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148 of 151 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
London's Only "Consulting Detective.", 2 Nov 2008
In his foreword to Bantam's "Sherlock Holmes: The Complete Novels and Stories," Loren Estleman called the relationship between Sherlock Holmes and Dr. Watson literature's warmest, most symbiotic and most timeless: rightfully so. Not surprisingly, film history is littered with adaptations of Conan Doyle's tales and Holmes pastiches (using the protagonists but otherwise independent storylines). Yet - and I'm saying this with particular apologies to the fans of the Basil Rathbone/Nigel Bruce canon - none of these prior incarnations can hold a candle to the ITV/Granada TV series produced between 1984 and 1994, starring Jeremy Brett as Holmes and first David Burke, then, beginning with the second ("Return of Sherlock Holmes") cycle and in near-seamless transition, Edward Hardwicke as a refreshingly sturdy, pragmatic, unbumbling Dr. Watson.
Jeremy Brett was the only actor who ever managed to perfectly portray Holmes's imperiousness, bitingly ironic sense of humor and apparently indestructible self-control without at the same time neglecting his genuine friendship towards Dr. Watson and the weaknesses hidden below a surface dominated by his overarching intellectual powers. The series takes the titles of its four cycles of shorter episodes - "The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes," "The Return of Sherlock Holmes," "The Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes" and "The Casebook of Sherlock Holmes" - from four of the five short story collections featuring London's self-appointed only "consulting detective" (published 1892, 1905, 1894 and 1927, respectively); thus nominally omitting the 1917 collection "His Last Bow," which is, however - but for its title story - completely represented in individual episodes spread out over the other four cycles. While the grouping of instalments doesn't necessarily correspond with Conan Doyle's original story collections, and the series's premise - Holmes's and Watson's shared tenancy of rooms at 221B Baker Street - was no longer true even at the beginning of the "Adventures," this excellently produced series is a must-have for any mystery fan. This is particularly true for the first two cycles ("Adventures" and "Return") and the movie-length versions of the novels "The Hound of the Baskervilles" and "The Sign of the Four," which alone makes this set well worth the purchase; even if the movie-length dramatizations of the short stories "The Eligible Bachelor" (a/k/a "The Noble Bachelor") and "The Last Vampyre" (a/k/a "The Sussex Vampyre") are less than faithful to Conan Doyle's originals: in fact, their quality rests almost exclusively on an already ailing Jeremy Brett's shoulders (as well as in "Vampyre" on the extraordinary guest performance of Roy Marsden in the episode's title role), thus emphasizing even more the significance of Brett's achievement.
This set contains (in "volumes" or episodes grouped on discs as originally released):
THE ADVENTURES OF SHERLOCK HOLMES
* A Scandal in Bohemia
* The Dancing Men (from "Return")
* The Naval Treaty (from "Memoirs")
* The Solitary Cyclist (from "Return")
* The Crooked Man (from "Memoirs")
* The Speckled Band
* The Blue Carbuncle
* The Copper Beeches
* The Greek Interpreter (from "Memoirs")
* The Norwood Builder (from "Return")
* The Resident Patient (from "Memoirs")
* The Red-Headed League
* The Final Problem (from "Memoirs")
THE RETURN OF SHERLOCK HOLMES
* The Empty House
* The Abbey Grange
* The Second Stain
* The Six Napoleons
* The Priory School
* Wisteria Lodge (from "Last Bow")
* The Devil's Foot (from "Last Bow")
* Silver Blaze (from "Memoirs")
* The Bruce-Partington Plans (from "Last Bow")
* The Musgrave Ritual (from "Memoirs")
* The Man With the Twisted Lip (from "Adventures")
THE CASEBOOK OF SHERLOCK HOLMES
* The Disappearance of Lady Frances Carfax (from "Last Bow")
* The Problem of Thor Bridge
* The Boscombe Valley Mystery (from "Adventures")
* The Illustrious Client
* Shouscombe Old Place
* The Creeping Man
THE MEMOIRS OF SHERLOCK HOLMES
* The Three Gables (from "Casebook")
* The Dying Detective (from "Last Bow")
* The Golden Pince-Nez (from "Return")
* The Red Circle (from "Last Bow")
* The Mazarin Stone (from "Casebook")
* The Cardboard Box (from "Last Bow")
THE FEATURE FILMS
* The Sign of Four (adaptation of the 1890 novel)
* The Hound of the Baskervilles (adaptation of the 1901 novel)
* The Last Vampyre (adaptation of the short story "The Sussex Vampyre" from "Casebook")
* The Eligible Bachelor (adaptation of the short story "The Noble Bachelor" from "Adventures")
* The Master Blackmailer (adaptation of the short story "The Adventure of Charles Augustus Milverton" from "Memoirs")
For completion's sake, this leaves only the first and last Holmes novels ("A Study In Scarlet," 1887, and "The Valley of Fear," 1915) as well as the following short stories unrepresented in this series:
From THE ADVENTURES OF SHERLOCK HOLMES:
* A Case of Identity
* The Five Orange Pips
* The Adventure of the Engineer's Thumb
* The Adventure of the Beryl Coronet
From THE RETURN OF SHERLOCK HOLMES:
* The Adventure of Black Peter
* The Adventure of the Three Students
* The Adventure of the Missing Three-Quarter
From THE CASEBOOK OF SHERLOCK HOLMES:
* The Blanched Soldier
* The Lion's Mane
* The Veiled Lodger
* The Retired Colourman
FROM THE MEMOIRS OF SHERLOCK HOLMES:
* The Yellow Face
* The Stock-broker's Clerk
* The "Gloria Scott"
* The Reigate Puzzle
From HIS LAST BOW:
* His Last Bow
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32 of 33 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Possibly the definitive Holmes interpretation, 21 Dec 2008
By and large, the episodes in this DVD are pretty faithful to the Conan Doyle originals. Jeremy Brett is superbly eccentric as the superbly eccentric Holmes, and both Watsons play Watson as an intelligent man whom Holmes would be glad to have by his side. Only in the last couple of series does the quality start to deteriorate. Interestingly, despite Brett's well documented health problems, it isn't Brett's performance that deteriorates. Rather the film makers were obviously trying to be edgy (much like the modern day Poirot adaptations), and the quality of the adaptations has suffered as a result. The Last Vampyre, for example, is atrocious twaddle. But there are still some good moments even in the last few episodes, such as The Dying Detective.
As others have noted, the transfers are first class, the series having been completely remastered in 2005 for the BBC's transmission of the series.
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12 of 12 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Crisp transfer of the brilliant Granada series, 27 Feb 2009
The complete set of the Granada Sherlock Holmes series with Jeremy Brett as the Great Detective. Brett gives a mesmerizing, tightly controlled and at the same time delightfully quirky and eccentric performance as Holmes. The razorsharp features, the cat-like quickness and elegance, the autoritarian voice, the piercing eyes; this man was born to play Holmes. A truly rare coming together of actor and part (dame Jean Conan Doyle herself wrote to Mr. Brett "you are the Holmes of my childhood", which he rightly regarded as the ultimate accolade).
Also, Holmes on the page, as observed by Watson, is a very clever but otherwise rather hollow character. You don't get to know much about his emotional life. On screen this would come across as robotic and 1-dimensional. Brett was the only actor who understood from the start that he needed to give Holmes an inner life to make the transition from page to screen work. His Holmes is introvert and cold like the original, but subtle flashes in Brett's eyes and face reveal a barely contained passion and emotion beneath the icy mask. Brett made Holmes a fully rounded character and, in doing so, gave a once in a lifetime performance.
David Burke makes a dashing and delightfully clever Watson, with an upbeat demeanour and appetite to match Holmes' introvert asceticism. This "Boswell" deeply cares for Holmes; their friendship is clearly apparent in numerous subtle quips and gestures. Burke's youthful, energetic Watson is seamlessly followed by Edward Hardwicke's slightly older and graver but still very likable Watson from series 3 onwards. The transition is perfectly timed -following the three year gap after the Reichenbach Falls- and therefore feels completely natural. The rest of the acting is also top-notch, with Colin Jeavons and Charles Gray making a convincingly smug Lestrade and wonderfully Holmsian Mycroft.
Sadly, during the final series Brett's rapidly declining health (by then he suffered from full-blown manic depression as well as a rapidly worsening heart condition) clearly began to affect his performance. In addition, drastic cuts in production costs meant that the final episodes, from The Last Vampyre onwards (Master Blackmailer still is a fairly decent episode in my opinion) are but faint echoes of the earlier series. I believe Granada should have pulled the plug at this point to preserve a very high-standard body of work. Unfortunately, someone with little insight or integrity decided to squeeze the format -as well as the by now clearly struggling Mr. Brett- completely dry. I strongly recommend leaving those final few episodes for what they are, as they are in no way representative of the brilliance that came before.
Over two decades later this wonderful series still firmly holds its own, thanks to great acting and minute attention to detail in the period sets and costumes. Don't forget to pay attention to the background, where numerous well-dressed extra's, beautiful antiques and lush country estates, combined with fully operational Victorian machinery, draw you into that fascinating age on the threshold of the modern 20th century. How this series never won any BAFTA awards is beyond me.
This dvd transfer also has the most clear picture and sound quality I have yet seen for this series. A definite must have for fans of detective series, costume drama or simply bloody good televison!
Go on, treat yourself and buy one!
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