Product Details

• Actors: Ronald Howard, Arthur Wontner, Basil Rathbone, Reginald Owen, Ian Hunter
• Format: Black & White, NTSC, DVD
• Region: All Regions
• Number of discs: 5
• Rated: NR (Not Rated)
• Studio: Mill Creek Entertainment
• Run Time: 1560 minutes
• Average Customer Review: 3.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• ASIN: B0030NB2UQ
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #154,013 in Movies & TV (See Top 100 in Movies & TV)

Editorial Reviews

The legacy of the investigative mastermind Sherlock Holmes has transcended through three centuries and appeared in books, television series, films and so much more. This deluxe 5 DVD collection features 8 feature films and the entire 39 episode American television series featuring Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's master sleuth in some of his greatest mysteries and adventures.

The eight included films are The Sign of Four (1932, starring Arthur Wontner), The Triumph of Sherlock Holmes (1935, starring Arthur Wontner), Murder At The Baskervilles (1937, starring Arthur Wontner), The Woman In Green (1945, starring Basil Rathbone), A Study In Scarlet (1933, starring Reginald Owen), Sherlock Holmes and the Secret Weapon (1943, starring Basil Rathbone), Terror By Night (1946, starring Basil Rathbone) and Dressed To Kill, (1946, starring Basil Rathbone). All films are presented in black and white.

All 39 episodes of The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes are also included in this DVD set. Starring Ronald Howard as Sherlock Holmes, this 1954 television series is presented with introductions by Christopher Lee, who reinvigorated the role of Holmes in later features.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Great collection, August 23, 2010

By 

A Reader (St. Peters, MO United States) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)   

This review is from: Sherlock Holmes: Greatest Mysteries (5 DVD Set) (DVD)

It is tempting to deduct marks because of these not being digitally restored, but I am so thrilled to have this collection of 39 television episodes (and they were dirt cheap). Until recently I was completely unaware of this 1950's television series. I have since discovered that you can watch them on hulu, but the DVDs provide a commercial-free viewing option, and make a nice addition to my Holmes collection. Ronald Howard, who plays Holmes, is son of the rather more famous actor, Leslie Howard.

The television series is on three disks, and as a bonus you get two more disks with four Basil Rathbone movies, three movies staring Arthur Wontner, and one with Reginald Owen. Of course, if you're into Basil Rathbone, there are better collections, including some colorized and even a complete collection of all 14 of his Holmes movies digitally restored.

3 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars GOOD STORIES -- BAD TRANSFERS, May 25, 2010

By 

Robin Simmons (Palm Springs area, CA United States) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Sherlock Holmes: Greatest Mysteries (5 DVD Set) (DVD)

I love Sherlock Holmes stories and movie adaptations. This collection includes a nice cross section of fine stories, but the transfers are not restored (and probably taken from public domain copies of copies in some cases). However, the low quality, grainy, vintage-looking transfers do give the videos an added element of old England's atmospheric ambience. But it takes another leap of suspended disbelief to fully enjoy them because we are so spoiled with great-looking hi-def discs. Mill Creek should find a way to restore these prints and they'd really have something cool.

4.0 out of 5 stars Detective par aged excellence, December 12, 2011

By 

B Leuri - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Sherlock Holmes: Greatest Mysteries (5 DVD Set) (DVD)

The plots are typical Holmes, and I'll not touch the details as any who haven't seen them before I don't want to give the game away. That said...

After dinging the series one star for overall quality of the original prints used there's not much more to rate it down on.

The set is old, but its certainly still entertaining.

Film quality is typical for productions of the period, as is acting and characterization, however I do enjoy older dectective or sleuthy type films.
If this was not a subject that held my interest it probably wouldn't be on my "buy" list. As it is I'll watch it more than once.

It's typcal of English sets of the period, but the gaslight London scenes and English countryside are worth watching these for if nothing else.
The horses, buggys, costumes and sets are all very well done for the period, and it's the sets that make it relatively easy to fall into the storylines.

If you're hypercritical and expect everything remastered or colorized to the 'nth degree, then you may want to give this a pass, but if you enjoy these period releases with the odd blemish adding to the character you might just enjoy it as much as myself. The biggest issue I had was not unexpected and that was audio quality on my set which varied a little during shows.