Customer Reviews

Adventures Of Sherlock Holmes [Slim Case]

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On this DVD in a thin cardboard case you get three half hour episodes of the 1954-55 Sherlock Holmes TV series, with Ronald Howard playing the title character.
1. The Case of the Cunningham Heritage (1954-10-18)
2. The Case of the Lady Beryl (1954-10-25)
3. The Case of the Pennsylvania Gun (1954-11-01)
For some cheap entertainment you can't go wrong.

This is a nice little set of Holmes adventures featuring 3 different interpretations of The Great Detective.

First you have The Woman in Green, starring Basil Rathbone and Nigel Bruce. Holmes must solve a series of murders that each involve the same set of weird details, but that seem unrelated in other respects. Scotland Yard, as usual in these movies, is on the wrong track, but Holmes eventually hounds out the truth which involves severed finger, Professor Moriarty and a beautiful, evil and icy hypnotist played by Hilary Brooke.

Murder at the Baskervilles stars Arthur Wontner as Holmes and Ian Fleming as Watson. While vacationing at Baskerville Hall they run across a case of murder most foul in a story based on the original Silver Blaze. Wontner played his Holmes a little differently than Rathbone, making him a bit more pleasant and his relationship with Watson more congenial.

The Sign of the Four also stars Arthur Wontner as Sherlock Holmes. This time a young woman turns to Sherlock Holmes for protection when she's menaced by an escaped killer seeking missing treasure. However, when the woman is kidnapped, Holmes and Watson must penetrate the city's criminal underworld to find her. It's based more or less on the original story by Doyle. Again Wontner portrays a wryly intelligent Holmes that operates a little less arrogantly than Rathbone's portrayal.

In The Triumph of Sherlock Holmes good old Sherlock, retired to Sussex, takes on an American secret society known as the Scowlers. The movie sticks relatively close to the source material, in this case THE VALLEY OF FEAR. It is good stuff and probably my favorite of the Wontner Holmes movies.

Sherlock Holmes: This set also includes another great interpretation of Sherlock Holmes that of Ronald Howard in the French produced TV series. Each episode is about 30 minutes long and some of the stories are based on Doyle's work while others are original works. Holmes is portrayed in a more human light here and the series also features some nice dry humor. While the sets are low budget, the writing and much of the acting is high quality.

Over all I think this is a great set. You have a variety of interpretations of Holmes and all are well done in their own way.

He is a more personable Holmes than others who attempt him. I like these a lot. They're older, so there's some "obvious" acting (like when Holmes sits there for a moment turned to a character before addressing him...waiting for his cue?) but they are simply wonderful. I'm a fan of the Laurie R. King novels (The beekeepers aprentice, a monstrous regiment of women, etc...) and this is the Holmes (only much older) that I picture when I read them. He's a softer Holmes, more human somehow. Just more realistic to me. It's a good buy to see if you like Ronald Howard's version of Holmes. The complete series is available through this site as well. Just do a search on Ronald Howard, and you'll find it. But this is a good way to see if you like his version. I currently own this one, and plan on upgrading to the 20-movie set and post this one for sale, or give as a gift (since it's in great condition).