Customer Reviews

The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes - The Blue Carbuncle [VHS]

5 star:		(5)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

"The Blue Carbuncle" is one of my favorites in this excellent series. Holmes and Watson must spend the holidays engaged in a baffling jewel theft, while encountering lost hats and geese, down-on-their-luck intellectuals, and a hostile livestock merchant along the way. This episode is both hilarous and touching, as Holmes shows a side of himself very rarely seen. Though Holmes and Watson are brilliantly played, the superb acting of the supporting characters makes this one stand out: the character of Mr. Henry Baker as a down-on-his-luck, aging intellectual is given with inspiring dignity, and the poultry merchant at Covent Garden steals his hilarious scene with his inexplicable hostility toward inquiries about his precious geese. This episode is the perfect blend of Christmas story, detective fiction, and morality tale, and no modern-day Holmes collection should be without it!

An impeccable entry in the Granada series. Remarkably faithful to the short story, this puzzler comes equipped with all the high-water elements you've come to expect from these productions: brilliant cast, story, sets, costuming, and a faithful adherance to period. Jeremy Brett's Sherlock Holmes is flawless. Any actor thinking of donning the deerstalker and inverness might just as well forget it: Brett has put Holmes in his pocket and carried it away into history. The final two scenes of this holiday mystery capture the "goodwill toward men" that not only will have tears streaming down your cheeks, but gives us a glimpse of humanity in the icy-cold Mr. Holmes.

If you've run A CHRISTMAS CAROL to death, try THE BLUE CARBUNCLE as your next holiday movie. Not that you have to wait until Christmas to enjoy this one. It gets my vote as the single best episode of the superb Granada Holmes series (and there is a lot of competition for the distinction.) Victorian London has never looked colder and bleaker. An innocent man is accused of a robbery, and the stolen object turns up in a most unlikely place. Sherlock Holmes solves the mystery and must also deal with his own conscience. The superb cast does excellent ensemble work and the film's production values are outstanding.

I write this review, not only for "The Blue Carbuncle," but for nearly all of the videos in the series. Jeremy Brett is the perfect Sherlock Holmes because he adds his own persona to his role, which is something that Hollywood actors can't do because they are too busy counting their millions in the middle of rehearsing. Brett played Holmes for 41 episodes and dominated all of them. Both David Burke and Edward Hardwicke play wonderful Watsons and 221b never looked cozier. The Basil Rathbone b+w's don't do Holmes enough justice in my opinion. Jeremy Brett not only makes Holmes a calculating machine of deduction, but gives him life and energy with wonderful mannerisms and expressions. If you are a Holmes lover or just checking this out for the first time, chances are you'll be sucked in and enjoy each episode over and over again.

Earlier adaptations are so nicely done and this is one of them. The character of Sherlock Holmes is so amusing and fascinating! The subtitle are not always accurate, so if you cannot understand the British accent, I suggest that you go back to the original book and it's all there word for word. You can't miss it.

But regarding the other review, see my retort in my review of 'The Empty House'.