My parents had a collection of the complete Sherlock Holmes stories in our home library. I first read all of them when I was 12. Like many others in my generation (I was born in 1952) my first encounter with Sherlock Holmes was on TV in these classic B&W movies with Basil Rathbone & Nigel Bruce. As I saw the 12 modern ones first, I thought SH was a contemporary character until I read the stories. First impressions whether good or bad are the ones that stick with you and although I have seen just about every SH movie and TV show that has come out, I retain a special fondness for these movies. Part of it is nostalgia but part of it also is that no other Holmes has Basil Rathbone’s voice.
The first two movies, HOUND OF THE BASKERVILLES and ADVENTURES OF SHERLOCK HOLMES, were ‘A’ pictures that were made for Twentieth Century Fox and were properly set in the 19th century. Both were made in 1939. The 12 so-called “modern” films were made as B movies for Universal between 1942 and 1946. Basil Rathbone and Nigel Bruce were carried over from the Fox series because they had played the characters on radio in between. By placing Holmes & Watson in a WW II setting Universal hoped to make them more relevant to a wartime audience and save money by using cheaper, contemporary sets and costumes. It worked on both counts and they made money at the box office as well.
After the first 3 movies, SH & THE VOICE OF TERROR, SH & THE SECRET WEAPON, and SH IN WASHINGTON. the direct wartime references were dropped and the next 5 were closer to Doyle in spirit and atmosphere especially THE SCARLET CLAW which is basically HOUND transplanted to Canada. SH FACES DEATH, THE PEARL OF DEATH, THE SPIDER WOMAN, THE HOUSE OF FEAR are crackerjack mysteries that actually rework some of the classic SH stories. The last 4, THE WOMAN IN GREEN, PURSUIT TO ALGIERS, TERROR BY NIGHT, and DRESSED TO KILL clearly show the series was running out of gas (particularly the middle two) although DRESSED has an ingenious plot involving music boxes.
In 1951, 5 years after the series ended, Universal lost the rights to the 12 films and they fell into the public domain which is why they quickly showed up on TV and then later appeared on VHS and DVD in cheap, poorly dubbed copies. When it comes to PD copies of movies you get what you pay for (or don’t pay for if you stream or use You Tube) which is why this 2006 set from MPI leaves all the others in the dust. All 14 films have been digitally restored by the UCLA Film & TV Archive and look as good as they ever will. Originally released as 14 DVDs, then 5 and now on Blu-Ray, fans of these films no longer have to suffer through countless wretched copies. This is Basil Rathbone & Nigel Bruce at their best. If you love these films, then this is the only way to go. High quality prints, subtitles, and lots of extras to bo
The Capsule Critic 