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Hi people,
If you like Sherlock Holmes, you will like this.
Enjoy,
Thomas
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What can I say? This series is fantastic. Jeremy Brett was so perfect -- even though I didn't even know who he was until 15 years after he died, I am now very depressed about his untimely death. I savor every episode b/c I know they are finite. I plan to buy the entire set, something I have only done with one other series (Arrested Development). Most entertainment created today isn't worth even one viewing. On very rare occassions, something is worth two viewings. This series is something I'd watch over and over again. It's that good -- largely b/c of Jeremy Brett.
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Jeremy Brett IS Sherlock Holmes! More than any other actor, the late Brett captured the eccentric brilliance that was Holmes. Brett was so good at knowing when to nuance and when to be flamboyant. He is a joy to watch! The two actors that played Watson in the series also nailed that character and the transition between them goes almost unnoticed. Between the two ably-played main characters and the many fine character actors, the performances are so captivating that one can overlook the slight and occasional hiccups the writers created in translating the actual Conan Doyle stories into screenplays... hiccups that don't show up in all the episodes. The picture quality of this edition is much better than the previous individual boxed sets as well. For that reason, and the likelihood that you will be hooked once you watch them, my suggestion is to forsake the many individual DVD sets (of varying quality) and get the whole shebang in this one edition. This boxed set will do us for the rest of our lives. They are good enough to watch over and over, year after year. Beware the cheap knockoffs coming out of China!
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Everybody knows him -- the pipe-smoking detective on Baker Street (with or without the movie-added deerstalker), who is able to deduce all sorts of things just by glancing at a person.
And while a lot of recent adaptations have completely bastardized Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's brilliant detective, "The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes" shows off Sherlock Holmes at his best. Not only is the writing and direction amazing, but Jeremy Brett and David Burke are simply brilliant in the main roles.
Holmes (Brett) is visited by the masked King of Bohemia, who has a slight problem: he's engaged to a princess, but his former lover Irene Adler has a compromising letter that could jeopardize his future marriage. But Adler has a formidable brain of her own. Then Holmes is hired by a man whose wife is receiving strange coded messages, filled with dancing men.
Among the other strange cases that Holmes and Watson undertake -- a stolen treaty, a music teacher being stalked by a cyclist, a locked-room murder, a dead woman whose last words were "it was the band, the speckled band!", a blue jewel hidden in a Christmas turkey, a young woman given a surreally weird job, a man kidnapped to serve as a Greek interpreter, a man who inexplicably left all his money to someone he didn't know, a paranoid doctor and disappearing patients, the "red headed league," and a clash with Professor Moriarty over the Mona Lisa.
Sherlock Holmes mysteries come in two types:
1. The case is completely baffling, and Holmes is needed to unravel the knot of obscure clues.
2. The case seems straightforward, but Holmes is needed to connect seemingly unrelated clues to the crime in order to find the REAL perpetrator.
There are plenty of both kinds in "The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes," with over a dozen cases that require Holmes' unique detecting skills -- it can be something as simple as locating a letter, or something as complex as foiling a robbery, uncovering a hidden person or counterfeiting ring.
The writers do an excellent job faithfully translating Doyle's stories into the visual form, and there are some wonderfully creepy moments (such as the Greek translator being forced to translate for a silent, bandaged man). And the dialogue is remarkably smooth (and sometimes funny), sticking to the old-timey flavor of Doyle's prose ("Your conversation really is most entertaining. If you would close the door, on your way out, as there is a decided draft").
Brett is considered to be one of the two best Holmeses in movie history, and he's nothing short of brilliant -- he plays Holmes as a brilliant, manic individual whose mind focuses to a knife point when confronted by a problem. And despite Holmes being arrogant and blunt, Brett infuses him with a kind of bouncy warmth. At the same time, David Burke is one of the best Watsons: he plays the sidekick as being not a genius but is definitely intelligent, warm-hearted and capable.
"The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes" is a magnificent adaptation of Doyle's legendary mysteries, filled with murder, intrigue and all sorts of weird crimes. As for Brett, he's perfect.
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I should start by saying I am reviewing this under my husband's name. I really enjoy this box-set. David Burke's portrayal of Watson is awesome and the chemistry between Burke and Brett is great. If you are a fan of Doyle's work you will love this collection, it adds a light hearted aspect to the work and a youthful energy to the characters. I watch them all the time.
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