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The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes, Vol. 5 (The Resident Patient / The Red-Headed League / The Final Problem)

The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes, Vol. 5 (The Resident Patient / The Red-Headed League / The Final Problem)

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

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Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Tops notch portrayals of Holmes and Watson.
Review: Personally, I can't take seriously the old Basil Rathbone Sherlock Holmes movies -- although Rathbone was a competent Holmes -- because Nigel Bruce played Dr. Watson as a buffoon. In the books, Watson was not a bufoon but rather an educated, intelligent man, and the fact that Holmes' thoroughly surpassed him simply helped to indicate Holmes' genius. In my opinion, it is essential for Watson to be portrayed correctly for a Sherlock Holmes adventure to be correctly done. In these adventures David Burke played Watson to perfection -- the finest portrayal of Watson ever done, in my opinion -- and thereby enhanced Jeremy Brett's reputation as an outstanding Holmes. These three adventures of Holmes and Watson are among the finest ever made.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Absolute Gem
Review: The best Holmes and 3 shows. In the last three you get introduced to Moriarity and see Holmes death(maybe). It was decent quality for a almost twenty year old show. My only problem with the series is that there are only 2-3 episodeds per disc and the bonus section is pretty bare. I would like to see some improvement for the casebook of sherlock holmes but I still cannot wait.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Absolute Gem
Review: The best Holmes and 3 shows. In the last three you get introduced to Moriarity and see Holmes death(maybe). It was decent quality for a almost twenty year old show. My only problem with the series is that there are only 2-3 episodeds per disc and the bonus section is pretty bare. I would like to see some improvement for the casebook of sherlock holmes but I still cannot wait.

Rating: 2 stars
Summary: hmmm
Review: The shows were wonderful. Good suspense and I love Jeremy Brett--the best Sherlock out there. But in 'The Final Problem' they had a nude "art" scene with a woman. Come on, this is just not right, why would they ruin the movie with that?!
If they would have left out the "art" they movie would be a 5 star, and it would have been just fine.

Rating: 2 stars
Summary: hmmm
Review: The shows were wonderful. Good suspense and I love Jeremy Brett--the best Sherlock out there. But in 'The Final Problem' they had a nude "art" scene with a woman. Come on, this is just not right, why would they ruin the movie with that?!
If they would have left out the "art" they movie would be a 5 star, and it would have been just fine.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: The grand finale
Review: This DVD contains the last three episodes of the Adventures of Sherlock Holes series. As usual, the acting is wonderful and the setting is full of period flavor. Jeremy Brett in particular has really outdone himself in his portrayel of Holmes.

Of course, even the weakest episodes in the series are still a pleasure but the three on this DVD are surely some of the best.

The Resident Patient: Holmes is called on to investigate when the only crime seems to be a minor intrusion. However, things change when there is an apparent suicide. This episode delves into definate Poe territory with its opening nightmare sequence. The banter between Holmes and Watson is very good.

The Red-Headed League: I freely admit that this story was one of my least favorites since I was forced to read it three times in school. However, the adaptation is very good and I was forced to rethink my dislike. Holmes is once again called to investigate what seems to be a non-crime. A mysterious League of Red-headed men forms and vanishes inexplicibly. The episode also features our first glimpse of Holmes's arch-foe, Moriarty. Not according to the book but an understandable addition.

The Final Problem: Any Holmes fan knows what this story entails. To those who have never read the books, I shall say that the series closes with a real bang. Mariarty tires of Holmes's interference in his criminal affairs and goes on the offensive.

The show ends on a literal cliff-hanger and as I write, there is yet no word on when the Return of Sherlock Holmes will be released on DVD. I do hope it is soon since I am ready for more!

There is a complete DVD set of the entire series available. However, if you, like me, have been collecting the DVDs as they come you will find this disc a worthy completion of your Adventures set.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Delayed Rough Justice, a Mystery & Moriarty & Moriarty!!!
Review: This windup to the first series of Holmes & Watson on Granada TV brought it all to the ending Conan Doyle wanted, at Reichenbach Falls. Since this was the best pairing of Jeremy Brett's defining Holmes and David Burke's excellent Watson, it is almost a shame that, like Doyle, Granada continued with the additional, later, tales with an exhausted Brett, slowed and puffy from illness, and a very able actor (whose name escapes me) as Watson who is, nevertheless, less satisfying than Burke in the role. Ah well.

The Resident Patient has Holmes solving a strange murder that turns out to be a case of delayed justice of a sort, rough justice though it may be. It's okay.

Then we get to The Red Headed League, which is a mystery that at first Holmes' takes lightly but soon realizes has deeper implications. The most important aspect of the story is where it leads...to Professor Moriarty (deliciously played by Eric Porter who gets my vote as best Moriarty of all!).

This, of course, takes us to The Final Problem. Tired of Holmes, Conan Doyle wanted to end the stories by killing-him-off. However, he told this tale with just enough ambiguity to leave the door slightly ajar. By popular demand, he had to kick it open again and bring Holmes back. The tale of The Final Problem is told well here, faithful to the story, and with enough detail to make the final confrontation inevitable and believable.

One watches the two tales of Holmes versus Professor Moriarty and one is struck at how such a archetypal character was created with just a few deft strokes. Moriarty is only in the two tales and only briefly and yet the legacy of the character can be seen in the James Bond villains, Fritz Lang's Dr. Mabuse, the Deaf Man (with tongue firmly in cheek) of Ed McBain's 87th Precinct, and even Hannibal Lecter.

The Evil Mastermind will continue to be with us in book & film, and it was a real inspiration to pick Eric Porter for Moriarty. He has the slightly disheveled and disreputable look of a brilliant gentleman gone to seed.

The 5 stars are for Sherlockians, of course, and for Jeremy Brett's brilliant capture of Holmes high-strung, imperious, and restless intelligence. The quality of the DVD's is lacking but this is all there is and the stories are worth it.


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