Customer Reviews

Sherlock Holmes: A Baker Street Dozen

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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

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

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...

Three kinds of customers will appreciate this well-remastered collection: (1) Sherlockians, who love all things Doyle; (2) lovers of classic radio drama; (3) afficionados of two of England's finest actors of the modern stage, Sir John Gielgud (playing Holmes) and Sir Ralph Richardson (Watson). Since both actors also possessed two of the twentieth century's most mellifluous stage voices, these dramatizations are a feast for the ear. If you're at least two of these three customers in one, this reasonably priced set may be an irresistible buy. Get it now, before it goes out of print.

These great recordings were made for the BBC in 1954 and were first aired in the UK that year and in the US in early 1955. The casting is perfect John Gielgud as Holmes and Ralph Richardson as Watson could not be beaten for a radio broadcast, and this probably still holds true to this day 53 years later. Although I think Jeremy Brett would push Gielgud close even without the visual aspect.

The addition of Orson Welles as Prof Moriarty in the story The Final problem is the icing on the cake. That penetrating voice is chilling and truly Holmes/Geilgud meets his match in Welles/Moriarty. Any Sherlock Holmes fan should get these historic recordings - you really don't know what you are missing.

I pick this audiobook up recently and have to say that I thoroughly enjoyed it. Gielgud and Richardson were simply amazing in their respective roles as Holmes & Watson, and I believe the Sir Arthur Conan Doyle himself would have approved.

Worth mentioning is another item I read recently, The Crime Doctor. This book depicts EW Horung's sleuth, Dr. John Dollar, in his exploits in England and throughout Europe.

Both products recieve 5 stars from me.

I first listened to this audio book set a while ago. I definitely knew who Sherlock Holmes was but had never read any of the stories or watched an entire movie about him. I always figured that the stories would be boring and hard to follow. These audio books showed me that I was wrong. As I listened to these I fell deeply in love with the Sherlock Holmes concept and then proceeded to read all of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's original Sherlock Holmes novels and stories and I also read "The Lost World" and "White Company" by him. For me, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle became the author for whom everything he laid his pen to turned to gold.

I've seen different presentations in different medias of Sherlock Holmes since I listened to these audio books and this audio show did the best at capturing the spirit of the original novels. John Gielgud does the voice of Sherlock Holmes, Ralph Richardson does the voice of Watson and Orson Welles has a brief appearance as the villain Moriarty. One of the great things about a radio show is that you don't have to cast actors who look like the character, so looks have no influence on who is cast. John Gielgud doesn't look like Sherlock Holmes, but this doesn't matter since it is only his voice that appears in the program.

These audio books are pleasant and calming to listen to and when I turn them on, I feel like I'm in the late 1800s. I highly recommend them and hope others will enjoy them as much as I have.

If you love Sherlock Holmes as we do, then you'll adore Sir John Gielgud's rendition of him on this audiobook. His voice is perfect for the role of the hero; his sidekick, Watson, is admirably portrayed by Sir Ralph Richardson. The two of them together provide an entertaining & memorable evening's worth of enjoyment!

The Sherlock Holmes: A Baker Street Dozen cd-set is an excellent reproduction of the 1954 BBC radio series. The stories are told in a way that is faithful to the original stories by Arthur Conan Doyle. There are 13 stories on 6 CD's, so the story lengths are ideal for even relatively short car trips.

The programs feature John Gielgud as Holmes and Ralph Richardson as Dr. Watson. In a long stage, radio, TV, and film career, Richardson appeared in Long Day's Journey Into Night, Our Man In Havana [Non-US Format, PAL, Region 2, Import] and Greystoke: The Legend of Tarzan, Lord of the Apes to name three. Orson Welles appears in a couple of the stories as Dr. Moriarty.

Gielgud is so good that the listener 'hears' Holmes and not Gielgud. Richardson carries off Watson to perfection portraying him as Doyle intended: Holmes' intelligent companion and assistant.

If you enjoy Doyle, you should check out the superb Exploits and Adventures of Brigadier Gerard (New York Review Books Classics) and The White Company.

This collection consists of dramatizations and is very well done. However it does not translate all that well to car travel due to the road noise. I believe the collection was originally listened to in a silent house with the family clustered around the radio.

For today's audio travel I think it is tough to beat the straightforward collections read by Edward Hardwicke. We have enjoyed those since the prehistoric days of audio cassettes. I purchased the above Sir John Gielgud collection, when recently looking for Holmes on CD. Sorry to say I will give it away.

The Edward Hardwicke's are extremely well done and I have just purchased one of the newer collections.