Home :: DVD :: Mystery & Suspense :: Detectives  

Blackmail, Murder & Mayhem
British Mystery Theater
Classics
Crime
Detectives

Film Noir
General
Mystery
Mystery & Suspense Masters
Neo-Noir
Series & Sequels
Suspense
Thrillers
Sherlock Holmes - The Hound of the Baskervilles

Sherlock Holmes - The Hound of the Baskervilles

List Price: $14.98
Your Price: $13.48
Product Info Reviews

<< 1 2 3 >>

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Jeremy Brett Rules!
Review: The Hound of the Baskervilles might just be my favorite Sherlock Holmes story. Jeremy Brett is the best Sherlock Holmes ever. Screw Basil Rathbone. In all the books Sherlock Holmes never used the phrase, "Elementary my dear Watson." He never fought any Nazis either. That's just plain dumb. I don't like it when people change stories when they adapt it to film. They just screw it all up. The Sherlock Holmes series with Jeremy Brett, is the most accurate that I've ever seen. That's why I give this dvd five stars.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: A delightful two hours of Jeremy Brett as Sherlock Holmes
Review: THE HOUND OF THE BASKERVILLES with Jeremy Brett and Edward Hardwicke was the first Sherlock Holmes film I've ever seen, and also one of the best. It's an entertaining and faithful adaption of the original Conan Doyle novella.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Genius and Style
Review: This faithful movie-length adaptation of the Conan Doyle's tale highlights all the genius and style that Jermey Brett and company brought to these wonderful productions. This diverse and quirky performance shows why Brett will remain indelibly tied to the Holmes legend. A must for mystery fans.

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: The Hound of The Baskervilles isn't the best
Review: This film starring Jeremy Brett and Edward Hardwicke is pretty good. I thought it got a little boring after awhile. Jeremy Brett has definately been in better movies of the series. All in all it is a great film for the era. The series was proably one of my favorite things of the era (1980's- 1990's).

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Beautiful
Review: This is a beautiful film. The settings and costumes are so good, they transport the viewer back to the moors of Victorian England.

But what really makes this film first rate is the tension between the supernatural and the cold logic of the scientific method as personified by Holmes. In a line taken directly from the book, Holmes allows: "if ever the devil were to dabble in the affairs of man, it would be here". A remarkable statement for a man of Holmes' character.

I've never seen the Rathbone version, but I've seen this one half a dozen times and still enjoy it.

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: Great Acting, But, oh, the poor sound and bad subtitles
Review: This is probably my favorite of the Jeremy Brett Sherlock Holmes
adaptations. Some have said Brett looks bloated and sick (and he probably was at this point in his life). That may be, yet I find (and this may be cold and callous on my part) that illness added a unique quality to his voice which in turn added to the mystery. The rest of the cast is excellent in their roles. I wouldn't call this a faithful adaptation of the original text: I don't believe there was an implied romance between Ms. Stapleton and Lord Baskerville. I also have to admit that the scenes which feature empty rooms and the sounds of sobbing are less atmospheric than they are annoying.

Having watched the film on VHS, I was anxious to get the DVD so I could bring up the subtitles and find out WHAT WAS BEING SAID in a few of the scenes. (That's right, I love this version inspite of the fact that I can only understand three quarters of the dialogue.) Imagine my surprise (and disappointment) when I got the subtitle option working--only to discover that whoever did the subtitles couldn't understand the lines either and, in some cases, messed up the ones that WERE easily understood. (For example: "He started the task methodically" becomes "he studied the task methodically", "Huddleston Quayle" becomes "HudsonWhales", "tin mine" is translated as "ten mile" and "awkwardly" is translated as "all quickly".) I fear for the hearing-impaired person who watches this; they will be even more up a creek without a paddle than the hearing person.

Over all, I give it four out of five stars for the cast, the writing and the scenery. But the muddied sound keeps it from being a five.

Rating: 2 stars
Summary: Great expectations, but...
Review: This one should have been the jewel in the crown of the Granada television series, since "The Hound of the Baskervilles" is the best of the Conan Doyle novels. Unfortunately though, this movie is not:

Suspense Q-marks are dutyfully ignored, the pace is to slow, the ghost isn't frightening and Jeremy Brett appears old, tired and fat.

By the way, where's the deerstalker? I know Holmes didn't always wear one -however erroneously portrayed that way in every Sherlock Holmes movie you've seen, as if he were hunting ducks in the middle of London (the series' eye-for-detail rightly avoids this mistake)- but in THIS adventure in particular, it was THE attire to wear! Instead, Holmes wanders through the moors in a fedora. What a letdown!

Nevertheless, I'm a big fan of the series and I think Brett was the best Holmes ever!

Rating: 2 stars
Summary: Great expectations, but...
Review: This one should have been the jewel in the crown of the Granada television series, since "The Hound of the Baskervilles" is the best of the Conan Doyle novels. Unfortunately though, this movie is not:

Suspense Q-marks are dutyfully ignored, the pace is to slow, the ghost isn't frightening and Jeremy Brett appears old, tired and fat.

By the way, where's the deerstalker? I know Holmes didn't always wear one -however erroneously portrayed that way in every Sherlock Holmes movie you've seen, as if he were hunting ducks in the middle of London (the series' eye-for-detail rightly avoids this mistake)- but in THIS adventure in particular, it was THE attire to wear! Instead, Holmes wanders through the moors in a fedora. What a letdown!

Nevertheless, I'm a big fan of the series and I think Brett was the best Holmes ever!


<< 1 2 3 >>

© 2004, ReviewFocus or its affiliates