Customer Reviews

Sherlock Holmes Collection Volume 3 (Dressed to Kill/Pursuit to Algiers/Terror By Night/The Woman in Green) [VHS]

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Ever since a child I have always been excited when these films were shown on TV. I have recieved the first collection and it lives up to expectations, picture quality and sound are excellent. In this third series is one of my favourites, 'Terror By Night' again we seem film stock used as in many of the series. If you look carfully at the start there is stock also used in Universals masterpiece 'The Black Cat' where there is footage of the train being loaded. With the twelve Universal films being restored to excellent condition all I can hope now is UCLA give the same treatment to the two eariler Fox studios titles 'The Hound Of The Baskervilles' and The 'Adventures Of Sherlock Holmes'. The only gripe we can have with these collections is the lack of DVD extras. If your a fan of Sherlock Holmes, then there is no better than the films made by Rathbone and Bruce.

Four more classic Sherlock Holmes mysteries from the vaults of Universal Studios. Somewhere in the 12 film series, the master detective simply had to solve a mystery within the claustrophic atmosphere of a train (the perfect setting for intrigue), and he does it here in "Terror By Night." The equally entertaining "Pursuit to Algiers" finds Holmes and Watson on an ocean liner. Despite these novel and exciting settings, the best film in this set is "Woman In Green." The chauvenistic sleuth was often at his best when matching wits with the opposite sex, but what makes this entry particularly outstanding is the appearance of Henry Daniell as Professor Moriarty. The brilliantly saturnine character actor had already made two appearances in the Holmes series but here he tackles the role he was born to play.

"Dressed to Kill" is the last film in the series and, not surprisingly, it shows signs of fatigue, but Rathbone is as brilliant as ever.

I couldn't wait to get this set of Holmes. My all-time favorite is Terror by Night. They are super quality and even better than the Key Vidio editions. This volume is NOT COLOR...it's B & W. Amazon...PLEASE CHANGE THIS ASAP!!!! It's deceiving!!! I would have bought it from you but it said that it was COLOR. I went and called Suncoast Pictures and they said it was B&W so I got it there. Fans...it IS B & W. What would a Rathbone, Holmes movie be without it being B & W.

Thanks Amazon,

Larry

IF the house were burning down, I'd grab these 3 DVD sets of Sherlock Holmes on my way out !! Thanks to those who made these restored versions possible, they are wonderful. All of these are far superior to any entertainment made today.

The films on this collection are of truly stunning quality, in comparison to the diabolical Region 2 set by Orbit Media Ltd. Truly fantastic quality. If you are a Basil Rathbone fan, you *must* get this set. I cannot recommend it highly enough. A definate must-buy product. Elementary, my dear Reader.

After having spent years watching all 14 of the videos from Key, I recently purchased volume 3 of the Sherlock Holmes Collection. Everything they've said about the enhanced picture/sound quality is true, however, the DVD extras are missing. Am I the only one? The DVD extras promoted on the back of the case include: audio commentary with Stuart Davies, footage of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, production notes by Richard Valley and Photo Gallery/Original Movie Posters. I don't have any of the extras. It's still worth the buy and a five star gem.

We waited for years for someone to restore these fine films, (the biggest money grosser of all "B" film series, I might add....)and now they are complete.....

I have the first two sets and they are wonderful, although like others, I wish there had been more bonus materials...

Now we await the final two films shot at Fox....actually the original two films, where Fox has placed the great detective and Watson in an apartment that looked more feminine than possible....

But alas, where Universal got the apartment right, they never allowed Basil to wear the deer stalker that is now so much a part of the image of SH....a poor decision.....

Actually, the only sad thing about the Rathbone series is that they never really used the Doyle mysteries, and that's a real shame.....Indeed, had Basil and Willie had Doyle, you never would have heard of Bret, whose had the master's original stories to work in, but never captured Holmes humanity.........

With four high-concept plots anchoring each of these four final "Sherlock Holmes" movies to feature Basil Rathbone and Nigel Bruce, viewers are perhaps not getting the depth of mood and story of the previous installments. But at least the high concepts are fun and pretty interesting:

"The Woman in Green" features a serial killer who removes a finger from each of his victims. How does he tie in with the femme fatale of the title?

"Pursuit to Algiers" pits Holmes and Watson against a variety of assassins out to kill Holmes' client, a heir to a European throne. And it's all set on a cruise ship!

"Terror By Night" is a classic-style whodunit set on a speeding train. Hey, if the tight quarters of a ship made for a good story before, why not try another conveyance?

"Dressed to Kill" features a race against time, between Holmes and a deadly crime ring, to procure four music boxes containing a secret that could bring down the U.K.

My grumbling at the outset is essentially nitpicking. These four nicely restored installments are essential viewing for Sherlock Holmes enthusiasts, and brought the series to a close in perfectly fine form. While the best of the Rathbone/Bruce Holmes epics remain the two initial Fox movies ("The Hound of the Baskervilles" and "The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes") and the middle installments of the subsequent Universal series (basically the ones included in volume 2 of the Universal Holmes films, the volume just prior to the set discussed here), these four short movies- each an efficient 65 minutes or so- shouldn't be missed.

Basil Rathbone is one of the two great Holmes actors in movie history (the other being Jeremy Brett). And he was in fine form in "Sherlock Holmes Collection Volume 3," which varies from merely okay to absolutely brilliant.

"Dressed to Kill" has a friend of Watson's (Nigel Bruce) telling Holmes of a bizarre crime -- someone broke into his house, and stole a worthless music box from a valuable collection. Then the man is murdered -- and three plain little music boxes are the key to solving an elaborate mystery.

"Terror By Night" has Holmes hired to look after a valuable diamond belonging to a wealthy woman, as she travels back to Scotland. Of course, the diamond gets stolen and the woman's son is murdered in the attempt, and now Holmes discovers that the murderer is an old enemy.

"The Woman In Green" deals with a serial killer -- four women have died, and each time a finger was removed. The police think that it's just a baffling series of crimes, but Holmes knows better -- and he suspects that his old, supposedly-dead nemesis Moriarty (Henry Daniell) is involved.

Finally there's "In Pursuit to Algiers," in which the king of Ravenia has been murdered -- and now his son is in danger too. On the cruise to his homeland, the young king pretends to be a relative of Watson's -- but Holmes still has to guard him against an array of potential murderers.

These were some of the later Holmes adventures, often not based (or loosely based) on Arthur Conan Doyle's works. But even the weakest ("Dressed to Kill") is still an enjoyable mystery, with some amusing moments and unexpected twists. They're just not as brilliant as Doyle's, that's all.

And they are solidly written and directed, with plenty of interesting settings, from the claustrophobic train to Scotland to a hypnotists' society. And the filmmakers throw in some wonderful little twists, such as a switcheroo Holmes plays on his enemy in "Terror By Night."

Rathbone is still best known for playing Holmes, and he does it well -- cool, cerebral, but with a gentle humor and warmth in scenes such as the little girl's rescue. Bruce doesn't fare as well, since the capable Watson is portrayed as a kindly bumbler, but he does a solid enough job with a poorly-portrayed character.

"The Sherlock Holmes Collection Volume 3" is a bit less solid than the other collections, but still very nicely done. Definitely worth watching.

I have collected not only the single sets, but the huge box set of all the films and I am pleased with the remastering job MPI has done. All but one small detail. On every version of Pursuit to Algiers, we find Holmes and Watson at the end of the film talking face to face near an open porthole. As soon as the last line is delivered there is an abrupt cut to a generic "THE END" title card with music. I don't believe that this is the original Universal End card. Even the Key Video versions were a bit unusual. There would be a production fade to black and then a generic end title card. Some versions had a freeze frame of Holmes and Watson right after the last line was delivered and then a production dissolve to a generic end title card. What's up with that ? I believe that something is supposed to happen out the porthole window. Maybe the camera zooms past the boys and out the window for an end title close. That would make sense since they are standing in front of it. What other reason could the porthole serve as a potential ending ? Still wondering if this so-called restored from 35mm elements holds true. If they are going to restore the war bonds tags then why not the title card ? If the original elements don't exist, then it would be nice to have a disclaimer noting such. Otherwise, still love the series !