Basil Rathbone Sherlock Holmes films coming to Blu Ray (1 Viewer)

[Paul Penna]

Originally Posted by Robert Crawford

There was just one film on each disk. The quality of the film prints was very good, but the frame rate was messed up on some titles. The pans strobed. It was consistent throughout the whole feature. Every time the camera moved there was jittering. Impossible to watch.

Then we have just have a difference of opinion.

[/QUOTE]

I don't think we necessarily have to leave it at that; it seems like something that would be pretty easy to spot. If Steve could post timings of specific shots in a film, others could check their copies and report.

 

[Robert Crawford]

Originally Posted by Paul Penna

There was just one film on each disk. The quality of the film prints was very good, but the frame rate was messed up on some titles. The pans strobed. It was consistent throughout the whole feature. Every time the camera moved there was jittering. Impossible to watch.

Then we have just have a difference of opinion.

[/QUOTE]

I don't think we necessarily have to leave it at that; it seems like something that would be pretty easy to spot. If Steve could post timings of specific shots in a film, others could check their copies and report.



When he stated that both The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes and The Hound of the Baskervilles were awful then there isn't much else to say from my vantage point. I've viewed both discs this past year while doing a Sherlock Holmes double feature night and thought both discs looked very good.

 

[John Morgan]

When I originally posted, I ordered mine from Amazon with the discount and it came to $90 and change. I now see that the discount price went up to $96 and change, so I don't know if the retail went up or the discount is slightly less, but my order is locked into the lower cost. So, fence-sitters, beware.

 

[bigshot]

Originally Posted by Brandon Conway 

Stephen, when you rented the discs from Netflix are you sure they were the MPI releases? Netflix often has poor public domain discs for films of this era I've discovered.

 

Some of them said UCLA on the head. I didn't see the packaging, but the disks were titled with some sort of serial number rather than a name. There was almost no extras and the menus were bare bones. Perhaps it was a different set. I can put a couple back into my cue if anyone is really interested. I don't remember the ones with the frame rate problem, but it would have been the last couple I rented. I can check my rental history.

 

[RickER]

Originally Posted by Robert Crawford

When he stated that both The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes and The Hound of the Baskervilles were awful then there isn't much else to say from my vantage point. I've viewed both discs this past year while doing a Sherlock Holmes double feature night and thought both discs looked very good.

I own these 2 titles as well, and also thought they looked great. I have the individual release from MPI as restored by UCLA.


I know these films have been released many times, and some were crap PD copies. MPI has done a couple of different releases of the Holmes stuff, but i have never heard that any of those looked bad...until now.

 

[Johnny Angell]

Now if only they would release the Jeremy Brett Holmes on blu-ray. I don't know if a HD source is available, but I'd much prefer to have the Brett version over the Rathbone. Congratulations to the fans of the Rathbone Holmes.

 

[Robert Crawford]

Just now, I just sampled The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes for about 30 minutes and then watched The Hound of the Baskervilles in its entirety. It's still my opinion that both discs look very good overall. There were a couple of scenes of some strobing, but no jittering so nothing I would call awful. Also, both discs contained bonus material with subtitles. Furthermore, artwork was printed on the discs along with the title, copyright information and MPI on them.


"Oh, Watson, the needle."






Crawdaddy

 

[Paul Penna]

Originally Posted by Johnny Angell

Now if only they would release the Jeremy Brett Holmes on blu-ray. I don't know if a HD source is available, but I'd much prefer to have the Brett version over the Rathbone. Congratulations to the fans of the Rathbone Holmes.

They were shot in 16mm, as was the 1995 Pride and Prejudice, which was restored from the original negs and transferred to HD for the Blu-Ray, and looks fabulous. Don't know if that's possible or economically practical for the Holmes, but I agree, it would be nice.

 

[Matt Hough]

The DVD quality of the various Brett/Holmes releases really varies. Some are sharp and look good; many as I recall from distant memory, look soft and rather wan in color. I'll have to drag some off the shelf and watch them this weekend. As Crawdaddy did, I also want to watch one of the Fox/Holmes films: likely The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes since I really enjoy Basil Rathbone's music hall ditty "Beside the Seaside."

 

[bigshot]

What about Peter Cushing? I've never seen his Holmes. Is it good?

 

[Neil Middlemiss]

Count me in for this collection - what a treat!

 

[Matt Hough]

Originally Posted by bigshot

What about Peter Cushing? I've never seen his Holmes. Is it good?

I think it's very good. As with all of the Hound adaptations, the Hammer Hound does vary somewhat from the original story, but Cushing makes a compelling Holmes.

 

[RickER]

Originally Posted by bigshot

What about Peter Cushing? I've never seen his Holmes. Is it good?

He was actually my favorite Holmes. Hound of the Baskervilles was really good! Cushing seemed so perfect to play Holmes! The DVD was OK, but then again, anything was better than how it looked on TV viewings over the years.


I know he did a Homes TV series in the 60s for the BBC, and a few episodes are on DVD, but i have never seen it.

 

[Matt Hough]

I watched The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes tonight, and I did see one instance of video judder and a notable flash when we're first shown the Crown Jewels. Otherwise, apart from some dust specks, it looked marvelous.

 

[Richard Gallagher]

Originally Posted by bigshot






Some of them said UCLA on the head. I didn't see the packaging, but the disks were titled with some sort of serial number rather than a name. There was almost no extras and the menus were bare bones. Perhaps it was a different set. I can put a couple back into my cue if anyone is really interested. I don't remember the ones with the frame rate problem, but it would have been the last couple I rented. I can check my rental history.

The single-film MPI discs are each labeled with the title of the film and either an image of Holmes or an image of Holmes & Watson. It looks like Netflix sent you discs from a different set.

 

[dana martin]

only the universal's were in the restoration plan, one of the featurettes goes in to this on the singles, the original box sets, and the complete package, still i want to see what the added content is going to be on this as well

 

[David_B_K]

Originally Posted by bigshot

What about Peter Cushing? I've never seen his Holmes. Is it good?

There are two incarnations of Cushing as Holmes. The first is the Hammer Hound of the Baskervilles. There is much to enjoy about it. However, a low-ish budget hampered the film; so we miss scenes such as the one where Holmes & Watson shadow Sir Henry & Dr. Mortimer in London. Cushing is fine as Holmes. They tampered with the story a bit, and the hound, when it appears is a disappointment.


Cushing later returned as Holmes for a British TV series. They did a 2-part remake of The Hound for that series. Even though it is filmed in authentic locations, it is rather plodding and with little suspense. However, several of the other surviving episodes (available on DVD) are quite good. When you see Cushing in these episodes, you see that he was as dedicated as Jeremy Brett would later be to portraying the authentic Holmes as written by Conan Doyle. The Blue Carbuncle compares very well to Brett's version (and Frank Middlemass appears in both versions, albeit in different roles). They do a good job of shortening A Study in Scarlet, and The Boscombe Valley Mystery is quite good. If you are a Holmes fan you'll like Cushing in both the Hammer Hound and the TV episodes.


I like many incarnations of Holmes. I like Brett the best, with Cushing second. However, the only really good version of The Hound (IMHO) is the Rathbone version. Even though it is studio bound and lacking a music score; it has the best atmosphere of them all, and is reasonably faithful to the novel, and it has a great hound.

 

[Rodney]

Any reviews out yet on this set? I want to make sure this is worth upgrading from the DVD's.

 

[Colin Jacobson]

Originally Posted by Rodney

Any reviews out yet on this set? I want to make sure this is worth upgrading from the DVD's.

I've watched about half of the set - I'm posting one review at a time. (If I'm gonna watch seven movies, I want seven reviews out of it!) Here's "Hound":


http://www.dvdmg.com/houndofbaskervilles.shtml


I don't know what the DVDs of these looked like, but the Blu-rays are pretty inconsistent. Some look pretty good, some look pretty awful. I strongly suspect they got no additional work for Blu-ray, so I'd guess these are the same transfers as the DVDs...

 

[Steve...O]

Thanks, Colin. I had the same question as Rodney. From your review this may not be much of an upgrade. In fact your comment suggests that these may not even be true 1080p transfers. That's a shame because the DVDs, for the most part, looked really good. Even Hound and Adventures looked quite good in their "unrestored" state.