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35 of 37 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
AUDIO BOOKS DON'T GET ANY BETTER THAN THIS, May 27, 2006
This review is from: Sherlock Holmes: A Baker Street Dozen (Audio CD)
An audio book simply doesn't get any better than this. A dream cast brings to life the Sherlock Holmes adventure A Baker Street Dozen. Any one of these stars would be reason enough to stand in line for this audio book, but hearing all three in a full dramatization is absolutely amazing. The superb John Gielgud stars as the master sleuth himself, Ralph Richardson is impeccable as his erstwhile companion, Dr. Watson. Now, who would be perfect as the evil Professor Moriarty? Orson Welles, of course. Singling out one of these narrators would be an impossibility, but who has the better part? For this listener it is Orson Welles who imbues his character with so much stealth and evil that we can see the no-good at work. Some would claim that Moriarty was the first arch villain, the man Holmes described as the "Napoleon of Crime." He did merit that description, and was certainly the Baker Street detective's arch enemy. Also described by Holmes as follows: "He is a man of good birth and excellent education, endowed by nature with a phenomenal mathematical faculty. At the age of twenty-one he wrote A Treatise on the Binomial Theorem, which has had a European vogue. On the strength of it he won the mathematical chair at one of our smaller universities, and had, to all appearances, a most brilliant career before him. " It's interesting to note how Moriarty has survived the years even to an appearance on Star Trek. The iconic Sherlock Holmes has also lasted through the decades and lives again in this remarkable audio version of A Baker Street Dozen. Listen, you will surely enjoy. - Gail Cooke
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15 of 16 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
"I build rare edifices of deduction", September 3, 2008
This review is from: Sherlock Holmes: A Baker Street Dozen (Audio CD)
This 6-CD set contains fully dramatized radio adaptations of twelve stories from the so-called Sherlock Holmes canon -- four novels and fifty-six stories written by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. First aired by the BBC in 1954, these radio plays feature Sir Henry Richardson as Dr. Watson and the incomparable Sir John Gielgud as Sherlock Holmes, with a sinister reading of Dr. Moriarty by Orson Welles. There are so many good things about Sherlock Holmes: A Baker Street Dozen. First, the casting, which was so important in the days of radio drama. Gielgud's Holmes is neither too laconic nor too supercilious, the two main temptations in playing this role. Richardson plays Dr. Watson with humor and intelligence -- and no toadying, even when Holmes is asking him to fetch his violin, a whisky and soda, the tobacco from the Persian slipper... The production itself is superb, from the scripts adapted by John Kier Cross to the original musical embellishment to the clarion-voiced announcer introducing each episode. This is not an an alternative to reading the stories but an audio theater experience -- and a very successful one. Finally, the stories themselves are, as always, intriguing. Blackmailers, stalkers, murderers, purloiners, all fall to the power of deduction. From the comfortable menage a deux at 221A Baker Street, Holmes prevails again and again. I never made a systematic reading of "the canon" but now I'd like to do that, after listening to this thoroughly enjoyable set. If you are a Holmes fan or have fond memories of radio dramas, this one's for you. Linda Bulger, 2008
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9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
The All-Time BEST Sherlock Holmes Audiobook Stories..., March 7, 2008
This review is from: Sherlock Holmes: A Baker Street Dozen (Audio CD)
I'm 25. I first heard Gielgud and Richardson's "The Speckled Band" back when I was in 6th grade. I found copies of the Baker Street Dozen stories at my local library, and would constantly check them out, over and over again. Around 8 or 9 years ago, I bought my own copies in a cassette boxed set, which have since worn out. So I was more than thrilled to see this, the Baker Street Dozen stories on CD, and separated into chapters, at that! There are websites that have copies of these stories, but they are in terrible quality, or chopped up. For stories that were first recorded in 1953, they sound like they were recorded yesterday. I have a bunch of old radio broadcasts on CD, ranging from THE SHADOW to MURDER AT MIDNIGHT and THE GREEN HORNET, and their quality ranges from horrible to fair. But THIS, my friends, is British radio at its finest; fully dramatized, with music and sound effects that fit right into the story, characters that come to life, and stories that will keep you listening over and over again. It seems everyone in America can't look past the Sherlock Holmes ideal with Basil Rathbone and his rendition of the great detective... nobody really bothers to look or listen to other actors' versions of the character. Sir John Gielgud is, in my opinion, the greatest portrayer of Holmes. EVER. To wrap this up... if you're a Sherlock Holmes fan, GET THIS. Trust me, you won't be disappointed. The acting is superb, the quality is astounding for something that's over 50 years old, and the replay value is higher than high, because these stories are timeless. The game is afoot, and you should come along...
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