Crime Stoppers Volume 1

Rating:
Summary: The Great Detective lives on!
Review: Basil Rathbone and Nigel Bruce will be forever remembered as "Hollywood's Holmes and Watson". This DVD gift pack (one hopes the first of many) recaptures the timeless duo in four adventures.

In "The Woman In Green", Holmes finds himself wrapped up in Ripper-like murders of young London women. When he investigates a beautiful woman who is also a master hypnotist, he finds he may end up dead. Features Henry Daniell in a wonderful performance of Holmes' most famous nemesis, Professor Moriarty.

"Sherlock Holmes and the Secret Weapon" finds Sherlock Holmes and Dr. Watson fighting Nazis in World War II. Loosely based on 'The Dancing Men', Holmes must locate and reclaim the secret plans of a devastatig weapon before the Nazis use it for their own evil purposes. The WWII Holmes films are excellent documents of the times. Many people don't remember the militarization of Hollywood during the 1940s when every film had to pass the litmus test of "How will this help us win the war?" Every film from an American studio was used to a degree as propaganda to help in the war effort. The Sherlock Holmes film series was no exception, and thus we find our beloved characters unaged in the then present day - without explanation, but still an enjoyable film.

Getting away from the War, we come to "Dressed to Kill" where Holmes finds that a music box is the key to an elaborate counterfeiting scheme. Patricia Morrison is great in this film and Rathbone and Bruce have their share of moments as Holmes and Watson.

Finally, probably my favorite, "Terror By Night" is a great Holmes adventure which has as much comic relief as intrigue. A murder has been committed on a train, and Holmes must find the killer before the train reaches it's destination. It's high adventure at high speed where Holmes finds himself reunited with bumbling Scotland Yard Inspector Lestrade, who has just the right amount of comic timing.

This is the first time these movies have been available in a format that's worth watching; until recently you could only purchase them in the low definition EP VHS format. Plus, the discs also feature a rare interview with Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, making the set a must have for both Holmes enthusiasts and classic movie buffs alike!

Rating:
Summary: The Great Detective lives on!
Review: Basil Rathbone and Nigel Bruce will be forever remembered as "Hollywood's Holmes and Watson". This DVD gift pack (one hopes the first of many) recaptures the timeless duo in four adventures.

In "The Woman In Green", Holmes finds himself wrapped up in Ripper-like murders of young London women. When he investigates a beautiful woman who is also a master hypnotist, he finds he may end up dead. Features Henry Daniell in a wonderful performance of Holmes' most famous nemesis, Professor Moriarty.

"Sherlock Holmes and the Secret Weapon" finds Sherlock Holmes and Dr. Watson fighting Nazis in World War II. Loosely based on 'The Dancing Men', Holmes must locate and reclaim the secret plans of a devastatig weapon before the Nazis use it for their own evil purposes. The WWII Holmes films are excellent documents of the times. Many people don't remember the militarization of Hollywood during the 1940s when every film had to pass the litmus test of "How will this help us win the war?" Every film from an American studio was used to a degree as propaganda to help in the war effort. The Sherlock Holmes film series was no exception, and thus we find our beloved characters unaged in the then present day - without explanation, but still an enjoyable film.

Getting away from the War, we come to "Dressed to Kill" where Holmes finds that a music box is the key to an elaborate counterfeiting scheme. Patricia Morrison is great in this film and Rathbone and Bruce have their share of moments as Holmes and Watson.

Finally, probably my favorite, "Terror By Night" is a great Holmes adventure which has as much comic relief as intrigue. A murder has been committed on a train, and Holmes must find the killer before the train reaches it's destination. It's high adventure at high speed where Holmes finds himself reunited with bumbling Scotland Yard Inspector Lestrade, who has just the right amount of comic timing.

This is the first time these movies have been available in a format that's worth watching; until recently you could only purchase them in the low definition EP VHS format. Plus, the discs also feature a rare interview with Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, making the set a must have for both Holmes enthusiasts and classic movie buffs alike!

Rating:
Summary: Don't buy this...
Review: I love the old Basil Rathbone and Nigel Bruce adventures. Actually, I own all of them on VHS, so when they were going to be released on DVD I quickly placed an order. To say that this is a disappointment is to put it mildly.

First off, the movie quality is incredibly bad. Sound and visual is all a mess. And in the "restoration" they have edited key scenes! A great example is in Terror By Night when they don't introduce us to Watson's friend (Who plays an important part later).

The VHS copies I have of the old films show that there are prints out there of high quality. It's too bad they just didn't transfer those prints to DVD as compared to this mess they created from the old stock.... If you enjoy these films, avoid these DVDs and head over to the VHS editions released by Key Video.

Rating:
Summary: Quick Watson, we've not a moment to lose!
Review: These films of an earlier age are everything a good modern film should not be. They are campy, over-acted, cliche-ish, over dramatised and poorly dubbed (with a british actor's voice for background speech).

In spite of all of that, there is no one else who can play Sherlock Holms and Dr. Watson as can Basil Rathbone and Nigel Bruce. And the bumbling Inspector LeStrade is priceless. These are classic and timeless films - great fun to watch - one can almost put them in a category with Charlie Chaplain. Very good entertainment value in spite of their short running time (each film generally only ran about one hour in length) and obvious age.

I'd managed to tape all 14 of them from the late night movies a while back; and now watch them whenever I'm in the mood for light entertainment. I'm thrilled that they are finally being released in the DVD format -- hopefully we'll see the entire set re-published.

If you're one of those who turn up their nose at older films because of a lack of action, effects and the like, this collection is not for you. But if you enjoy films of the 40's and liked the exploits of the world's most famous detective, this is a set to get. Get your coat, Watson -- the game is afoot!

~P~