Customer Reviews

Adventures of Sherlock Holmes and Dr. Watson: The King of Blackmail/ Mortal Fight/ Tiger Hunt 2 DVD SET

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

 

 

Once the Englsh prime minister Margareth Tatcher said, that russian Sherlock Holmes was the best one... She was speaking about classical russian tv miniseries "The adventures of Sherlock Holmes and Dr. Watson" or "Priklyuchenia Sherloka Kholmsa I Doctora Watsona". It contained 5 sets of two or three episodes each. The third set "Hound of Baskervilles" was aknowledged to be the best version of Conan Doyle's stories. That is true! You know why? The atmosphere of Victorian England is just magnificent, i can say the same thing about the atmosphere of a classical detective. These tv versions are almost perfect, especially we can say this about the original score and cast. Once you see Vasiliy Livanov acting and you'll never imagine any other actor playing this part. This disc represents the second set "The King of Blackmail" and it contains three wonderfull episodes telling us a story of professor's Moriarty and Sherlock Holmes duel. If you are a real SH fan you have to see this movie: it would be a real SH pearl in your collection.

This DVD is fantastic. The scripts are brilliantly written and faithful to the books but with added touches of the scriptwriter's own, all of which work wonderfully. The cast are excellent and Livanov makes a wonderful Holmes, playing him with just the right balance of humanity and arrogance. However, it is the casting of Watson which means this series stands out from the many others made. He's young! He's intelligent! He has depth! And, good heavens, Holmes treats him as an equal. The chemistry between Vasily Livanov and the late Vitaly Solomin is amazing and brings the sense of fun and friendship in the books to the small screen, especially as Livanov's Holmes teases Watson quite frequently.

The sets and locations make a remarkably convincing Victorian England and it is obvious that the series has been very well researched. Holmes even writes his farewell note to Watson in English. Talk about attention to detail - the great detective would be impressed! The Reichenbach sequence and Holmes's return are very moving and illustrate the care with which this series was made.

An absolutely brilliant series, even if you don't speak Russian.

For context, I'm an American English speaker, 45 years old. I've been a huge fan of Sherlock Holmes since I first discovered him as a child in the 70's. I've read all the stories and seen most of the notable English/American TV/Movie versions and enjoyed quite a few, especially those starring Jeremy Brett. When my Russian wife introduced me to the Russian holmes "mini-series", I have to say I was delightfully surprised and really impressed. The subtitles help, and certainly watching it with a native Russian speaker is a big help. But I enjoy this series so much that sometimes I watch it with the subtitles off, even when my wife isn't around. The production values, attention to detail and faithfulness to the original story lines is outstanding. My wife tells me that when an episode was scheduled to air on Russian TV, her whole family would gather around to make sure they didn't miss a minute, and I understand why.

If you think the language barrier or sub-titles will be a barrier to your enjoyment, then try to rent them first to check that aspect out for yourself. If you have Russian speaking friends who enjoy the series, try to arrange to watch it with them. Their personal input will add something, surely. But if you're a huge Holmes fan and you're used to watching foreign language films with sub-titles, I feel quite certain that, even on your own, the quality, personal warmth and faithfulness to the original Holmes stories will surely please.

My wife tells me that the best of the series were the later ones, when the success of the early episodes allowed the producers to hire better actors for the supporting roles. Holmes and Watson are always top notch, throughout, but she tells me in movies like the Hound of the Baskervilles, the production values were even higher, and the films even more enjoyable. I've not seen HOtB yet, but I'm very much looking forward.

It took me a while to get used to Holmes and Watson speaking Russian, and glancing up and down between the flick and the English subtitles. Now I think that this Russian series of dvds / dvd sets is second only to the Jeremy Brett series, which most Holmes fans consider to be the gold standard for the Great Detective on video. These Russian videos, starring Visiliy Livanov, have characters and plots that bring the books to mind. Call me a purist, but I think that's always a good thing. Probably because both the books and these Livanov dvds have very interesting, entertaining characters and plots. These dvds have surround sound and make excellent use of the back channels. You'll hear footsteps, ticking clocks, barking dogs, bird song and other sounds to convince you that you're IN a scene instead of just watching it. These videos are the best and most true to Doyle's books that I've seen since I discovered Jeremy Brett. So why only four stars? The price is outrageous. It was very high two years ago and has almost doubled since. I know that the dvd is rare in this country, but that doesn't give the only seller the right to rip off the customer. I wish someone else would start importing this series from Russia and selling them for a fair price.