Customer Reviews

The Return of Sherlock Holmes Collection

5 star:		(41)
4 star:		(9)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Granada's Sherlock Holmes series concludes its move into DVD format with this well priced 5 disc set. Like its predecessor, "The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes", Holmes is portrayed by Jeremy Brett: he is, as others have noted, the "definitive Sherlock Holmes". I cannot imagine anyone ever excelling Brett in this role. Watson is played by Edward Hardwicke, the son of noted actor, Sir Cedric Hardwicke, and he, too is definitive in the role. Everything is near perfect in this set, including the adaptions from the Doyle stories, and the very real sense of being in 19th century England. I have only one reservation: the tape to disc transfer is far from perfect. I do not know whether this is a reflection of poor storeage of the master tapes or sloppy transfer procedures. The result is a fair amount of "ghosting", especially in the night scenes. Having noted this, the performances are, without an exception, excellent. No fan of "the world's first consulting detective" should be without this set.

On reviewing this excellent Granada series, one must always keep in mind two separate criteria. One, the original writing of Doyle and two, the Granda production team, including of course the now legendary performance of Jeremy Brett, without question now the ultimate Holmes for the 20th century. You can't really fault the Granda production for what is unfortunately, some of Doyle's weaker stories such as Lady Carfax, for instance.
In this series of 11 episodes however, both the writing and the production are top notch all the way, and it is arguably the best collection of the whole group.
Doyle purists may prefer the Adventures, and with good reason, for the stories were fresh, creative and Doyle had not yet tired of writing about his famous detective.
But was it luck or theatrical Fate that brought Edward Hardwicke into the series, precisely at the point where Holmes and Watson's relationship necessarily becomes more personal and complex - right from the first episode where Watson displays a range of emotions upon finding Holmes alive in "The Empty House"?
Although David Burke does an admirable job in the first series, it is Hardwicke who is able to take us further into the personal ups and downs of their friendship with all the humor and understanding that fully fleshes out the two main characters.
Hardwicke's subtle psychological insight into Watson's role is only one of the rewards of this magnificent series.
Where else will you see the humanity of Holmes so revealed as in "The Devil's Foot" - the only time Holmes ever addresses Watson as "John" - as he battles his cocaine addiction? Where else will you see a more mature and compassionate Holmes comforting women in distress, as in "The Man With the Twisted Lip"?
Holmes is never better than when solving a murder mystery, and you get that in spades here, as in "The Devil's Foot", "The Abbey Grange" and "Silver Blaze". "The Six Napoleons" takes us into the Italian subculture, and "Wisteria Lodge" into Latin American politics. And Jeremy Brett was never better than in the scenes where he discovers the ancient crown of England, or the consummate acting job - using only his facial expressions - to reveal his insights into the secret of "The Second Stain".
There's something for every Sherlock Holmes fan here. And again, what really makes this group of episodes stand out is the richness and humanity between the characters, not only between Holmes and Watson, but also with Mrs. Hudson and the Scotland Yard inspectors. Even Mycroft, Holmes brother, makes an appearance in "The Bruce Partington Plans", which further humanizes Holmes character as we see the two brothers relationship developed more.
What are you waiting for? Buy this series now! You'll enjoy it again and again.
Michael Thurman

"The Return of Sherlock Holmes Collection" continues the almost-perfect adaptation of Doyle's original Sherlock Holmes cannon. Jeremy Brett returns as Holmes incarnate, slightly less exuberant due to his illness, but lacking none of the spark and charisma of "The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes." Edward Hardwicke takes over as Watson so completely that David Burke is hardly missed.

All of the high-production values, including excellent location shootings and costumes and such, are carried over along with the cast. Granada Television really put care into this series, and it shows.

There are some great episodes here, such as "Silver Blaze" with Holmes and Watson investigating a missing race horse, "The Devil's Foot" with Holmes battle against his own addiction as well as crime, the wonderful "The Six Napoleons" and the eerie "The Musgrave Ritual." Actually, they are all top-quality.

This series is the finest Sherlock Holmes adaptation, bar none, and the high quality contines in this set.

In his foreword to Bantam's "Sherlock Holmes: The Complete Novels and Stories," Loren Estleman called the relationship between Sherlock Holmes and Dr. Watson literature's warmest, most symbiotic and most timeless: rightfully so. Not surprisingly, film history is littered with adaptations of Conan Doyle's tales and Holmes pastiches (using the protagonists but otherwise independent storylines). Yet - and with particular apologies to the fans of the Basil Rathbone/Nigel Bruce canon - none of these prior incarnations can hold a candle to the ITV/Granada TV series produced between 1984 and 1994, starring Jeremy Brett as Holmes and first David Burke, then, beginning with this cycle and in near-seamless transition, Edward Hardwicke as a refreshingly sturdy, pragmatic, unbumbling Dr. Watson.

Jeremy Brett was the only actor who ever managed to perfectly portray Holmes's imperiousness, bitingly ironic sense of humor and apparently indestructible self-control without at the same time neglecting his genuine friendship towards Dr. Watson and the weaknesses hidden below a surface dominated by his overarching intellectual powers. The series takes the titles of its four cycles of shorter episodes - "The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes," "The Return of Sherlock Holmes," "The Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes" and "The Casebook of Sherlock Holmes" - from four of the five short story collections featuring London's self-appointed only "consulting detective" (published 1892, 1905, 1894 and 1927, respectively). While not all episodes correspond exactly with the original story collections, and the series's premise - Holmes's and Watson's shared tenancy of rooms at 221B Baker Street - was no longer true even at the beginning of the "Adventures," particularly the first two cycles ("Adventures" and "Return") are must-haves for any mystery fan.

"The Empty House:" Three years after Holmes's seemingly deadly dive into Reichenbach Falls in what Conan Doyle originally conceived as his final clash with evil mastermind Professor Moriarty ("The Final Problem"), his absence is painfully felt in a murder Scotland Yard's Inspector Lestrade (Colin Jeavons) and Dr. Watson are unable to solve. But this cycle is called "The Return of Sherlock Holmes" for a reason ... and with the detective, his evil opponent and his minions are back as well.

"The Abbey Grange:" Holmes and Watson solve the mystery surrounding the death of rich Sir Eustace Brackenstall - and Holmes surprises Watson with his unorthodox ethical stance once the culprit is uncovered.

"The Second Stain:" In one of several mysteries seeing Holmes involved in international intrigue, he is on the hunt for a letter stolen from a Cabinet Secretary's house, and feared to bring about a war if falling into the wrong hands.

"The Six Napoleons:" A London dealer sells small busts of Napoleon to six unconnected purchasers. Shortly thereafter, several of the busts are found smashed to pieces. Holmes and Watson connect the scattered dots and link the case to a murder that Inspector Lestrade had considered unrelated.

"Wisteria Lodge:" Taken from the 1917 collection "His Last Bow" - the only one not nominally represented here - this tale of murder and an unhappy governess begins when Holmes's client-to-be awakens to find the house where he has been staying as a guest unexpectedly empty, with no trace of his host or any of the other inhabitants in sight.

"The Priory School:" Called upon by an exclusive private school's anguished principal, Holmes and Watson take a trip to the moors to uncover the trace of a powerful nobleman's vanished son - and his likewise vanished German teacher.

"The Devil's Foot" (likewise from "Last Bow"): Holmes and Watson visit rural Cornwall and find themselves facing the gruesome case of a young woman who has died without apparent cause, and her brothers, inexplicably gone mad over night. While different from "The Hound of the Baskervilles" (published 16 years earlier) in storyline and solution, in mood and references to local superstition this is reminiscent of Holmes's probably best-known case.

"Silver Blaze" (from "The Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes"): Holmes's and Watson's foray into the world of race horse training is the source of one of the detective's most famous quotes, relating to "the curious incident of the dog in the night-time" (which most recently inspired Mark Haddon's like-named book), where Holmes explains that a watch dog's *failure* to do anything - particularly bark - was the "curious incident" that caught his attention, and conclusively allowed him to narrow down the circle of suspects.

"The Bruce-Partington Plans" (from "Last Bow"): One of the rare cases where Holmes is joined - nay, where his investigation is even initiated - by his equally intelligent, mysterious brother Mycroft (Charles Gray), now in the British government's service in a position of his own creation. The mystery concerns the disappearance of the plans for a brand new submarine, and the murder of a young government employee who had been among the few persons with access thereto.

"The Musgrave Ritual" (from "Memoirs"): While Holmes and Watson are staying with one of Holmes's rare boyhood acquaintances, the gentleman's exceptionally well-informed butler disappears, followed shortly by a maid he had once courted. Using an old family ritual the butler had been discovered to be secretly studying before his disappearance, and relying on his knowledge of trigonometry, Holmes follows their trace - and on the way, solves a riddle that has been in the family's possession since the days of King Charles I.

"The Man With the Twisted Lip" (from "Adventures"): The "consulting detective" is called to investigate the disappearance of a wealthy man last seen in one of London's infamous opium dens. Suspicion soon falls on a beggar, the present occupant of the room where the vanished man was last seen. But is the beggar truly guilty - or is there something else to uncover?

Stories from the "Return of Sherlock Holmes" collection used in this series's other cycles:

In "Adventures:"
"The Norwood Builder"
"The Dancing Men"
"The Solitary Cyclist"

In "Memoirs:"
"The Golden Pince-Nez"

Adapted as a stand-alone movie-length feature entitled "The Master Blackmailer" co-starring Robert Hardy:
"The Adventure of Charles Augustus Milverton."

Also recommended:
The Complete Sherlock Holmes: All 4 Novels and 56 Short Stories
Sherlock Holmes: The Complete Granada Television Series (12 DVD)
Sherlock Holmes: A Baker Street Dozen
Sherlock Holmes of Baker Street
Bending the Willow: Jeremy Brett As Sherlock Holmes
Dr. Bell and Mr. Doyle - The Dark Beginnings of Sherlock Holmes
Murder Rooms - The Dark Beginnings of Sherlock Holmes
The Life of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle
Conan Doyle, Detective: The True Crimes Investigated by the Creator of Sherlock Holmes
Arthur and George

Jeremy Brett was at his zenith in this batch of Granada Television's Sherlock Holmes episodes. His Holmes, though still eccentric and brilliant as ever, now seems to be having a bit more fun with his cases, as evidenced by his quirky humor and eagerness to take up the chase. Edward Hardwicke seamlessly replaced David Burke as Dr. Watson and the relationship between Holmes and Watson grew to new heights of understanding, caring and a lot more humor. Hardwicke, rather than trying to compete with Holmes as Burke's Watson did, brings a mature understanding to the role as well as a sharp sense of justice and decency.
As usual, the episodes are filmed in sumptuous locations and the guest cast is always outstanding. My favorites: The Prioriy School, one of the few cases we see Holmes actively interested in his paycheck, as well as finding the kidnapped boy. Wisteria Lodge, a odd little mood piece featuring a competition between Holmes and the local police inspector (Freddie Jones), who is just as stubborn and even stranger than Holmes can be. The Six Napoleons: a darned good mystery involving busts of Napoleon being smashed all over London. This episode is also one of the most humorous, as Colin Jeavon's Lestrade joins forces with the duo. The Devil's Foot: an ill Holmes is forced on holiday by Watson to Cornwall, and he becomes involved in a creepy murder investigation. Adding to his problems is his dependence on cocaine, which he finally dispenses of in this marvelous episode. Silver Blaze: another atmospheric piece regarding murder and a missing racehorse. It also presents a neat look at the kinder, gentler post cocaine Holmes. The Bruce Partington Plans where brother Mycroft makes a welcome return in a nifty story about missing submarine plans and murder.
There is not a bad episode in this collection. I highly recommend purchasing this set; you'll not find better Holmes stories anywhere.

The "Return of Sherlock Holmes" is probably the best season of the Brett series. The eleven episodes are our favorites. Edward Hardwicke is by far our favorite "Watson" as well. The bonus material is a quite nice addition, especially the interview with Hardwicke. My wife and I can't think of a better way to invest eight hours of your time than to settle back and enjoy "The Return" of the world's greatest Consulting Detective!

The second MPI box set of the Granada Sherlock Holmes tv series is an improvement over the first set which collected The Adventures Of Sherlock Holmes. Gone are the distorted soundtracks and video problems that were present on a few of the discs in that 5 disc set. The audio is fine on all of these discs. The video transfers are all somewhat soft and a little too dark in some episodes ('The Man With The Twisted Lip' and 'The Bruce Partington Plans' both have segments which are so dark that it's difficult to make out what is happening onscreen, for example) but there is none of the picture "wobbling" or excessive grain that was present in the previous set. It's good to see MPI using a dual layer presentation on disc 4 which contains 3 episodes. With the first set, a 2 sided disc was used to present 4 episodes (2 per single layer side) and one single layer disc had 3 episodes compressed onto it which compromised the audio and visual quality. Fortunately more care has been taken with this collection.

As for the stories, the high standard set by the first series is maintained. The production values and scripts are all of the highest quality. The only downside is the awful short haircut that Jeremy Brett sports in four of the later episodes. Brett gave himself this haircut (he reportedly said that he felt like a change...but it may have been an act encouraged by the severe depression he was suffering at that time of his life), and it certainly doesn't suit the character or the period. It doesn't ruin the episodes by any means, but it is very distracting.

The extra features are well worth a mention, especially the interview with Edward Hardwicke who played Watson from this series onwards. He shares some wonderful stories and trivia from his time with the Granada series and it's definitely worth watching. The booklet containing episode notes written by Richard Valley is also excellent. Rather than just writing a synopsis of each story, Valley has included behind the scenes notes and quotes from interviews previously published in his magazine, Scarlet Street.

This is an essential purchase for fans of Jeremy Brett as Sherlock Holmes. It will also appeal to general viewers who appreciate period drama with excellent scripts, performances and production values.

I need repeat neither the well-deserved accolades to Grenada's production of Sherlock Holmes and its star Jeremy Brett (1933-95) nor laments of the less-than perfect quality of the 11 episodes of Return telecast in 1986 (7 episodes) and 1988 (4 episodes). However, I do want to emphasize the extras: the classy 12-page booklet with Richard Valley's background production notes; the touching interview with Edward Hardwicke, "Elementary, My Dear Watson" (2003, TT18.40, on disk 1); and John Madden's informative director's commentary on "The Priory School."

Most of all I want to stress that the sequence of the 11 episodes on DVD is NOT the original broadcast sequence on TV! This is the proper viewing sequence of the 11 episodes:
The Return of Sherlock Holmes (1986, series 3)
disk 1-1. The Empty House
disk 1-2. The Abbey Grange
disk 5-1. The Musgrave Ritual
disk 2-1. The Second Stain
disk 5-2. The Man with the Twisted Lip
disk 3-1. The Priory School
disk 2-2. The Six Napoleans
2-hour movie The Sign of Four (1987): separately available
The Return of Sherlock Holmes (1988, series 4)
disk 4-1. The Devil's Foot
disk 4-2. Silver Blaze
disk 3-2. Wisteria Lodge
disk 4-3. The Bruce-Partington Plans
This viewing sequence will place properly together the last four (1988) episodes where Brett sports that awful haircut and black scarf and where he is beginning to show physical effects (notably weight gain and puffiness) from the medication he was taking for his bipolar disorder (manic depression) diagnosed in early 1986. The crew-cut hairdo apparently was self-inflicted during a manic phase.

These are outstanding videos... I echo the other reviews... but there is an unexpected source of entertainment here. I watch the episodes late at night, with the volume low and the English captions turned on. I find myself distracted by the ludicrous differences between the spoken dialog and the captions!

There are two or three mistakes per minute, as if the transcriber could not hear well, was utterly unfamiliar with educated Victorian figures of speech, AND knew English only as a second language. As a single instance, in "The Adventure of the Empty House" Dr. Watson compliments Mrs. Hudson, saying (sound track) "You are the heroine of the evening!" The caption below says "You are the heron of the evening." That's "heron" as in the long-legged waterfowl.

So, you see? The transcriber was hard of heron.

There are many of these errors, often very funny. Turn on the captions and have fun. ;-)

What a great series this is! The only disappointment is that there are few extras on the DVD. Jeremy Brett continues (from the first boxed set and feature film boxed set) to be THE definitive - without a doubt - Sherlock Holmes. His mannerisms, dress, deportment, movements provide a complete picture of how Doyle's Holmes should look.

This boxed set is a must have, especially for anyone who owns The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes boxed set. There are several reasons for this in addition to Brett's great portrayal.

First, the Empty House is critical as a follow up to The Final Problem. Any true Holmes' fan has to admit to at least a little depression following the last tale in the "Adventures" series (i.e., the Final Problem). The Empty House returns Holmes in full glory and Holmes' story about the "missing" years is priceless.

Second, the series shows Brett at his best, before the illness he suffered from reduced his health. Even in later series, Brett does a terrific job despite his health. But he appears here as a vibrant Holmes, a natural continuation of his portrayal form "Adventures."

Third, Edward Hardwicke offers a different, more professional, version of Watson than did David Burke in the "Adventures." Actually, Burke was great in the first series and ideal as a younger Watson. In some respects that youthful exuberance is missed in the "Return" and it's a shame that Burke could not continue. But Hardwicke's characterization allows Watson to approach Holmes as an equal of sorts (not that Watson could ever equal Holmes) in that professionalism that his demeanor naturally gives to Watson.

All in all a tremendous collection and as faithful to the stories as a television series could realistically be.