Rating: 
Summary: Simply the best Sherlock Holmes on film
Review: You won't find a better adaptation of Sherlock Holmes than this original Grenada series "The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes." There are other good adaptations out there, but this is the best.Jeremy Brett masters the difficult character of Sherlock Holmes perfectly. He might have sprung whole from "The Strand." The arrogance, the brilliance, the sharpness and even the appearance, every aspect of Holmes is alive in Jeremy Brett. Of equal effect is David Burke as Watson. Although not quite "as brown as a nut," he is still a rugged, useful Boswell for Holmes. The selected stories for this first series are all winners as well, with "the damn woman" in "Scandal in Bohemia" and the outstanding "The Blue Carbuncle." Not every story is adapted faithfully, as is shown with the inclusion of Moriarty in "The Red-Headed League," but there is respect and quality. Every episode is great. The detail of the stories is amazing as well, taking more from the books than the familiar film-adaptations. Gone is the Calabash pipe and the superhero costume of Deerstalker cap and matching cloak. Instead, Holmes smokes the straight wooden pipe of the stories, and changes his outfits accordingly. No fan can possibly be dissapointed by this series, or this DVD set.
Rating:
Summary: Fantastic Sherlock Holmes Series
Review: This is an absolutely fantastic series. From the smallest details to the intrigue, this series captures the essence of Sherlock Holmes. My wife and I thoroughly enjoyed watching these together. The scenery is breathtaking, the characters thoroughly well developed. You have to be crazy not to buy this set, it is so well worth the money.
Rating: 
Summary: Rush get the r2 version from Amazon UK
Review: To all holmes fans I own this set and I just purchased the entire 41 episode collection from Amazon Uk,The pal version is encoded at significantly higher bitrate than this version,here they have squeezed three episodes on some dvds which has made the image look far more grainy ,it also shakes on all the dvds,black floats and leaves trail, very poor encoding indeed. the pal versions are much better and dont have all the above mentioned artifacts.And its significantly cheaper.
Rating:
Summary: great collection, ruined by atrocious subtitles
Review: The series is great. a must but for all, but only if you do not intend to turn on the subtitles. they are absolutely pathetic.
The people who did it had no idea what they were up to and have ruined such a beautiful dvd. They have not even bothered to read the stories before sub titling it. example Mr. Jabez Wilson is typed as Jay Beards Wilson and game of whist is shown as whiskey. and hundreds of such other errors which really need to be rectified in future editions.
Rating: 
Summary: Great Series
Review: This is probably a must-have for those like myself who consider Jeremy Brett as having given us the definitive Sherlock Holmes. He's moody, given to odd fits and starts, rude to his clients -- in other words, he's the eccentric genius Doyle had always intended him to be. No calabash pipe here: Holmes always smokes straight wooden or briar pipes. (Attentive viewers will notice a visual joke. Laying on the mantlepiece near Holmes' pipe collection is a meerschaum-lined calabash. He never smokes it.) This first series featured David Burke as Watson, who brought a fresh perspective to this character. No longer the bumbling idiot of Nigel Bruce, he's an intelligent man, talented in his field, and an able medical practitioner. He's out of his depth next to Holmes when it comes to criminal detection, but one gets the feeling that if you place him next to Lestrade he wouldn't look so dense. Edward Hardwick did a good job in the later series, but we have Burke to thank for redefining the role. These episodes are not always taken verbatim from the stories, but in many ways they managed to improve on the originals. I won't give any spoilers, except to say that episodes such as "The Greek Interpreter" and "The Norwood Builder" are rather more dramatic and sinister to watch than they are to read. The plots are simplified by making Watson a single man and Holmes' roommate, where in some of Doyle's stories Watson was married and lived elsewhere. Not all the episodes are of equally high quality, but all of the are a good deal better than the next best thing, and Brett and Burke always turn in splendid performances. I wish the DVDs had been better done. They're obviously of spotty quality. The "warble" reported by Sean Brady below was noticable in a couple of places for me in the first two discs, although I thankfully have not yet experienced the blocking. I really wish the first disc wasn't double-sided, as I find double-sided DVDs difficult to handle. The print from which the transfer was made had deteriorated noticably. If this was the best one available, that's tragic. Had the overall viewing experience been better, this would have rated 5 stars.
Rating:
Summary: Absolutely brilliant Jeremy Brett! quintessential Holmes
Review: I must say watching this series brought back memories of rushing home from school to catch this absolutely brilliant series on BBC. I am in complete awe of Jeremy Brett's talent as an actor and his complete commitment to a flawless rendition of what Sherlock Holmes would be like as a person, mannerisms, attitudes, quirks and all. This is one of the few series that is able to recreate the feeling and intensity of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's written masterpiece. Technically, I am very glad I delayed purchasing this series until it was released on DVD. I now have the very best of sound quality reproduction to enjoy the wonderful and sometimes eerie ambience of this extremely well put together series by Granada. THIS IS A MUST HAVE AND IS DEFINITELY WORTH EVERY CENT. Can't wait for the "Return of....." series. Put me down for a preorder.
Rating:
Summary: Excellent series, okay DVDs
Review: Rather than discuss the stories that make up this DVD set, I'm going to focus on the quality of the DVD themselves as others have already expressed their views on this excellent series in previous reviews. The set itself is presented really well. All 5 discs are contained in a custom keep case with an attractively designed cover. The menus are attractive and user friendly. The only notable special features are some of the excellent Paget illustrations as seen in the original publication of the stories. It's interesting to look at these after you have seen the corresponding story to see how the production crew were obviously inspired by these drawings.
The first disc in the set is double-sided and contains the first four stories. There are some minor problems with sound especially in The Naval Treaty where the audio takes on a 'warbling' effect in the last act, distorting the sound. This is particularly noticeable during the end credits during the theme music. Thankfully this problem does not surface again on the other discs. If it does, it is certainly not as noticeable as in this story. The video quality across the set varies. Do not expect a remastered version of these stories. At best, they are VHS quality, but if you just want to focus on the stories themselves rather than how they look onscreen, you shouldn't find the varying quality too distracting. Examples of variance in picture quality can be seen in The Copper Beeches which features a slightly washed out picture, and The Crooked Man which features a strange video artifact which results in elements within the picture "wobbling". For example, a vase or lamp in the foreground appears to move about while the background stays still. This is not a fault of the source material and can be attributed to the DVD authoring process. It is somewhat distracting but it doesn't detract from enjoying the story itself. It is unfortunate that MPI chose to compress the last three episodes onto disc 5 as The Final Problem, perhaps the best episode of the series, suffers from excessive grain and slight macro blocking in the picture. What do I mean by "macro blocking"? When you look at a CD-ROM game, movie, etc on your PC you may notice that the backgrounds tend to look blocky, with small shifting "squares" within the texture of the picture. This is the same thing I noticed in The Final Problem, most noticeably in the scenes during the finale when you can see this effect in the background scenery. Did it stop me being able to enjoy this story? Nope. However, this could have been avoided by properly managing the compression problems on the disc, putting the episode on the other side, or using a dual layer. If you are a fan of the Granada Sherlock Holmes series and aren't too fussy about quality, then you'll be very happy with this set. I've watched it often and never tire of the stories as they are all extremely well written, directed and acted, and the sets, lighting and music are excellent.
Rating:
Summary: Jeremy Brett: Best Sherlock Holmes ever!
Review: I have been a fan of Sherlock Holmes and Jeremy Brett for years. His portrayal of Holmes is just as I picture him when reading the exciting tales. This collection is a must have to any serious fan of the holmesian realm.
Rating:
Summary: At last all in one place
Review: This is an excellent boxed set and at last they have combined all the first 5 volumes into one.
They are all from the original series and nice to see again. Would reccomend any fan to buy this set.
Rating:
Summary: Stunning portrayal
Review: What sets this apart from other SH movies is Jeremy Brett. His portrayal of SH is so real - its like Conan Doyle had him in mind when he penned the series. Further the dramatisation of the series is incredible with attention paid to detail. A must have for even those with amateurish interest in detective work.
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