Product Description

Studio: Mpi Home Video Release Date: 05/28/2002 Run time: 500 minutes Rating: Nr

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #3424 in DVD
• Brand: MPI
• Released on: 2002-05-28
• Rating: NR (Not Rated)
• Aspect ratio: 1.33:1
• Formats: Box set, Color, DVD, Full Screen, NTSC
• Original language: English
• Subtitled in: English
• Number of discs: 5
• Running time: 690 minutes

Amazon.com
Jeremy Brett's portrayal of Sherlock Holmes is perhaps the best filmed version of Arthur Conan Doyle's famous detective, showcasing Holmes's dazzling brilliance without ignoring his unnerving intensity or drug dependencies. First aired on Britain's Granada Television in 1984, the series offered perfect casting (David Burke, replaced later in the run by Edward Hardwicke, played Dr. Watson as Holmes's sturdy companion and chronicler rather than as a buffoon), marvelous period music by Patrick Gowers, and a running time of almost an hour per story, which allowed superior detail and faithfulness to the original source.

The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes marked the beginning of the long-running series. Highlights of these 13 episodes include "A Scandal in Bohemia," which introduces Irene Adler (Gayle Hunnicutt), whom Holmes uncharacteristically describes as having "a face a man might die for"; the chilling locked-room mystery "The Speckled Band"; the introduction of Sherlock's brother Mycroft (Charles Gray) in "The Greek Interpreter"; and "The Final Problem," in which Holmes confronts his arch-enemy Professor Moriarty (Eric Porter) at Reichenbach Falls in Switzerland. The five-disc boxed set is a great bargain compared to previous VHS releases, although bonus features are limited to English subtitles and galleries of Sidney Paget's famous illustrations. The series would continue on Granada with The Return of Sherlock Holmes, The Casebook of Sherlock Holmes, and The Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes as well as the stand-alone treatments of The Sign of Four and The Hound of the Baskervilles. --David Horiuchi

Customer Reviews

Brett WAS Holmes
As there are already plenty of other reviews here detailing the specific episodes, let me just toss in my opinion along with the others that Jeremy Brett played the most authentic Sherlock I can imagine. His body, his voice, his mannerisms, his very BEING was true to the portrait of Holmes that Doyle wrote of. Even now, when I go to read the stories of Sherlock and Watson, Brett is easily pictured as Holmes--all the way down to his graceful fingers and small brief smiles. It was a tragedy to lose Brett, but we can be thankful that he was able to bring these classic mysteries to life before leaving us.

Holmes wasn't the only character that was played so perfectly, the role of John Watson is also played quite well by David Burke throughout the "Adventures" section of the Holmes series. In the later sections ("Return", "Casebook", "Memoirs" and all the longer stand-alone movie-episodes) Edward Hardwicke took over as Watson. I am not sure why Hardwicke took over, but I must say of the two I do prefer Hardwicke's Watson over Burke's. In any case, for this "Adventures" DVD set, it is Burke's Watson that you will see, and he does do an admirable job that in no way detracts from the spirit of Watson.

In one other area this entire series excells--the care taken with each and every episode. The people behind this series must have truly loved Doyle's Holmes. Every scene is done perfectly, from the idea of the locations to the photography to the scenery. The "mood" is set, and with Brett and Burke prowling the city and countryside, the stories of Sherlock Holmes come to life here like never before (and because of Brett's death, never again). If you love Holmes, you MUST see these!

Addendum: I contacted MPI video (the releasers of the Granada TV's Holmes series on DVD) and the person who responded to my e-mail said that they WILL continue to release the next series of Holmes DVDs "next year". When next year, I don't know, but just thought I'd pass the word on to other fans that MPI is in fact going to release more Holmes DVDs.

Excellent, my dear Watson!
Jeremy Brett was The Sherlock Holmes. For those of us who love the cerebral and quirky detective of 223B Baker Street, this series was absolutely delicious. Sadly, Brett died in 1995 and there are no more of these to be made.

This DVD has the first 13 episodes, some of the finest stories extracted from the entire Holmes volumes. They are:
A Scandal in Bohemia
The Dancing Men,
The Naval Treaty
The Solitary Cyclist
The Crooked Man
The Speckled Band
The Blue Carbuncle
The Copper Beeches,
The Greek Interpreter
The Norwood Builder
The Resident Patient
The Red Headed League
The Final Problem

As is usual with DVD's you get extras, like info on Holmsian societies and photos.

Brett was SO right as Holmes. Even his little movements, that quick turn were right out of Doyle's descriptions. The scenes have that murky, foggy English air, the sets are exquisite. I am captivated every time I watch these and I don't think any set of written stories has been better translated to the small screen. In fact, stories I didn't particularly like are better in this series, such as The Solitary Cyclist, which I never did appreciate in print. The first 13 epsisodes are the best of the best Holmes tales, at least, they have most of my favorites.

Essential--let's have the remaining 72% of the series ASAP!
This boxed set of 5 DVDs contains the first outstanding 13 episodes (which aired 1984-85) of the acclaimed Grenada TV series (1984-94) starring Jeremy Brett (3 Nov. 1933-12 Sep. 1995) as Holmes and David Burke (born 25 May 1934) as Watson (Edward Hardwicke, born 7 Aug. 1932, played Watson on the remaining episodes). This series totaled 41 episodes: 36 episodes (ca. 50-55 minutes each) in 6 series plus 5 double-length episodes (The sign of four, The hound of the Baskervilles, and three very deviant episodes: The master blackmailer, The last vampyre, and The eligible bachelor). The boxed set is of the first 2 TV series entitled "Adventures" and does not correspond to the "Adventures" of the published short stories.
The "Adventures" DVD box is a four-part plastic affair and not simply 5 DVD cases that slip into a large cardboard box. The six-page booklet simply lists "chapter selections" and bonus materials. Disappointingly, the booklet lacks the brief plot summaries and episode pictures on the back covers of the individually sold volumes. Volume 1 is a two-sided disk with 4 episodes and corrects the defect of the original volume 1 where Side A was B and Side B was A. The warbling sound on "The dancing men" is inherent with the source material. Volumes 2-5 are one-sided disks (with 3 episodes on volume 5) that bear a curious design in the 3:00 position that looks like a surface defect but isn't. Picture quality is very good, especially considering that the series was filmed in 16mm.
It took MPI one and a half years to release these first 13 episodes. This is only about 28.2% of the total series (not counting two short episodes). One hopes that the remaining 23 single-length and 5 double-length episodes are issued more expeditiously (the complete series has been available in Japan for well over a year). ...