Rating: 
Summary: So Sad
Review: Terrible both in sound quality and picture quality. I was hoping for so much more. I guess it's back to e-bay to complete my collection.
Rating:
Summary: :"Excruciating, my dear Watson"
Review: The box set, "An evening with Sherlock Holmes", holds some of the worst film to video transfers ever seen. Exceeded in inferiority only by the sound tracks. I purchased my first VCR in 1981 and immediately set about to capture all 13 of the Rathbone/Bruce collaborations. I literally have more complete, better preserved copies of all the films taped from my then, local T.V. channels...and the newest one is fifteen years old. I take extremely good care of my tapes. Even though I can still enjoy them, age will catch up sooner or later. The prospect of snatching them up on DVD had me chomping at the bit. I had never heard of Focus Film, the company responsible for this sham, but now that I know it I WILL run the other way everytime it excreets new product. There is a new double feature DVD with two of the same titles in this collection by yet another seemingly small time poser trying to pluck the rose of public domain. Do I know if this offering has been digitally enhanced ? Nope, sure don't and I will require proof before I jump off the same cliff twice. By the by, the first two S.H. films were done for 20th Century Fox in 1939. "The Hound of the Baskervilles" and "The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes". Universal picked up the franchise in the early fortys and from 1942 to 1946 released the other eleven films. Please forgive the order. I'm going to try to list them from memory..."Sherlock Holmes and the Voice of Terror", Sherlock Holmes and the Secret Weapon", "The House of Fear", "The Pearl of Death", "Pursuit to Algiers", "The Woman in Green", "The Scarlet Claw", "Sherlock Holmes in Washington", "Terror by Night", "Dressed to Kill" and "Sherlock Holmes and the Spider Woman". I believe I've uncovered a lost Sherlock Holmes film. "Sherlock Holmes and the Awful Transfer". In other words...don't buy this crud without reading a credible technical review first. If one had been available for me I wouldn't be writing this now. 30
Rating:
Summary: Terrible, Shocking, Unmentionable
Review: The key word, my dear Watson, is public domain. The four films included in this boxed set are the four Holmes films currently in the public domain which allows rip-off artists like the producers of this set to peddle their wares without fear of prosecution. Three of the four films in this set are among my favorite Holmes movies of the entire 14 made by Rathbone/Bruce. Thank goodness, the Key Video VHS releases were made from sparkling prints and that I still have them in my library.I would have offered this set for sale instantly after watching the butchered TERROR BY NIGHT had it not been for that Conan Doyle speech. I saw it in a movie theater almost twenty years ago attached to a reissue of HOUND OF THE BASKERVILLES and have always wanted to own a copy. Now, I do. The radio shows included in the set are worth owning, but the quality of the films offered here is rubbish and a total disappointment.
Rating: 
Summary: Don't buy it for the films
Review: The other reviews already point out the reasons not to buy this set. The ONLY reason to own it is for the 15 hours of radio shows starring Rathbone & Bruce. There are plenty of radio shows available with others playing Holmes & Watson, but the Rathbone/Bruce shows are hard to find. Is it worth over $... for these shows? Only for the die hard fan.
Rating:
Summary: Hardly worth 1 star
Review: The quality of this DVD collection is extremely poor. Films are missing segments. The sound is very poor and occasionally out of synchronization with the video. VHS of individual films is by far a better choice.
Rating:
Summary: Hardly worth 1 star
Review: The quality of this DVD collection is extremely poor. Films are missing segments. The sound is very poor and occasionally out of synchronization with the video. VHS of individual films is by far a better choice.
Rating:
Summary: Missing Pieces
Review: The rating is for the collection, not the movies! I've only recently viewed one title,"Terror by Night", one of my favorites, and within the first 6 minutes was astonished by a large gap in footage. Holmes has just said that he's going to wait for Watson who's late and suddenly, BANG, we're on the train with Holmes and Watson. Lost is a whole sequence where Watson breathlessly runs down the platform and jumps aboard the moving train with his "friend" who later turns out to be the infamous Colonel Sebastian Moran and the prime villain. I haven't timed it but the gap must comprise 2 or 3 minutes! I haven't watched past that gap nor have I watched any of the others. I don't trust the copies. What else is missing?! A copy should be faitful to the original and not edited. I've seen the film on TV several times and have a VHS copy. In all of those the film is intact so there must complete sub-masters (at least) available. I'm not sure what I should do except return the collection as flawed.
Rating:
Summary: Tenth-generation VHS on DVD!
Review: This boxed set is a video joke, correction, a "boxed-set" video rip off. Unless, of course, you like to watch old-time radio on DVD (more on this later). In very small print at the bottom of the back of the box is this warning: "The enclosed four DVD titles were miraculously restored from the only known surviving prints, which were extremely damaged." This would surely be news to Universal who holds the copyright on each film as well as, say, buyers of the pristine, "Hi-Fi" VHS prints released in the late 1980's by CBS/Fox on the Key Video label! All four DVD films are derived from NON-DIGITAL source materials, and sure look like boot-leg versions--all the usual tip offs are present including damaged frames (lots), unwatchable over exposed frames (lots and lots), totally unwatchable under exposed frames (beyond lots), garbled/garbage sound (when you can actually hear something), etc. All that seems to be missing are the back of heads in the way of the screen and people blocking the screen as they come and go from their theater seats. (Curiously, some of the film previews/trailers look and sound better than the films!) The only item of possible interest in the video domain is a 1930 filmed lecture by Holmes-creator (and frequent destroyer) Sir Arthur Conan Doyle (using Bill Fox's MovieTone sound-on-film process) with video and audio that far surpasses the films themselves! (This lecture was originally released commercially on 16mm film by the long-defunct Blackhawk Films.) Then there are the 30 half-hour radio shows done by Rathbone and Bruce (while they were making the Holmes films at Universal) sponsored by a long defunct wine company--the commercials are included for reasons known only to the box-set producer! These are for the most part excellent stories, but, alas, the boot-leg problem is also present. The sound is terrible unless you turn off "effects" and thereby direct all audio to the front L/R speakers of your audio/video system. So if your are interested in seeing what Sir Arthur looked like toward the end of his life and enjoy listening to old radio shows with your DVD player, this box set is for you. However, if you are a fan of the Rathbone/Bruce Holmes films, wait for a name brand to reissue them on DVD (or rerun your old Key Video VHS tapes). Bottom line: Avoid (as always) off brands in all things DVD!
Rating:
Summary: Very Poor Quality
Review: This DVD collection is the worst quality of any DVD I've ever seen. It looks like a bad VHS tape copied off of a TV broadcast and then copied multiple times. Don't make the mistake and buy this FOCUSfilm version. A real fan should spend more money and buy the MPI restored sets.
Rating:
Summary: Spoiled by Transfer
Review: This is a case of great episodes shame about the quality of the transfer. I had been awaiting the release of these on DVD for a long time and was thrilled when they were released but.... on receipt I discovered the DVD's were unwatchable. Previously, I had recorded all the episodes from TV onto VHS and the sound and picture were 10x better than the DVD which was overexposed and so hissy you could hardly hear what was being said. To summarise, don't waste your money. I hope these are properly remastered and restored onto DVD by another studio to do the series justice. If so, I will be amongst the first in the queue to buy!
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