Customer Reviews

Sherlock Holmes: Adventures of Sherlock Holmes [VHS]

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OK. What was in the water back in 1939? Was there a conspiracy to make, like, a HUNDRED movies that would last for all time?

Gone With The Wind, Gunga Din, Wizard of Oz, Mr. Smith Goes to Washington...there's like two dozen more that you'd know by name...

...and THIS was made then TOO?

Inconceivable!

Anyways, this film is a great place to get to know Sherlock Holmes by way of Basil Rathbone. I can't imagine anyone else in the role (although others honestly have done a fine job) and when I read the novels, I 'see' him.

I love the interplay between Holmes and Nigel Bruce's Dr. Watson...they simply have the parts nailed. Nailed, nailed, nailed.

The breathless story involves, among other things, Professor Moriarty (of course), a diabolical nefarious "crime of the century", a mysterious woman, men of dubious intentions, a smattering of murders, and trying to find a fiddle note that irritates houseflies.

This is one of those movies that will have you saying, after it's over, "they sure don't make 'em like they used to!"

After seeing this, I went out and bought ALL of the remaining, lovingly remastered Rathbone/Bruce films, and plan on spending a few lazy Sunday afternoons with Mr. Holmes.

Fans of the Basil Rathbone-Nigel Bruce "Sherlock Holmes" series have a particular fondness for this 1939 Fox release - the last period adventure before Holmes and Dr. Watson re-emerged in a World War II setting at Universal Studios. Fox's high production values make this particular Holmes caper a standout, with classic performances from Rathbone, Bruce and George Zucco (as Professor Moriarty). A definite keeper for devotees of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle.

Adapted from a stage play based on Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's works, "The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes" stands on its own as classic entertainment for detective fans of all ages, and may well represent the peak of the vintage 14-film series from the 1930's and 40's featuring Basil Rathbone and Nigel Bruce as Sherlock Holmes and Dr. Watson.

As the legendary sleuth, Basil Rathbone further illustrates his mastery of the role with a dominating performance, which even includes a vaudeville song & dance turn in disguise. Nigel Bruce offers ample support as the ever-loyal Dr. Watson, who doesn't appear as the bumbling sidekick he would later become in the series. Ida Lupino portrays Holmes' latest client, Ann Brandon, while George Zucco appears as this film's devious Professor Moriarty.

Set authentically in the Victorian era, the story begins with Moriarty managing to elude justice (in the form of a hangman's noose) once again on a legal technicality, despite Holmes' best efforts. Afterwards, two separate plots (one of murder, one of theft) are soon rapidly afoot, but only Holmes realizes that Moriarty is somehow manipulating these diabolical events from behind the scenes.

Amidst the sinister fog of London's nights, Holmes is subsequently pushed to his limits attempting to keep his lovely client out of harm's way from a ruthless assassin, while trying to locate Moriarty in time in order to thwart his arch-nemesis' greatest scheme yet.

Lovingly restored by UCLA, this film is greatly entertaining and highly recommended!

Most people either love or hate the Basil Rathbone/Nigel Bruce series of Sherlock Holmes adventures. Critics always point out that the films bear little resemblance to Doyle's original stories, and this is true of the 12 "modernized" movies that Universal made between 1942-46. But the two 20th Century Fox movies (this one and Hound of the Baskervilles) are different. They were quality productions set during the Victorian era and, even when they altered characters or plots, remained true to the flavor of Doyle's creations. Best of all, Bruce's Watson was not the buffoon that he later became in the Universal pictures.

In my opinion, however, most objections are now irrelevant, thanks to the excellent and faithful adaptations that Britain's Granada television made with Jeremy Brett as Holmes. We can finally approach the Rathbone-Bruce films as typical Hollywood literary adaptations of their era, and The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes is grand entertainment. The atmospheric photography, the eye for period detail, and the charming performances are things that film lovers should not deprive themselves of simply because of the film's lack of faithfulness to Doyle's stories. (Critics should keep in mind that Doyle licensed out his characters to other writers -- and even incorporated their inventions into his own stories!) I won't give away the plot, but suffice it to say that Adventures is one of the best of the Rathbone-Bruce series. (I also like Fox's Hound and Universal's Scarlet Claw.)

MPI has really surprised me with the quality of this transfer. Up until now, they've specialized in documentaries and TV shows, so their work here is very promising. (They own distribution rights to Beckett, and I'd love to see them transfer that to DVD.) The UCLA restoration is great, though please note that a 65-year-old film that's been in the public domain for years is going to show signs of age. The transfer is uniformly good, with the foggy streets of London coming alive. I haven't experienced the pausing problem that other reviewers mentioned.

The extras are very good, the main one being Valley's commentary. He sounds a little stiff at times, but his information is interesting and he genuinely seems to love the film. It's well worth checking out. The picture gallery is less spectacular, since it's filmed and doesn't allow you to browse at will. The re-release trailers for some of the later Universal movies are fun; it's just a shame that they couldn't include the original trailer for Adventures. Maybe it doesn't exist any more....

Verdict: Highly recommended as an introduction to the Rathbone-Bruce series, especially if you can grab this one on sale.

I was rather surprised by how much I enjoyed this adventure of Sherlock Holmes. What I could not get over was how much Basil Rathbone reminded me of Jarod in The Pretender. This is the second of the beloved Basil Rathbone/Nigel Bruce collaborations.

Being new to the Sherlock Holmes movies, this was my first and I must say it will not be my last. The misty streets, horse drawn carriages and complete atmosphere of this movie makes it a perfect period suspense drama.

In this movie, the diabolical Professor Moriarty has an evil plan to steal the "Star of Delhi" and he tries to distract Holmes in a wicked game of symbolism and deception. He knows how to play with Holmes mind and almost succeeds. Holmes is of course rather nonchalant about the entire affair and would rather protect the beautiful young heiress (Ida Lupino) who is in certain danger and is constantly running to Holmes begging for protection and answers to the mind games Professor Moriarty is also playing with her.

So what does the "Star of Delhi" have to do with the inexplicable strangulation murders besetting the Brandon family? This taxes even the most formidable powers of Sherlock Holmes.

A Collectable Classic. If you enjoy this, you might

also enjoy Gaslight, the version with Ingrid Bergman.

~The Rebecca Review

Most say that the Rathbone/Bruce "Hound of the Baskervilles" is their best effort, but I beg to differ. This movie is, in my opinion, much better. There is just the right amount of intrigue and adventure. On another level, it's a pity that this is the last high-quality Holmes film Rathbone and Bruce made. The others were all grade B. One wonders why they didn't utilize the writers of their radio show in order to come up with better movie scripts after the film series switched hands from 20th Century Fox to Universal. It was partly because of this that they "updated" Holmes and Watson's adventures, making them take place in the 1940s. These were also the people who contributed to making Bruce's Watson such an idiot (even though he does have some terribly funny moments). This started the public viewing of Watson as an empty-headed bungler, which was NOT the Watson of Doyle's invention. Although this film is of higher quality, it still does have its share of flaws, though they're sparse. There is a rather large one that involves the cryptic drawing that Moriarty sends to Holmes via Ann Brandon. The drawing is so obvious that Holmes should have been able to deduce something instantly from it; but he is baffled enough by it that he has to go do some research at the British Museum. Another, rather irritating, flaw was that (and this is prevalent in the radio shows too) the script seems to make Holmes into a superhero at times. For instance, how would he have really known young Billy swept the dust under the rug on the landing outside the door of 221B? The door was closed and he was playing around with his violin at the time. He must have had x-ray vision for a few seconds. The rest of the film is generally good, except for a few melodramatic performances. Overall, the movie makes for fine, entertaining viewing; but generally I recommend seeking out the old radio show broadcasts.

Released in September 1939, "The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes" is 20th Century Fox's near perfect follow-up to "The Hound of the Baskervilles" from the same triumphant year. Though the credits acknowledge William Gillette's famous play as the source, the story pitting Holmes and Dr. Watson against arch-fiend Professor Moriarty is wholly original.

What makes the film so memorable, aside from its successful recreation of the gaslight ambiance of London's Victorian Era, is the perfection of Basil Rathbone in his second go-round as the Great Detective. Rathbone even performs a song and dance (in disguise) in this adventure, and gets to keep company (platonically, of course) with the beautiful Ida Lupino.

Mary Gordon is on hand as Mrs. Hudson, a role she would reprise in all 12 of the Universal films to come, and Nigel Bruce, though not true to Conan Doyle's vision, is a delightful Dr. Watson. And few actors were better equipped to play Moriatry than the devilish George Zucco who would match wits with Holmes again (though not as the diabolical professor) in Universal's "Sherlock Holmes in Washington."

If "The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes" is not quite as impressive as the preceding "Hound," it is faster paced and generally more entertaining. A good show all-around.

Brian W. Fairbanks

Many actors have tried, but none has surpassed Basil Rathbone's embodiment of Sherlock Holmes. The razor-sharp profile, hawk nose and cocaine eyes seem torn straight from the pages of Arthur Conan Doyle. This is, undeniably, one of the great pairings of actor and character in film history.

Odd to think, then, that the first Holmes film with Rathbone and his faithful Dr. Watson, Nigel Bruce, gave neither man starring credit. That honor on "The Hound of the Baskervilles" went to the romantic leading man, Richard Greene.

The lapse in logic was quickly corrected, with Rathbone and Bruce going on to top-bill 13 famed Holmes movies from 1939-46.

The UCLA Film and TV Archive has rescued the films from public domain hell, in a restoration that aims to return them to 35mm theatrical condition using original elements and acetate copies. The results as seen on MPI's DVDs are indeed impressive, with shadows and light elegant and edgy. Wear is within reason, and the audio suffices.

Film historians' commentaries have been added to some of the feature films, explaining, for instance, just how the 19th century detectives ended up battling Nazis in WWII.

The MPI collection -- whose titles are available separately and in sets -- started rolling out in the fall. The series concludes at the beginning, with "Baskervilles" and "Adventures," both made by Fox before Universal took over and "modernized" the Doyle stories. The Uni films have their moments -- "Woman in Green," for example, is grand and grisly entertainment -- but there's no topping these initial releases, set in Victorian times.

"Adventures," the second Fox film, immortalized the line "Elementary, my dear Watson" -- catchy, but never from Doyle's pen. The film is based on a play by William Gillette, with two overlapping original but true-to-the-canon mysteries.

The movie opens with one of the series' best moments as Holmes and his nemesis Professor Moriarty (George Zucco) exchange pleasantries and mortal threats as they share a carriage ride. Ida Lupino melts hearts in her last ingenue role.

Holmes magazine editor Richard Valley does a decent job on the commentary but spends far too much time telling the life stories of all involved, even the bit players. You can just hear Holmes yelling, Get on with it, man!

I grew up with this version of Sherlock Holmes - every Sunday afternoon I was glued to the TV as the masterful Mr Holmes solved yet another mystery. OK, for Sherlock Holmes purists, the Basil Rathbone version of Sherlock may be loathsome, but I found them to be wonderful film noir. This movie, like Hound of the Baskervilles is set in the original Victorian time period, unlike the later Rathbone version movies. Growing up seeing Holmes take on the Nazis, I guess gave me a comofortable vision of Holmes that Baskervilles and this movie lacks - I guess I'm not all that interested in Vicotrian England setting, so for me Baskervilles and this movie were someone disappointing. Nevertheless, the fact that it was Rathbone and Bruce made up for that short comming. I love Bruce's Dr. Watson. Bungling - perhaps, but still never more loyal a servent could Holmes hope to have.

For me, a must to add to my collection of wonderful Sunday Afternoon Mysteries memories.

Whoever wrote the subtitles for the DVD release of these Basil Rathbone - Sherlock Holmes films should be drawn and quartered. At one point in this film, Holmes tells Moriarty that he has great respect for him, "but only as a knave." The subtitle gives the line as "but only as a maid." At one point "Oxford Circus" becomes "Oxford Service" and "gifted cracksman" becomes "gifted cracksman." There are far too many similar blunders. But the films are great, and this one is particularly good.