Product Details

• Actors: Jeremy Brett, David Burke, Edward Hardwicke
• Format: Color, Full Screen, Subtitled, NTSC
• Language: English
• Subtitles: English, Spanish
• Region: Region 1 (U.S. and Canada only. Read more about DVD formats.)
  
• Aspect Ratio: 1.33:1
• Number of discs: 12
• Rated: NR (Not Rated)
• Studio: MPI Home Entertainment
• DVD Release Date: September 25, 2007
• Run Time: 2580 minutes
• Average Customer Review: 4.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (177 customer reviews)
• ASIN: B000RPCJB6
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #3,029 in Movies & TV (See Top 100 in Movies & TV)

Editorial Reviews

Studio: Mpi Home Video Release Date: 09/25/2007 Run time: 2580 minutes Rating: Nr

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

302 of 306 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars London's Only "Consulting Detective.", March 29, 2008

By 

Themis-Athena (from somewhere between California and Germany) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Sherlock Holmes: The Complete Granada Television Series (DVD)

In his foreword to Bantam's "Sherlock Holmes: The Complete Novels and Stories," Loren Estleman called the relationship between Sherlock Holmes and Dr. Watson literature's warmest, most symbiotic and most timeless: rightfully so. Not surprisingly, film history is littered with adaptations of Conan Doyle's tales and Holmes pastiches (using the protagonists but otherwise independent storylines). Yet - and I'm saying this with particular apologies to the fans of the Basil Rathbone/Nigel Bruce canon - none of these prior incarnations can hold a candle to the ITV/Granada TV series produced between 1984 and 1994, starring Jeremy Brett as Holmes and first David Burke, then, beginning with the second ("Return of Sherlock Holmes") cycle and in near-seamless transition, Edward Hardwicke as a refreshingly sturdy, pragmatic, unbumbling Dr. Watson.

Jeremy Brett was the only actor who ever managed to perfectly portray Holmes's imperiousness, bitingly ironic sense of humor and apparently indestructible self-control without at the same time neglecting his genuine friendship towards Dr. Watson and the weaknesses hidden below a surface dominated by his overarching intellectual powers. The series takes the titles of its four cycles of shorter episodes - "The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes," "The Return of Sherlock Holmes," "The Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes" and "The Casebook of Sherlock Holmes" - from four of the five short story collections featuring London's self-appointed only "consulting detective" (published 1892, 1905, 1894 and 1927, respectively); thus nominally omitting the 1917 collection "His Last Bow," which is, however - but for its title story - completely represented in individual episodes spread out over the other four cycles. While the grouping of instalments doesn't necessarily correspond with Conan Doyle's original story collections, and the series's premise - Holmes's and Watson's shared tenancy of rooms at 221B Baker Street - was no longer true even at the beginning of the "Adventures," this excellently produced series is a must-have for any mystery fan. This is particularly true for the first two cycles ("Adventures" and "Return") and the movie-length versions of the novels "The Hound of the Baskervilles" and "The Sign of the Four," which alone makes this set well worth the purchase; even if the movie-length dramatizations of the short stories "The Eligible Bachelor" (a/k/a "The Noble Bachelor") and "The Last Vampyre" (a/k/a "The Sussex Vampyre") are less than faithful to Conan Doyle's originals: in fact, their quality rests almost exclusively on an already ailing Jeremy Brett's shoulders (as well as in "Vampyre" on the extraordinary guest performance of Roy Marsden in the episode's title role), thus emphasizing even more the significance of Brett's achievement.

This set contains (in "volumes" or episodes grouped on discs as originally released):

THE ADVENTURES OF SHERLOCK HOLMES
* A Scandal in Bohemia
* The Dancing Men (from "Return")
* The Naval Treaty (from "Memoirs")
* The Solitary Cyclist (from "Return")
* The Crooked Man (from "Memoirs")
* The Speckled Band
* The Blue Carbuncle
* The Copper Beeches
* The Greek Interpreter (from "Memoirs")
* The Norwood Builder (from "Return")
* The Resident Patient (from "Memoirs")
* The Red-Headed League
* The Final Problem (from "Memoirs")

THE RETURN OF SHERLOCK HOLMES
* The Empty House
* The Abbey Grange
* The Second Stain
* The Six Napoleons
* The Priory School
* Wisteria Lodge (from "Last Bow")
* The Devil's Foot (from "Last Bow")
* Silver Blaze (from "Memoirs")
* The Bruce-Partington Plans (from "Last Bow")
* The Musgrave Ritual (from "Memoirs")
* The Man With the Twisted Lip (from "Adventures")

THE CASEBOOK OF SHERLOCK HOLMES
* The Disappearance of Lady Frances Carfax (from "Last Bow")
* The Problem of Thor Bridge
* The Boscombe Valley Mystery (from "Adventures")
* The Illustrious Client
* Shouscombe Old Place
* The Creeping Man

THE MEMOIRS OF SHERLOCK HOLMES
* The Three Gables (from "Casebook")
* The Dying Detective (from "Last Bow")
* The Golden Pince-Nez (from "Return")
* The Red Circle (from "Last Bow")
* The Mazarin Stone (from "Casebook")
* The Cardboard Box (from "Last Bow")

THE FEATURE FILMS
* The Sign of Four (adaptation of the 1890 novel)
* The Hound of the Baskervilles (adaptation of the 1901 novel)
* The Last Vampyre (adaptation of the short story "The Sussex Vampyre" from "Casebook")
* The Eligible Bachelor (adaptation of the short story "The Noble Bachelor" from "Adventures")
* The Master Blackmailer (adaptation of the short story "The Adventure of Charles Augustus Milverton" from "Memoirs")

For completion's sake, this leaves only the first and last Holmes novels ("A Study In Scarlet," 1887, and "The Valley of Fear," 1915) as well as the following short stories unrepresented in this series:

From THE ADVENTURES OF SHERLOCK HOLMES:
* A Case of Identity
* The Five Orange Pips
* The Adventure of the Engineer's Thumb
* The Adventure of the Beryl Coronet

From THE RETURN OF SHERLOCK HOLMES:
* The Adventure of Black Peter
* The Adventure of the Three Students
* The Adventure of the Missing Three-Quarter

From THE CASEBOOK OF SHERLOCK HOLMES:
* The Blanched Soldier
* The Lion's Mane
* The Veiled Lodger
* The Retired Colourman

FROM THE MEMOIRS OF SHERLOCK HOLMES:
* The Yellow Face
* The Stock-broker's Clerk
* The "Gloria Scott"
* The Reigate Puzzle

From HIS LAST BOW:
* His Last Bow

Also recommended:
The Complete Sherlock Holmes: All 4 Novels and 56 Short Stories
Sherlock Holmes: A Baker Street Dozen
Sherlock Holmes of Baker Street
Bending the Willow: Jeremy Brett As Sherlock Holmes
Dr. Bell and Mr. Doyle - The Dark Beginnings of Sherlock Holmes
Murder Rooms - The Dark Beginnings of Sherlock Holmes
The Life of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle
Conan Doyle, Detective: The True Crimes Investigated by the Creator of Sherlock Holmes
Arthur and George

248 of 254 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Jeremy Brett was the Definitive Sherlock Holmes, August 24, 2007

By 

ELC "brett friend" (Grand Rapids, Mi.) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Sherlock Holmes: The Complete Granada Television Series (DVD)

This review has been updated on Sept. 18. I received my Sherlock Holmes set from MPI today and as I hoped, it looks and sounds FANTASTIC! I already have watched a lot from the set. You won't be disappointed! I have been sending e-mails for a few years now to MPI Home Video, asking that they remaster this series and make it available on DVD. I am so glad they finally have. Two episodes in their original release of "The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes," notably "The Dancing Men" and "The Naval Treaty," had audio problems in some of the soundtrack music. They have remastered this series from the original Granada tapes in England. This resulted in an awesome picture and sound quality. Thank you MPI! What more can be said about Jeremy Brett? Many people, including myself, consider him to be the definitive Sherlock Holmes. His manner, gestures and overall portrayal shows us clearly that he read Conan Doyle and became very well acquainted with his alter ego. The stories are great and this series had that fortunate combination of great acting, writing, music, and production value. How nice to be able to own the entire series in one set. For twelve discs, including bonuses, the price is fair. If you like this series or simply enjoy Jeremy Brett, you should purchase this set.

145 of 152 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars They should have replaced the "as" with "is", September 29, 2007

By 

R. W. Price "v 3.0" (Suburbia, IL USA) - See all my reviews
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Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Sherlock Holmes: The Complete Granada Television Series (DVD)

To a great number of Sherlockians--or Holmesians, if you prefer--Jeremy Brett's performance as the world's first consulting detective was the definitive portrayal. And while this series has its flaws and deviations from the original text, it is still arguably the best filmic representation available.

I have seen the original MPI releases, as well as a Japanese/Chinese collection, and without question, this new set features the best picture and sound quality. (Perhaps the PAL version released a couple years earlier in the UK is slightly superior, but I doubt anyone could really see the difference.) The uniform menu screens and the sharp design of the packaging are also an improvement upon previous releases.

My complaints are few and rather inconsequential, but they are as follows:
1) There are no additional special features, but in fact *fewer* special features than the original DVD releases.
2) The pictures on the faces of the DVDs were chosen somewhat haphazardly, e.g. Hardwicke is featured on Disc 1 where surely Burke belongs. And
3) as to the series itself, during the second half of its run, more and more stories were merely "based" on Conan Doyle's work, and with questionable results. "The Last Vampyre" is a prime example.

In short, if you already own the original DVD releases and you are satisfied with that picture quality, you may want to pass on purchasing this set. For all other admirers of the series, this is a must have.