Customer Reviews

The Rivals of Sherlock Holmes: Set 1

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

 

 

All 13 are cleverly written plots in "The Rivals of Sherlock Holmes-Set 1".
Unique mystery stories and appealing sleuth characters. Delightfully detailed late-Victorian sets, both indoors and out. Makes one wish they'd lived in the late 1800s.
Scotland yard gets several famous helpers in catching the crooks. Costuming is richly authentic, for wealthy aristocrats, shopkeepers, and the common folk.
The series has continual top-notch performances of some of the best British actors and actresses of the day.

Bonus: SUBTITLES. Also detailed profiles of all the authors making history with these crime investigators of Victorian days. What a bonus for mystery story readers who would like to continue with these great crime solvers. The bonus material lists the writer's other books/stories.

Episode details with no spoilers:
1. A MESSAGE FROM THE DEEP SEA. Dr. Thorndyke (sleuth creator R. Austen Freeman) using fingerprints and other scientific forensic evidence looks for a replacement to the police quick-suspect decision. Thorough evidence examination at the crime scene is, once and for all-time, proved necessary for justice.

2. THE MISSING WITNESS SENSATION. Max Carados (blind amateur detective created by Ernest Bramah, 1914) gets kidnapped by the Irish Republican Brotherhood. He admits to being 'a terrible showoff' with his abilities; even though sightless. With Carrados missing, will his affidavit be enough to convict the Irish murderer? Can he escape?

3. THE AFFAIR OF THE AVALANCHE BICYCLE & TYRE CO. Horace Dorrington (criminal/detective created by Arthur Morrison) is not beyond doing a bit of theft himself and then charging fees to his socialite client. He gets involved in the operations of a new emerging bicycle company. An obviously intentional bicycle racing accident gets Dorrington seeking insider evidence, or better yet for him--a percentage?

4. THE DUCHESS OF WILTSHIRE'S DIAMONDS. Simon Carne (gentleman thief created by Guy Newell Boothby)is socially equal to all but also secretly evolves into "Klimo", a crime solving genius. Carne's secretly maintains 2 identities. His disguised appearance in both of his roles makes it possible for him to co-exist and actually live next door to each of himselves. "Klimo's" crime solving & method explanations never end in recovered goods or catching any thief. Why?

5. THE HORSE OF THE INVISIBLE. Ghost Detective Carnacki (creator: Wm. Hope Hodgson) is asked to exorcise a horse ghost from a country home to save he engaged daughter of the family. There is an 1800s history of premature deaths of engaged girls in this family, all relating to horse ghosts. But this ghostbuster is dealing with the 20th century....JUST!

6. THE CASE OF THE MIRROR OF PORTUGAL. (Same sleuth creator as #3) A family feud over a priceless diamond obtained generations ago in revolution days has many interested pursuers, including the criminal/detective Dorrington.
A young JEREMY IRONS (Brideshead Revisited) has a bit part as a nephew, his first film appearance.

7. MADAME SARA. Dixon Druce (L. T. Meade or Elizabeth Thomasina Meade Smith-Irish creator) is involved when a will's conditions give a fortune to the lone survivor among 2 sisters and their half-brother. His whereabouts is unknown. Madam Sara and her secrets are involved in some mysterious way. What secrets can Det. Druce uncover?

8. THE CASE OF THE DIXON TORPEDO. Jonathan Pride (P.I. creator Arthur Morrison, who also invented Dorrington, #6 & #3) solves 2 crimes without his partner Martin Hewitt, who is away in the country. Russian counterfeit bills are being printed locally. At the same time, Admiralty has Pride watching a torpedo inventor's back. Are the cases related?

9. THE WOMAN IN THE BIG HAT. Lady Molly uses her intuition to outwit her male counterparts of Scotland yard. (creator is Baroness Emma Orczy, better known for 'Scarlet Pimpernel') Investigating a murder by using less-than proper methods causes Lady Molly to be taken off the case. The lead suspect, a lady in a big hat, arrives at Scotland Yard asking for Molly. She is back on the case. Will the Yard's "Ladies Department" solve the case & save the day again?

10. THE AFFAIR OF THE TORTOISE. (same creator as #9) P.I. Martin Hewitt is called to privately investigate a murder with a note leading to the police's obvious suspect. But the body disappears. Hewitt looks for less obvious clues. A turtle dies. Not violently.

11. THE ASSYRIAN REJUVENATOR. P.I. Romney Pringle (creator: Clifford Ashdown) uses disguises to out-maneuver other criminals--thus taking his own gains. A patient medicine con is so elusive the CID Sgt Hawkins suggests Pringle investigate, even encouraging his sometimes less-than-legal methods. Pringle is star struck with by a stage singer, Miss Suzie.

12. THE RIPENING RUBIES. Jeweler, Bernard Sutton (created by Sir Max Pemberton) outwits criminals using his professional knowledge of gems. Reward money follows solving the case. A stolen ruby necklace (one of his own creation) is offered for sale at his own shop. Another gem of a case to solve?

13. THE CASE OF LAKER, ABSCONDED. Partners, Hewitt & Pride (see creator of #9 & #10) look for a bank clerk who ran off with a huge amount of cash. The trail seems much to easy to follow, which causes the P.I. team to consider another direction and case conclusion, while the Yard looks in France for the culprit. The missing suspect's fiancee may hold the clues needed.

Created in the 1970s, but filmed so well, and being a Victorian series, this is a timeless set of mystery productions. Packed with suspense, drama, thriller, mystery, and even some comedy and romance. What's not to like? As good as any of today's Mystery Theatre TV events.

"The Rivals of Sherlock Holmes, Set 1" gives us another classic British mysteries television series, this one featuring the other detectives of Victorian England. These are stories that were initially penned by writers contemporaneous with Arthur Conan Doyle, famed creator of the iconic Holmes: writers who undoubtedly thought: if he can do it, so can I. The entertainment was made by Thames Television, and premiered on the ITV (Independent Television Network) stations in 1971, when it won a BAFTA (British Oscar) for best series design. A second series aired in 1973. The first thirteen episodes now come to us in a box set of four DVDs, running approximately 654 minutes, with subtitles: although the actors so clearly speak the Queen's English, the subtitles are hardly needed.

The series bespeaks the open-handed care with which British TV made these entertainments at that time. Settings, clothing, accessories, sounds, interiors, street scenes and transport are depicted as accurately as they could be. Scenes are filmed lavishly, with many extras, a screen packed full of information. Scripts are intelligently written, and ably acted, featuring several of the stars of the day; support is provided by many contemporary favorites. Some of the episodes are, unfortunately, on the silly, and /or skimpy side - we can blame the original source material for that - but all give us an excellent view of time and place, Victorian era popular culture; the many economic ills of the day.

Among the best-known actors are John Neville (The First Churchills); northern stalwart Peter Vaughan (The Remains of the Day); theater favorite Donald Sinden (Two's Company - The Complete Series); Donald Pleasance (Blofeld in You Only Live Twice); and a very young Jeremy Irons, making his screen debut and hardly looking like himself (Brideshead Revisited ). I saw Irons in person quite a few years ago, but after he'd made this episode. He was starring on Broadway in a two-hander with Glenn Close, script by Tom Stoppard; the man was handsome, and he wasn't missing any volleys.

Some of my favorite stories were based upon the intelligent work of Arthur Morrison: No. 3, The Affair of the Avalanche Bicycle & Tyre Co, Ltd.; No.6, The Case of the Mirror of Portugal. Northern stalwart Peter Vaughan plays Horace Dorrington, bringing his great energy and sly wit to detection. No. 8, The Case of the Dixon Torpedo; No. 10, The Affair of the Tortoise; and No. 13, The Case of Laker, Absconded. These three episodes feature the detective agency of Martin Hewett and Jonathan Pryde.

And two female-oriented episodes: No. 7, Madame Sara. She's the sphinx of the Strand, in a short story originally published in the well-known contemporary magazine of that name, "The Strand."Mme. Sara is a mysterious creature who looks impossibly youthful; furthermore, she can do wonders for the female clientele of her tiny Strand shop, with her skills as trained doctor and dentist, and her many magic potions. She's the creation of"L.T. Meade," who was actually Irish writer Elizabeth Thomasina Meade Smith, best-known for her "girls' stories." The author, in her lifetime, published over 300 books, including a collection of stories featuring Mme. Sara and detective Dixon Druse, as "The Sorceress of the Strand." Her creation here may well have helped inspired the famous 1933 novel,Lost Horizon, that gave us Shangri-La, by Englishman James Hilton. Several movie treatments have been made of this novel; best-known, 1937's black and white Lost Horizon, starring Ronald Colman and Jane Wyatt, directed by Frank Capra.

No. 9, The Woman in the Big Hat, gives us one of the first female detectives, Lady Molly of Scotland Yard; she moves in feminine settings, solves her cases with a woman's reasoning. She's the creation of Baroness Emma Orczy, writer, playwright, and artist, descended from Hungarian nobility, moved to London as a teenager: In 1888, when she had been married but a week, Jack the Ripper left one of his victims outside her front door. Orczy published "Lady Molly of Scotland Yard" in 1910. She is later credited with creating the first "armchair detective," a person who can solve crimes without budging from a favorite chair; an idea that has gone far. But she is best known for her most enduring creation: the Scarlet Pimpernel.

Time has proven that none of the authors upon whose work this series is based could rival Doyle in the detection department. Still, the series stands on its merits.

I remember watching it in 1975 on PBS. I particularly remember "The Horse Invisible". It's a ghost story, and one of the most frightening that I have ever seen on TV. The other episodes were just as good!

Absolute Gems!
Production, scripts, acting, sets, direction: all coming together in a seemless stream of intelligent entertainment that tickles the who, what, and how with sweet satisfaction. Most of the detectectives; besides being observant, intuitive, and with gifted acumens of human nature, find when summing the case up: stepping outside, around, or boldly, across the letter of the law has its rewards - both in wealth and their own wicked sense of honor & humor.

ENCORE PERFORMANCE !!!

HIGHLY RECOMMENDED !!!!!

It was a pretty good idea for a T.V. show in the seventies, drawing upon the many (inevitably inferior) knockoff detective novels inspired by Conan Doyle's more famous sleuth. Sherlock Holmes himself is never mentioned in these episodes. Instead we get straightforward presentations of works by lesser known authors from the early 20th century, each of whom came up with his own detective clearly modelled after Holmes. Thus we get Dr. Thorndyke, the police surgeon; Max Carados, the blind amateur sleuth; Horace Dorrington, the... what the heck is he, some kind of grasping con man? And so on. Each character has his own self-contained mystery to solve in a ninety minute episode. The film has that cheesy early videotape quality that one associates with other British shows like Dr. Who or Monty Python of the same period, which makes it seem a bit dated, and more like watching a play than a film. Nevertheless, the acting and sets are good, though some of the protagonist characters seem arrogant and annoying. In theory so was Holmes, yet somehow this quirk suited him, whereas here on lesser known detectives it grates. (After watching one slow-moving talky episode, all one viewer in the room could think to say about one of the eccentric detectives was, "Is he bisexual??") Anyway, this is a mixed bag of cases and characters, some of which work better than others, none of which work as well as Holmes, but all of which can provide a decent diversion for a long winter evening if you need one. You won't feel the need to revisit these characters after seeing them once, but you'll get a fine idea of the many imitators which Sir Arthur Conan Doyle inspired. Once in a while you will also see young actors who later became better known for other things.

In a nutshell. Thirteen episodes of scoundrels and bounders brought to book by thoroughly decent chaps.
(With the exception of the private detective Horace Dorrington, a blackguard of the first order.)
From an age where men dressed for dinner, and women had big bustle's.
Production quality, early seventies video tape, TV studio.
I have it, I enjoyed it and am currently patiently waiting for the delivery of set 2.
For anyone whom loves to dwell in the late Victorian early Edwardian world.
Episode titles.
Disc one
A Message from the Deep Sea.
The Missing Witness Sensation.
The Affair of the Avalanche Bicycle & Tyre Co. Limited.
Disc two
The Duchess of Wiltshire's Diamonds.
The Horse of The Invisible.
The Case of the Mirror of Portugal.
Disc three
Madame Sara.
The Case of the Dixon Torpedo.
The Woman in the Big Hat.
Disc four
The Affair of the Tortoise.
The Assyrian Rejuvenator.
The Ripening Rubies.
The Case of Laker, Absconded.
Original transmission dates, 20 september - 13 december 1971.

So the sets aren't multi million dollar Hollywood sets. There are no computer created special effects. Personally, I think the big high tech stuff just distracts me from the story anyway. Here the focus is more on the stories and the acting. The look is the 70s and 80s TV series look.

The shows themselves are fun and engaging, not moody, sexually charged, perverse or depressing. Some people love misery and will hate this series. I like feeling good and couldn't rate them higher than I do.

Unfortunately the rivals of Sherlock Holmes are not nearly as interesting as Sherlock Holmes and Dr Holmes. They simply do not resonant. The dialogue is stilted as well as the acting. The plots are predictable which is very unfortunate in a "mystery" that is not a mystery. An hour after viewing an episode it was difficult to remember what it was about. That is not what I wanted.

I hate to say this, because I read the "Rivals of Sherlock Holmes books" I expected the DVD to be similar to those stories. Some are better than others, but overall, I'd say They're not up to par! I may break down after a spell and order vol 2. I do love British mystery!!!

I remember this series from PBS way back. Excellently done and gave me lots of authors that I wasn't aware of to look up. I have them still on audio cassettes and were afraid of breaking them. Now I won't have to worry.

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