Customer Reviews

Sherlock Holmes - Prelude to Murder (aka Dressed to Kill) (Colorized / Black and White)

5 star:		(6)
4 star:		(6)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

Don't be put off by people slating the colourising techniques/results.
As a lifelong fan of Rathbone and Sherlock Holmes, all the these colourised dvds are a delight. the colours come across well, and the picture and sound is excellent.
It's simply snobbish to complain about these colourisations-it's not as if it's been done permenantly and you do have the option to watch in black and white.
Oh, and nothing is cut from these films in these editions.

For Rathbone fans-buy them! For fans of the films-buy them!

The last of the Rathbone Sherlock Holmes series, Prelude to Murder was likewise the last of an era for British filmmaking. By this time, the actors and writers had begun to show their age, and their enthusiasm for the characters they were portraying had noticeably slipped--such is the case for any film series that extends on for fourteen installments (imagine if James Bond never cycled actors, for instance). Prelude to Murder is also the last and latest Legend Films entry into the Sherlock Holmes world, for the time being. By this point in time, having three other Holmes films under their belt, Legend has perfected its application of their colorization technology, resulting in a quite beautiful job that is among their best. Judging from the relatively poor quality of the public domain versions of the film, Legend had their work cut out for them in cleaning up this classic to the presentable state it finds itself.

But just because this may be one of the best colorizations of a classic film doesn't mean that you have to watch it that way, because Legend has included the cleaned-up black and white version on the same disc. This way, those who prefer to watch their films in the traditional, nostalgic way can do so, while those of us might enjoy a little added spice of color can have our druthers as well.

"Prelude to Murder" and "Dressed to Kill" are the same movie. Don't be lured into buying both. That is never mentioned on the jacket or in the description.

Once again we find a wonderful mix of humor and intrigue as Sherlock Holmes and his faithful sidekick Dr. Watson match wits to uncover clues found in simple music boxes that could affect the stability of their empire. Murder is of course at every turn and, if you are new to this film, you will love it. Please beware, however, that this film has been renamed from the original title "Dressed to Kill". If you already have that film in your collection, you will be purchasing a duplicate, though one that has been beautifully remastered.

I love all the Basil Rathbone as Sherlock Holmes movies. I was a little disappointed when I received this one because I thought I was ordering one I didn't have. The information on the DVD did not make it clear that "Prelude to Murder" was another title for "Dressed to Kill". It was a good colorization of the original black and white version, however, so it was worth the purchase price.

20th Century Fox present "PRELUDE TO MURDER" (aka: Dressed To Kill) (Released: 7 June 1946/72 mins) (Fully Restored/Dolby Digitally Remastered) --- now in COLOR and Glorious Black and White --- Under Roy William Neill (Director / Producer), Arthur Conan Doyle (Short Story Author),Frank Gruber (Screenwriter), Leonard Lee (Screenwriter), Maury Gertsman (Cinematographer), Jack Brooks (Songwriter), Milton Rosen (Musical Direction/Supervision / Composer (Music Score), Hans Salter (Composer (Music Score),Saul A. Goodkind (Editor), Martin Obzina (Art Director), Jack Otterson (Art Director), Howard Benedict (Executive Producer), Russell A. Gausman (Set Designer), E.R. Robinson (Set Designer), Edward Ray Robinson (Set Designer), Vera West (Costume Designer), Glenn E. Anderson (Sound/Sound Designer), Bernard B. Brown (Sound/Sound Designer), Jack Pierce (Makeup), Melville Shyer (First Assistant Director) - - - - - - the story line and plot, The last in a wonderful run of 14 films by a different major production company but always kept the brilliant duo of lead actors Basil Rathbone and Nigel Bruce as Sherlock Holmes and his loyal assistant Dr. Watson --- as this is another marvelously scripted and professionally directed detective adventure! --- an old school friend of Dr. Watson is found murdered, Sherlock Holmes immediately suspects that this has something to do with his latest collector's item purchase, namely a wooden musical box --- Two other identical boxes were made by a convicted burglar in prison and the altered melody hides a secret code that leads his accomplices to the location of two stolen Bank of England printing plates! --- another very compelling mystery film.fast-paced and loaded with intriguing dialogue --- As usual, Bruce's character Dr. Watson provides the story with a couple of neat comical moments, most notably the scene in which he tries to comfort a little girl who just got traumatized by imitating the sound of a duck --- The chemistry between Rathbone and Bruce is as ever the binding of the film --- The verbal banter between Hilda Courtney (Patricia Morrison) and Holmes is for me the most memorable aspect of the film.

the cast includes:
Basil Rathbone - Sherlock Holmes
Nigel Bruce - Dr. John H. Watson
Edmund Breon - Julian Emery
Patricia Morison - Hilda Courtney
Patricia Cameron - Evelyn Clifford
Harry Cording - Hamid
Tom Dillon - Detective Thompson
Mary Gordon - Mrs. Hudson
Carl Harbord - Inspector Hopkins
Frederic Worlock - Col. Cavanagh
Ian Wolfe - Man
Leyland Hodgson
Lillian Bronson - Tourist

BIOS
1. Basil Rathbone (aka: Philip St. John Basil Rathbone)
Date of Birth: 13 June 1892 - Johannesburg, South Africa
Date of Death: 21 July 1967 - New York, New York

2. Nigel Bruce (aka: William Nigel Ernle Bruce)
Date of Birth: 4 February 1895 - Ensenada, Baja California, Mexico
Date of Death: 8 October 1953 - Santa Monica, California

3. Roy William Neill (aka: Roland de Gostrie) (Director)
Date of Birth: 4 September 1887, (ship off Ireland)
Date of Death: 14 December 1946 - London, England, UK

Sherlock Holmes is a fictional detective of the late 19th and early 20th centuries, who first appeared in publication in 1887 --- He is the creation of Scottish born author and physician Sir Arthur Conan Doyle --- A brilliant London-based detective, Holmes is famous for his intellectual prowess, and is renowned for his skillful use of deductive reasoning and astute observation to solve difficult cases --- He is arguably the most famous fictional detective ever created, and is one of the best known and most universally recognisable literary characters in any genre.

Conan Doyle wrote four novels and fifty-six short stories that featured Holmes --- All but four stories are narrated by Holmes' friend and biographer, Dr. John H. Watson, two are narrated by Holmes himself, and two others are written in the third person --- The first two stories, short novels, appeared in Beeton's Christmas Annual for 1887 and Lippincott's Monthly Magazine in 1890 --- The character grew tremendously in popularity with the beginning of the first series of short stories in The Strand Magazine in 1891; further series of short stories and two serialised novels appeared almost right up to Conan Doyle's death in 1930 --- The stories cover a period from around 1878 up to 1903, with a final case in 1914. (From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia)

Rathbone is most widely recognized for his starring role as Sherlock Holmes in fourteen movies between 1939 and 1946, all of which co-starred Nigel Bruce as Dr. Watson --- The first two films, The Hound of the Baskervilles and The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes (both 1939) were set in the late-Victorian times of the original stories --- Both of these were made by Twentieth Century Fox, later installments, made at Universal Studios, beginning with Sherlock Holmes and the Voice of Terror (1942), were set in contemporary times, and some had World War II-related plots --- Rathbone and Bruce also reprised their film roles in a radio series, The New Adventures of Sherlock Holmes (1939 - 1946) --- (From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia)

Legend Films can restore, colorize and release many of the classic earliest black and white films --- a patented coloring and remastering process makes each film picture perfect plus more vivd than ever --- no one can resist collecting every title that Legend Films releases.

Hats off and thanks to Barry B. Sandrew Ph.D. (Founder, COO & CTO) and his Legend Films Staff --- looking forward to more high quality releases from the vintage era of the '20s, '30s & '40s --- order your copy now from Amazon where there are plenty of copies available on DVD --- if you enjoyed this title, why not check out Legend Films where they are experts in releasing long forgotten films and treasures to the collector.

Total Time: 72 mins on DVD ~ 20th Century Fox. ~ (9/06/2005)

I've been a fan of Sherlock Holmes movies since the 1950's when Ronald Howard and H Marion Crawford were making the low budget, 39 episode series for television in Paris. I read through many 100's of product descriptions; customer reviews; VHS/DVD jackets; included product commentaries and other online data base materials concerning Sherlock Holmes' films, both old and new. I've collected over a hundred and twenty five different "Sherlock Holmes" films that I consider worth having.
I don't do many of these reviews but hope to share some insight and guidance among those who like myself, may be looking back, in remembrance, or perhaps seeking something in Hollywood films that can be shared with others without reservation or embarassment, and worthy to watch over and over without regret.
As my title simply stated: "Color Makes a HUGE difference!" I enjoy the quality of many of the old black and white "classics" for their nostalgic value, because B/W movies are what we saw MOST of back in the earlier days of moviemaking. And, I had purchased some early colorizations done on VHS tapes by another film producer years before "LEGEND FILMS" began doing them with the aid of digital technology.

LEGEND has added NEW LIFE to these classics and I hope that they'll continue doing so to the other 10 Basil Rathbone/Nigel Bruce Sherlock Holmes movies because the difference between black and white and color is indeed like viewing a NEW FILM! And Legend includes the B/W version with the color version on the same DVD! Both in excellent quality!

A final word: be careful when ordering what you think may be a color version; as of 5/2011 I have only found 4 of the Basil Rathbone/Nigel Bruce Sherlock Holmes movies in COLOR. I have even seen them advertised in "color", ordered them and had to return them. You can look up LEGEND FILMS online, as of 5/2011 they list only 4 of the Rathbone/Bruce Holmes films produced in color: Woman in Green-Secret Weapon-Terror by Night-Prelude to Murder (also known as "Dressed to Kill")as singles, or in a four-pack.

All these DVD's I've purchased on Amazon at reasonable prices. R.K.F.

This film is one of the best,if not the best of the Rathbone/Bruce pairings.However,"Prelude to Death" has already been marketed along with the other Sherlock Holmes films of the duo as "Dressed to Kill".
If you already own the set of SHerlock Holmes DVDs with Rathbone/Bruce,be aware this is a duplicate.
The color rendering is marvelous.Much better than earlier attempts.The color rendition is worth the price of the DVD I suppose if you don't mind a duplicate.
"

There were fourteen Sherlock Holmes movies starring Basil Rathbone and Nigel Bruce, and directed by Roy William Neill by Universal Pictures. The atmosphere,the suspense, the camera angles and shadows which capture all the details of the Sherlock Holmes series are simply magnificent. The colorized,restored version of the movie produces a stunning modernistic effect to this timeless classic, but if you prefer the original black and white version,it is available as well. There are no other movies I would rather watch from the '40s era than our detective duo doing their thing. In Prelude to Murder ( also known as Dressed to Kill ), there are three music boxes, each of which contain musical code which together reveal the secret to missing Bank of England currency plates. An evil socialite and her henchman are desperately seeking the music boxes and Holmes along with the trusty Dr. Watson haven't much time to find them first and try to solve their musical mystery. This was the last movie of the Sherlock Holmes series and every bit as enjoyable as all the others. I have just about completed my collection of Sherlock Holmes DVDs starring Rathbone and Bruce and will treasure them for many days to come!

Basil Rathbone remains one of only two legendary Sherlock Holmes actors, even to this day. But "Prelude to Murder (or Dressed to Kill)" is not one of the better movies starring Rathbone -- while the mystery is genuinely entertaining, the plot isn't quite long or substantial enough.

Three plain music boxes are sold at an auction, one to Watson's old pal "Stinky" (Edmund Breon). The music boxes don't seem to be anything special, which is why Holmes (Basil Rathbone) is intrigued when Stinky is robbed of a similar music box -- and then found with a knife in his back. Obviously there's something special about the boxes.

Holmes and Watson (Nigel Bruce) rush to the next box's owner, and find that the little girl has been robbed by a disguised thief. But Holmes gets his hands on the third box, and learns what the thieves are after, and how the peculiar tune of the music box holds the key to unlimited wealth -- and ruin for England's economic structure.

"Prelude to Murder" was sadly the last of Rathbone's Sherlock Holmes movies, after thirteen other movies that ranged from Arthur Conan Doyle's own stories to ones made up for World War II. Some of those stories were amazing, and some -- like "Prelude to Murder"'s counterfeiting story -- are merely middling in quality.

The music box code and the missing five-pound plates make for an interesting mystery, especially for the first half of the movie. The thieves are especially intriguing, including a menacing colonel, a chauffeur madly in love with his employer, and the well-clad Hilda Courtney, who yanks her mink stole out from under a just-murdered man -- and seems more concerned about keeping the stole pristine.

But the plot just isn't enough to cover even a short film (about an hour and even minutes, in case you're wondering), and after the rescue of the little girl, it lags badly. Even more unfortunate, scenes like Holmes' capture don't have much suspense, even though they should.

Rathbone's performance is as solid as ever, giving Holmes elegant intelligence that he doesn't have to work at. He even gets to give Holmes some wistfulness in the opening scenes. And Bruce gives a similarly pleasant performance, although he does have his goofy moments, like doing a Donald Duck impression for a traumatized little girl.

This edition has the original black-and-white version, which has been carefully restored to its original sharpness. No scenes in it look washed-out or blurred. The sound is outstanding as well.

"Prelude to Murder (or Dressed to Kill)" is an entertaining mystery, though it's rather slow and simplistic compared to Rathbone's other Sherlock films. But it's still worth watching.