The Many Faces of Sherlock Holmes

Rating:
Summary: Fine, but pricey documentary narrated by Christopher Lee
Review: Narrated by Christopher Lee, an actor who has portrayed Sherlock Holmes and related characters, this is a very informative survey of the many actors who have portrayed Sherlock Holmes on screen and stage. Emphasis is on Basil Rathbone. Produced in 1985 and released in 1986, this documentary does not cover Jeremy Brett. The film is presented in 4:3 aspect ratio, Dolby 2.0 mono, and consists mostly of excerpts from B&W and color films (some of the segments shown are fuzzy and/or off color). The bonus film included is Sherlock Holmes and the Secret Weapon (1942). The quality of this is very good, though naturally not comparable to that of the recently restored version released by MPI. The time of "126 minutes" claimed on the box represents 56 minutes for Many Faces and 1 hour and 8 minutes for Secret Weapon, which have, respectively 6 and 12 scenes indexed. The DVD is somewhat pricey if the interest is only in Many Faces and not also in the bonus film. The extras are OK and consist of a selection of quotations from the character Sherlock Holmes plus a biography of and bibliography for Arthur Conan Doyle (I do not have a DVD-ROM drive to access the DVD-ROM extras, which consist of the text to six of the Sherlock Holmes books).

Rating:
Summary: Fine, but pricey documentary narrated by Christopher Lee
Review: Narrated by Christopher Lee, an actor who has portrayed Sherlock Holmes and related characters, this is a very informative survey of the many actors who have portrayed Sherlock Holmes on screen and stage. Emphasis is on Basil Rathbone. Produced in 1985 and released in 1986, this documentary does not cover Jeremy Brett. The film is presented in 4:3 aspect ratio, Dolby 2.0 mono, and consists mostly of excerpts from B&W and color films (some of the segments shown are fuzzy and/or off color). The bonus film included is Sherlock Holmes and the Secret Weapon (1942). The quality of this is very good, though naturally not comparable to that of the recently restored version released by MPI. The time of "126 minutes" claimed on the box represents 56 minutes for Many Faces and 1 hour and 8 minutes for Secret Weapon, which have, respectively 6 and 12 scenes indexed. The DVD is somewhat pricey if the interest is only in Many Faces and not also in the bonus film. The extras are OK and consist of a selection of quotations from the character Sherlock Holmes plus a biography of and bibliography for Arthur Conan Doyle (I do not have a DVD-ROM drive to access the DVD-ROM extras, which consist of the text to six of the Sherlock Holmes books).