Who Would Purchase the 14 Classic Rathbone Sherlock Holmes' Films on DVD? (1 Viewer)

[David Von Pein]

Besides me, that is?
A boxed set with all 14 of these great movies (1939-1946) would be ideal for Basil Rathbone fans!
Anybody know if a DVD release is in the foreseeable future?
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[Brian Kidd]

There are several Rathbone HOLMES films available on DVD. Our local library has them. I'm not sure about the quality, but I know that some of the discs are double features.

 

[Chris M]

I KNOW that Hounds of the Baskervilles is available.. Not sure of the quality, but it is rather inexpensive.

It's a WB or MGM release.

Chris.

 

[LarryH]

That would be great. I suppose all these are in the public domain now. If not, I doubt the same company would have rights to them all. If so, I wonder if any company would be willing to do some restoration work on whatever prints they can obtain. I guess we can just hope for the best.

 

[Craig Robertson]

i'd buy a nicely packaged, cleaned up box set.

 

[Darrell Bratz]

I suspect the available version of Hound of the Baskervilles mentioned a couple posts above is the Peter Cushing version - the superior Rathbone version is not available on DVD.

I don't know if I'd go for a box set, but there a certainly several individual ones I'd be interested in if they were done decently:

Adventures of Sherlock Holmes
Hound of the Baskervilles
The Scarlet Claw
and what was that one based on "The Musgrave Ritual" - The House of Fear?

Maybe a couple others

 

[Richard Carnahan]

Thanks to a grant from Hugh Hefner, the original nitrate negatives of six Sherlock Holmes films were recently restored by the UCLA Film Archives. Hopefully these will find their way to DVD.

 

[Jefferson]

I would!

These are among my favorites, and
yes, it is the Peter Cushing version that is available.....not my favorite.

 

[Chris M]

Oops.. sorry
Chris.

 

[Steve Phillips]

I wouldn't be surprised to see these released officially at some point. There have been a lot of listings on ebay for a 2 disc DVD set containing all 14 films plus about 35 radio shows recently. I know someone who bought one and the video quality on most of the mvoies was about that of an off air UHF broadcast; not great but viewable. About like an LP cassette. The radio shows were what he was interested in really and they sounded fine; these all have Rathbone as well. I think he said he paid about $50.00 for it. Some of these movies are in PD, but I don't think they all are?

 

[KamyarB]

I love all his movies... he was the best Sherlock too date!
I would have no hesitation in purchasing all 14 pictures.
K

 

[Jeffrey Gray]

Here's a list of who owns the Rathbone Holmes films, taken from IMDB info:

Hound of the Baskervilles = Fox
Adventures of Sherlock Holmes = Fox
Sherlock Holmes and the Voice of Terror = Universal
The Secret Weapon = Universal
Sherlock Holmes in Washington = Universal
Sherlock Holmes Faces Death = Universal
Sherlock Holmes and the Spider Woman = Universal
The Scarlet Claw = Universal
The Pearl of Death = Universal
The House of Fear = Universal
The Woman in Green = Universal
Pursuit to Algiers = Universal
Terror by Night = Universal
Dressed to Kill = Universal

So for Rathbone/Bruce Sherlock Holmes DVDs, direct requests to Fox (for the first 2) and Universal (for the rest).

 

[Richard Carnahan]

So for Rathbone/Bruce Sherlock Holmes DVDs, direct requests to Fox (for the first 2) and Universal (for the rest).

Universal doesn't own the Holmes films anymore.

 

[Steve Phillips]

That's true. All 14 films were released on FOX's Key video label, even though Universal released 12 of them originally.

 

[Jeffrey Gray]

All right, then. Direct all requests for these films to Fox.

 

[Larry Sutliff]

Actually, the rights to the non-Fox Rathbone/Bruce films now resides with Warner Brothers. Talk about a tangled web!

And I'd buy these in a hearbeat.

 

[David Von Pein]

Someone mentioned above that a few of the Rathbone films ARE on DVD now.
True indeed. I have this one in fact (3 movies)....but the quality is not near as good as even my Key Video VHS tapes. (And has anybody noticed the crazy scene index for this DVD? Chapter 1 isn't the start of each movie....it's about 5 minutes in! "Very curious" [as Sherlock might utter].)
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I knew a few of the films are scattered out there on DVD...but I advocate the release of all 14 pictures in a boxed set. By the by, who out there DOESN'T like the words "BOXED SET"? (just trips naturally off a DVD-lover's tongue. )
There's NOTHING like a well-done boxed set of DVDs!
And the Basil/Nigel series would make a perfect set.
Toss in ... say ... a re-mastered, beautifully cleaned-up, anamorphic transfer, and behind-the-scenes stuff that might still exist after 50+ years (doubtful I know), and a nice decent-sized photo gallery, and you'll have a great set!
(Oh....and tossing in a few of those old-time Rathbone Holmes' radio broadcasts would be the icing on the Sherlock cake!)
"Watson....the needle!"

 

[Justin Doring]

I sure would!

 

[Peter Apruzzese]

Toss in ... say ... a re-mastered, beautifully cleaned-up, anamorphic transfer

No need for the "anamorphic" transfer as all of these movies were filmed in the Academy ratio, 1.37; a full-frame transfer is perfect.

 

[Jeffrey Gray]

Fox owns the first 2 films, and WB owns the rest, so unless they did a Kubrick/Stone-style deal, we wouldn't get a complete box set.