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The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes (Boxed Set Collection)

The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes (Boxed Set Collection)

List Price: $59.98
Your Price: $44.99
Product Info Reviews

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Rating: 5 stars
Summary: The Best Holmes on DVD
Review: Granada Television series is the best production of Sherlock Holmes adventures. The faithfulness, the authentic locations, ambience,dialogues, researched background scenery are marvelously captured in this collection. Some of the scenes are very clearly inspired by the original sketches by Sidney Paget. Jeremy Brett has taken over the mental image of Holmes in my mind. He was born to play Holmes. The first installment of 13 episodes on this DVD set is a MUST HAVE for any fan of the Master. Bare minimum extras on DVD or slightly impaired sound quality as criticized by other reviewers should not discourage anyone. The sheer pleasure of listening to the hypnotic violin theme as the titles of the Granada episode appear is worth the money. EMI, hurry up ! and give us the rest of the DVD sets.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: A quick correction
Review: A Mr. Richard Broomfield made note in his review that this was not a complete set of the Holmes series, that it was in fact missing several episodes. I just thought I should point out, in the company's defense, that this IS a complete set of The Adventures Of Sherlock Holmes. Further series were made under other titles, such as The Casebook Of Sherlock Holmes or The Return of Sherlock Holmes, to coincide with the titles of Doyle's Books.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: A Must Get For Sherlock Fans
Review: Jeremy Brett is the best rendition of Sherlock Holmes I have seen yet. This series is produced quite well, and the acting is Top-Notch! Jerremy's little personal touches make him a joy to watch on screen. While the special features are not exactly exciting, they are worth it for true die-hard sherlock fanatics. Buy the Full BoxSet rather than individually like i did. it's cheaper and you get everything anyway.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Absolutely First Rate Holmes
Review: This is one of the very best adaptations of the Sherlock holmes story. In my opinion the best. Many people prefer peter cushing as sherlock holmes, But I personally feel Jeremy Brett is without a doubt the best. These were shot in London, in authentic backgrounds. Jeremy is a perfect Holmes. He has just the right attitude and "jerky bird" appearance and manner described in the literature. If you started as a reader of Holmes, as I did, this will be your choice for The cinematic versions. My absolute highest reccomendation.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Richard Broomfield has it wrong...
Review: Mr. Broomfield, who wrote a review here saying this box set has misleading information, is wrong. Granada made several groups of Holmes stories. They were called: The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes, The Return of Sherlock Holmes, The Case-Book of Sherlock Holmes, etc... This box set is in fact ALL the episodes that were in "The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes" group of episodes. There were more episodes that hopefully will be released on DVD in the future.

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: Essential viewing for Holmes fans
Review: Although Brett is not by a far stretch my favorite actor in the Holmes role (my personal preference is for Basil Rathborne) these television adaptations did sport fine writing and production design while remaining solidly faithful to the source material. At a cost less than half that of some other television series are charging for their seasons (Picard anyone) this set would appear to be a steal and essential for anyone collection.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Misleading Information
Review: I know this series well and it is a favorite of mine but the listing mentions all 13 episodes, when in fact there are several episodes that are not listed (ex. Sign of Four, Thor's Bridge). I am sure that there is a reason for the oversight, and perhaps this is just a single season's production...but that should be made clear to anyone buying this. This is not all of the episodes filmed.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: The screen's best Holmes
Review: For my money Jeremy Brett will always be the definitive screen Holmes. In addition, these Granada TV adaptations employed fine writing that hewed faithful to the original stories and nifty production values in sets, costumes, etc. It's a shame that the "extras" (cast bios and stills) are so skimpy, but the episodes themselves should be considered essential for Holmes fans and collectors. This box set of 13 episodes on 5 discs comes at a better price than the individual volumes purchased seperately, an unhappy situation for those who have been buying the volumes as they were released, but a boon for those who've held off until now. There's no excuse now : get these DVDs.

Rating: 5 stars
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: 5 stars
Summary: Superb Holmes and unusually good Watson
Review: These are the first 13 episodes in the justly-famous Jeremy Brett series. To my mind, they're the best of the lot. "The Red-Headed League" and "The Blue Carbuncle" are Doyle at his very best. Jeremy Brett seems about the right age, a fit 40ish (though the actor was probably more like 50ish at the time). Brett's Holmes feels exactly right, complete with memorable mannerisms and Victorian grand gestures. It's hard to imagine a future actor ever trying his hands at it. David Burke is a better Watson than Cedric Hardwicke, who replaced him in the later episodes.

Watson is a tough guy to figure out. What kind of man would devote all his free time to following and assisting Sherlock Holmes? It doesn't help that Watson is under-developed in Doyle's stories, a sort of literary device that allows Holmes to verbalize his thoughts in ways comprehensible to us mere mortals, of which Watson is one. There's frequently a condescending tone in Holmes' remarks to Watson, though Holmes is clearly fond of Watson and actually relies on his help. Nigel Bruce made much too much of this condescension in the Rathbone films, in which he played Watson as a buffoon for comic relief. In the 1970s, someone named Rosenberg wrote a book, "Naked is the Best Disguise", in which he looked for signs of latent homosexuality in the Holmes-Watson relationship. I don't think we want to go there, do we? I think that the best way to flesh Watson out in a dramatization is to play him as, among other things, an adventure junkie. He loves the excitement, mental stimulation, and danger. Cedric Hardwicke's pudgy, middle-aged do-gooder doesn't work for me. David Burke's Watson is also a man of decency, a do-gooder (as is Doyle's Watson) who wants to see justice done, but he also seems rugged, physically fit, believeable as a man who saw combat in India and who now thrives on the adventure that his association with Holmes allows him to experience back home in London.


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