Sherlock Holmes: The Complete Basil Rathbone Collection (14-disc Box Set)--Amazon.co.uk Exclusive DVD

These 14 classic Sherlock Holmes adventures dating from 1939-46 star Basil Rathbone as the great detective and Nigel Bruce as Dr Watson. Rathbone had made his name in Hollywood playing villains (memorably against Errol Flynn in 1938's The Adventures of Robin Hood) but his aquiline features and effortlessly haughty demeanour made him the ideal candidate to don Holmes's deerstalker. Bruce's "incorrigible bungler" is a bumbling comedy sidekick, unlike Conan Doyle's conception of the rather unimaginative but nevertheless astute Doctor. However, the pairing deservedly became... the stuff of screen legend, a cinematic double act as memorable and enduring as Laurel and Hardy or Rogers and Astaire. The investigations began in 1939 with The Hound of the Baskervilles, a relatively faithful screen adaptation of the original story, but thereafter the series moves ever further from its source material, with only intermittent success. The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes introduces Professor Moriarty (George Zucco, the first of several actors to portray Holmes's nemesis) in an enjoyably convoluted story derived from an Edwardian-era stage play. Then, in 1942's The Voice of Terror, Holmes and Watson leave fog-shrouded Victorian London behind to battle Nazis intent on destroying beleaguered England. The wartime propaganda element in this and subsequent pictures--intended to foster American sympathy with the British war effort--don't get in the way of the cases too much, and at least the spirit of Conan Doyle is preserved. Holmes remained in the present day thereafter, along with Moriarty, Inspector Lestrade and Mrs Hudson, right up to the rather disappointing! final instalment in 1946's Dressed to Kill. Jeremy Brett created a far more authentic Holmes in Granada TV's long-running series, but Rathbone deserves credit for making the character all his own. Purists may baulk at the many liberties taken (such as shipping Holmes off to the States or Canada whenever an excuse offered), as well as occasionally jarring elements (such as Dick Van Dyke-style American "Cockneys"), but taken as a whole these films deserve their reputation, and Holmes fans will surely treasure them. On the DVD:This 14-disc set has one film per disc, which is a bit of a waste given that the longest runs only 82 minutes, and some are less then 60 minutes each. Picture quality is poor at best, fuzzy and lacking clarity, with no sign of any cleaning up of the prints. It's a shame that such a classic series has not been accorded more careful treatment. Another indication of the lacklustre presentation is the single extra feature: a rather prosaic documentary hosted by Christopher Lee about the various versions of Holmes down the years, which is repeated on four of the discs, and which has nothing specific to say about the Rathbone era. --Mark Walker [show more]

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