great Expectations and excitement over the upcoming DVD release of the 14 Sherlock Holmes movies made by Basil Rathbone and Nigel Bruce.
For those of us who have loved and worn out our VHS versions of these films, I am sure that I speak for many of us in expressing incredible anticipation and near shock that someone has finally recognized the need to release a "restored version" of these timeless classics.
We are told that they have been "Preserved and restored in 35mm by the UCLA Film and Television Archive." This is marvelous and I have already pre-ordered Vol. 1 and Vol. 2 from MPI Home Video.
I so hope that the entire 14 movies, are ultimately released in restored condition. Especially the rarest of them, "The Scarlet Claw" which has rarely been shown on televison and only been available on VHS sporadically.
To me and many others I know, Basil Rathbone is the definative Holmes. Not just because he looks alarmingly similar -as much as is humanly possible- to Sidney Pagets drawings of Holmes from the Strand Magazine illustrations, but mostly we love Rathbone because he portrayed the same Holmes that we as readers get through the buffer of Dr. Watson explaining away not magnifying Holmes' shortcomings.
Jeremy Brett chose to amplify every negative aspect of Holmes' personality that in the written versions Watson explained away. Rathbone's Holmes has been demeaned visciously over the past years and hopefully the respect and dignity that he gave his portrayals will be seen in all their accuracy and glory with these new digitally restored releases. ... these will have to be the best quality versions of these classics ever released...so for all of us who have cursed the incomprehensibly awful releases of these films over the years...our time has almost come. Show your support for this effort by ordering a restored version of American Film Histroy.
Much Thanks to UCLA, MPI, and Whoever was ultimately responsible for the idea of doing this!!!!
Rating:
Summary: Holmes collection Vol. 2
Review: Much better than expected. Well worth the $$.
Rating:
Summary: The late, late show lives again
Review: One of the most pleasant memories of my youth were the summer vacations from school when I stayed up late to watch Universal's Sherlock Holmes films on the Late Night Movie. There was no better way to wrap up a day than by watching Basil Rathbone as Sherlock Holmes and Nigel Bruce as Dr. Watson sleuthe their way through the misty marshes in pursuit of the glowing creature of "The Scarlet Claw," or engaging in one of cinema's great battle of the sexes in "Spider Woman." These 1944 Holmes mysteries are the highlight of this collection, and though Conan Doyle purists have been known to argue that the two Twentieth Century Fox films ("The Hound of the Baskervilles" and "The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes," both from 1939) are more faithful to their source, it was the Universal films that were the most popular and with good reason. Having made their name with the legendary horror films of the 30s, the studio was better equipped to handle tales of the macabre or simply stories of suspense than almost any other studio. Even the lesser films in the Holmes series benefited from tremendous atmosphere that more than compensated for the more awkward aspects of the studio's attempt to contemporize the legendary detective. The other films in this set, "The House of Fear" and "The Pearl of Death" are also among the best. You won't hear many critics praise these films as classics, and perhaps they do miss the mark, but if it's entertainment you seek, Rathbone and Bruce provide it in abundance. And a special thanks to another famous pipe smoker, Hugh Hefner, the legendary founder of Playboy who donated the money necessary for UCLA's restoration of these films. Is Hef a fan?
Rating:
Summary: The late, late show lives again
Review: One of the most pleasant memories of my youth were the summer vacations from school when I stayed up late to watch Universal's Sherlock Holmes films on the Late Night Movie. There was no better way to wrap up a day than by watching Basil Rathbone as Sherlock Holmes and Nigel Bruce as Dr. Watson sleuthe their way through the misty marshes in pursuit of the glowing creature of "The Scarlet Claw," or engaging in one of cinema's great battle of the sexes in "Spider Woman." These 1944 Holmes mysteries are the highlight of this collection, and though Conan Doyle purists have been known to argue that the two Twentieth Century Fox films ("The Hound of the Baskervilles" and "The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes," both from 1939) are more faithful to their source, it was the Universal films that were the most popular and with good reason. Having made their name with the legendary horror films of the 30s, the studio was better equipped to handle tales of the macabre or simply stories of suspense than almost any other studio. Even the lesser films in the Holmes series benefited from tremendous atmosphere that more than compensated for the more awkward aspects of the studio's attempt to contemporize the legendary detective. The other films in this set, "The House of Fear" and "The Pearl of Death" are also among the best. You won't hear many critics praise these films as classics, and perhaps they do miss the mark, but if it's entertainment you seek, Rathbone and Bruce provide it in abundance. And a special thanks to another famous pipe smoker, Hugh Hefner, the legendary founder of Playboy who donated the money necessary for UCLA's restoration of these films. Is Hef a fan?
Rating:
Summary: A must have DVD set
Review: The restoration is excellent. It is probably better than it was first released. If you enjoy Rathbone's Holmes this is the best way to view him. The only quibble is that the bonus material is less than expected.
Rating:
Summary: here's what's on it
Review: The titles on this set are house of fear, pearl of death, scarlet claw, spider woman the company is MPI (which is pretty good) and promises extras. sounds good to me.
Rating:
Summary: As good as you'd hope they'd be
Review: The UCLA credit on each film reads "Preserved by" which is not quite the same as "Restored by" but the 4 films are as good as
Holmes fans have waited for. Each volume has one film with a commentary by David Stuart Davies. He gives a lot of detail and makes interesting observations but failed to review himself for accuracy. He refers to cameraman George Robinson as Bernard Robinson (a Hammer art director) and actress Kay Harding as having made just The Scarlet Claw, when she appeareded mostly as Jackie Lou Harding - and was also in The Woman In Green.
There are so many experts on the Rathbone series that MPI should have had a commentary for each film instead of the one catch-all for each set.
Nevertheless, you won't buy these for the extras but for the pleasure of seeing all 12 of Universal's Holmes films in such superb condition.
Volume 3 will be released in January and the two Rathbone Fox films in May 2004.
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