Product Details

• Actors: Jeremy Brett, Rosalie Williams, Edward Hardwicke, Charles Gray, Tom Chadbon
• Format: Color, HiFi Sound, NTSC
• Language: English
• Rated: NR (Not Rated)
• Number of tapes: 1
• Studio: Mpi Home Video
• VHS Release Date: June 11, 1996
• Run Time: 52 minutes
• Average Customer Review: 4.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (9 customer reviews)
• ASIN: 6304025874
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #292,245 in Movies & TV (See Top 100 in Movies & TV)

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com

From the later years of the long-running Granada Television series, this episode from the Sherlock Holmes canon features actor Jeremy Brett in a particularly strenuous and emotionally compelling performance as the Great Detective. Following Holmes's uncharacteristically provocative threat to expose Culverton Smith (Jonathan Hyde)--a planter with an expertise in rare poisons--as a murderer, Holmes becomes mortally ill and delirious. Denouncing the medical expertise of his friend Dr. Watson (Edward Hardwicke) as amateurish (the good doctor having been summoned to help the ailing sleuth), the feverish Holmes ends up begging for his life from the cold-blooded Smith. The late Brett, who was actually suffering from cardiac problems at the time, certainly looks the part of the doomed hero, and his urgency in the role is haunting and poignant. --Tom Keogh

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Another outstanding Jeremy Brett performance., January 18, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: Sherlock Holmes: Dying Detective [VHS] (VHS Tape)

The only negative statement that can be made about this set of videos is that it will probably be the last time we see the late Jeremy Brett as Mr. Holmes. To me Brett WAS Holmes and he is outstanding in this video. Holmes matches wits with a villian who is almost as arrogant as Holmes--his arrogance is to assume that he is a clever as the detective.

The dinner party scene near the beginning of the video as well as the last five minutes are alone worth the price.

If you are a fan of Holmes or the Victorian Era, this is a video you must have.

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Jeremy Brett's performance lacking??? BALDERDASH!!, June 23, 2001

By 

Bret M. Herholz (Worcester, MA United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Sherlock Holmes: Dying Detective [VHS] (VHS Tape)

I will be honest, I think Jeremy Brett's performance as the greatest consulting detective that never lived were among his best. He seemed to be very comfortable in the role and his performance were top notch and at points over the top. Which I absolutely love because the character of Sherlock Holmes is quite over the top to begin with. I really liked this episode. It elaborates on one of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's shorter of Sherlock Holmes stories. Victor Savage dies of a parasitic virus and his cousin Culverton Smith, who is an expert on this certain virus, is a prime suspect. But there no solid evidence connecting Smith's knowledge of the virus and Savage's death. In his search for the truth behind Victor Savage's death, Sherlock Holmes himself contracts the virus. Even with his real life health problems, Jeremy Brett is brilliant as usual. Edward Hardwicke does a great job as Doctor Watson as well and it is all explained in the end why Holmes treats his old friend so cruel. A great story.

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars One of the good ones!, November 15, 2000

By 

Stephen B. Marseille (New York, NY) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Sherlock Holmes: Dying Detective [VHS] (VHS Tape)

This one starts out a bit flabby - the short story this is based on is covered completely in the last 15 minutes of the episode. The above complaint that Watson is "tastelessly" abused is wrong. Had the reviewer never seen the end??!?! Holmes actually credits his friend's skills as being sharp - which is the reason he mistreats his friend earlier (hard to explain, but if you've read it, you know what I mean).

Sherlock is rarely filled with a sense of passionate justice. Here, he swears an oath of passionate vengence. It sounds out of character, but Brett pulls it off wonderfully.

Of the weaker later years, but still rises ti be amongst the best.