Thursday, December 29, 2011

Sherlock Holmes (Kino Classics) [Blu-ray]

Sherlock Holmes (Kino Classics) [Blu-ray] Review



When a young prince is accused of a crime that could embroil him in international scandal, debonair supersleuth Sherlock Holmes comes to his aid, and quickly discovers that behind the incident lurks a criminal mastermind eager to reduce Western civilization to anarchy. Adapted from the hugely popular stage version of Arthur Conan Doyle's stories (by William Gillette), SHERLOCK HOLMES not only provided Barrymore with one of his most prestigious early roles, but also presented the screen debuts of two notable actors: William Powell (The Thin Man) and Roland Young (Topper). SHERLOCK HOLMES was mastered from a 35mm restoration by the George Eastman House Motion Picture Department, and is accompanied by a score by Ben Model, performed on the Miditzer Virtual Theatre Organ.


Wednesday, December 28, 2011

Holmes on Homes Season 1 to 5 (5 Pack)

Holmes on Homes Season 1 to 5 (5 Pack) Review



Holmes on Homes Season 1 to 5 (5 Pack) Feature

  • REGION 1 DVD - NSTC
Holmes on Homes Season 1 & 2 DVD New Bonus Features: OutTake reel, Mike's Tool Belt, Take a closer look at Mike's tools of the trade Holmes on Homes Season 3 DVD New Bonus Features: OutTake reel, Mike's Tool Belt, Take a closer look at Mike's tools of the trade, Includes 5 onehour episodes Holmes on Homes Season 4 DVD New Bonus Features: OutTake reel, Mike's Tool Belt, The first fool season of 1 hour episodes, take a closer look at featured products and services, Includes special 2 part season finale Holmes on Homes Season 5 DVD New Features: All 14 season five hourlong episodes, First time ever "BehindTheScenes" documentary "Season 5: A look back", OutTake reel. Specification Season 5: Shot and Mastered in high Definition, Presented in Widescreen (Enhanced for 16:9 television), Dolby Digital 5.1 and Dolby Stereo Audio, Closed Captioned for the hearing impaired Holmes on Homes is a Canadian television series airing on Home & Garden Television in Canada, and also on several other Alliance Atlantis networks in Canada (including BBC Canada and Life Network), as well as in the United Kingdom, Australia and New Zealand, and on Discovery Home in the United States. It has been consistently the highest-rated show on the Canadian HGTV (HGTV having once claimed that an episode had gotten its highest-ever ratings), with shows airing upwards of 20 times a week at the peak of its popularity. It has won the Gemini viewer's choice award, a testament to the popularity of the show in Canada.


Monday, December 26, 2011

The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes

The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes Review



The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes Feature

  • Set in the Victorian Age and regarded by many as the finest of the fourteen films in the Sherlock Holmes/Basil Rathbone series, "The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes" was originally released in 1939 by Twentieth Century-Fox. Professor Moriarty (George Zucco) has at long last been brought to trial for murder, but the "Napoleon of Crime" is acquitted after the court finds a lack of sufficient evide
One of the most engaging features from 20th Century Fox's Holmes series, The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes is also of historical interest as it based on a hugely popular, early 20th century stage play written by and starring William Gillette. Basil Rathbone cuts a fine figure as the lean, hawkish Great Detective, drawn into a complicated conspiracy by fiendish Dr. Moriarty (George Zucco) to distract Holmes while quietly preparing to steal the Crown Jewels. Nigel Bruce is on board as a buffoonish Dr. Watson, and British-born Ida Lupino is very good, and quite gorgeous, as a young woman who may be the target of a family curse. True-blue Sherlockians know that very little of Gillette's tale, and next to nothing about Zucco's or Bruce's performances, have anything to do with Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's sacred canon. Still, this is a handsome production to enjoy on its own terms. --Tom Keogh The Adventures Of Sherlock Holmes

Set in the Victorian Age and regarded by many as the finest of the fourteen films in the Sherlock Holmes/Basil Rathbone series, ‘The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes’ was originally released in 1939 by Twentieth Century-Fox.

Professor Moriarty (George Zucco) has at long last been brought to trial for murder, but the ‘Napoleon of Crime’ is acquitted after the court finds a lack of sufficient evidence. Moriarty wastes no time in plotting his next crime, but in order to be successful he must divert the attention of the Great Detective.

Intimidating, anonymous letters sent to young socialite Ann Brandon (Ida Lupino) ; the murder of Miss Brandon’s brother; and threats to the security of a priceless gem consume the attention of Sherlock Holmes (Basil Rathbone) and his companion Dr. Watson (Nigel Bruce).

Are these mysterious occurrences simply erroneous distractions? Are they clues to a case irrelevant to the exploits of the evil Professor Moriarty? Or, are these portents of disaster inexorably linked to the master criminal’s plan to commit a crime that will shake the very foundation of the British Empire? It is for Holmes and Watson to sort out these mysteries and, hopefully, eliminate the menace of Professor Moriarty.


Sunday, December 25, 2011

The Return of Sherlock Holmes, Vol. 5 - The Musgrave Ritual & The Man with the Twisted Lip

The Return of Sherlock Holmes, Vol. 5 - The Musgrave Ritual & The Man with the Twisted Lip Review



The Return of Sherlock Holmes, Vol. 5 - The Musgrave Ritual & The Man with the Twisted Lip Feature

  • RETURN OF SHERLOCK HOLMES VOL.5 MUSGRAVE (DVD MOVIE)
"The Musgrave Ritual"
Sherlock Holmes (Jeremy Brett) and Dr. John Watson (Edward Hardwicke) are brought to Hurlstone Manor by Reginald Musgrave (Michael Culver) to look into the disappearance of his butler, Brunton (James Hazeldine). Various clues (a crumpled piece of paper, a brass key, a peg of wood with string attached) suggest that Brunton's disappearance is somehow related to the "Musgrave ritual," an arcane practice compelling young Musgrave family members to recite an odd riddle that might have to do with buried treasure. Holmes's methodical approach to the problem is a lot of fun, and Brett and Hardwicke seem to be having a particularly good time outdoors, pursuing the solution under a bit of sunshine. Jeremy Paul, who adapted Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's story for this teledrama, won an Edgar Award for his script.

"The Man with the Twisted Lip"
One of the most ingenious of the Sherlock Holmes stories, "The Man with the Twisted Lip" presents the famous detective with one of his strangest cases. A gentleman named Neville St. Clair (Clive Francis) is missing, after having been briefly seen (looking quite agitated) by his wife (Eleanor David) in an upstairs window of a disreputable pub. Upon investigating, Mrs. St. Clair can only find traces of blood in the location; later, her husband's coat, mysteriously stuffed with pennies, turns up on a mud bank. Police have detained a notorious street beggar on suspicion of foul play, but Holmes and Dr. Watson believe there is more to the case than meets the eye. This highly enjoyable installment from the long-running Granada Television series is satisfying from beginning to end, with a witty conclusion and unexpected moral about class pressures. --Tom Keogh VOL. 5

THE MUSGRAVE RITUAL
Sherlock Holmes shows his knowledge of trigonometry and cracks a 250-year-old code in The Musgrave Ritual. The legendary detective also reveals what the missing butler saw and where he is to be found, and also discovers an object of great historical importance.

THE MAN WITH THE TWISTED LIP
Wealthy Neville St. Clair mysteriously disappears. Oddly, he was last seen at the window of a room in the seediest opium den in London. A hideous beggar named Boone, occupant of the room in which St. Clair was last seen, is charged with murdering St. Clair and throwing his body into the river. Holmes gets the real culprit to come clean.


Saturday, December 24, 2011

Sherlock Holmes Film Festival

Sherlock Holmes Film Festival Review



If you like Sherlock Holmes, you will love this collection of movies, TV shows and classic radio shows. Great performances by Basil Rathbone, Nigel Bruce and others capture Sherlock Holmes at his best as they uncover the deepest secrets and darkest schemes behind London's most intriguing criminals and crimes.

Films included: Dressed to Kill, Sherlock Holmes and the Secret Weapon, Terror by Night, Woman in Green, Sherlock Holmes and the Deadly Necklace, Murder at the Baskervilles, The Sign of Four, The Specked Band, A Study in Scarlet, The Triumph of Sherlock Holmes


Thursday, December 22, 2011

Sherlock Holmes - The Sign of Four

Sherlock Holmes - The Sign of Four Review



Sherlock Holmes is asked to solve the mysterious death of a young woman's father, and finds a fortune in jewels.
Genre: Mystery
Rating: NR
Release Date: 25-FEB-2003
Media Type: DVD


Monday, December 19, 2011

The Return of Sherlock Holmes, Vol. 2 - The Second Stain & The Six Napoleons

The Return of Sherlock Holmes, Vol. 2 - The Second Stain & The Six Napoleons Review



The Return of Sherlock Holmes, Vol. 2 - The Second Stain & The Six Napoleons Feature

  • The celebrated duo of Jeremy Brett and Edward Hardwicke are back as the masterful Sherlock Holmes and his faithful cohort Dr. Watson. Based on the original stories by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, these spellbinding adventures are packed with mystery and suspense. Don t miss a single clue in these deadly games of cat and mouse! THE SECOND STAIN: A secret letter is stolen from the house of the Secret
"The Second Stain"
Arguably the most entertaining and satisfying episode from the entire Granada Television series about Sherlock Holmes, "The Second Stain" finds Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's famous sleuth facing intertwining problems, each with very different consequences. On the one hand, a saber-rattling letter to the British government from a "foreign potentate" has disappeared from the hands of the Rt. Honorable Trelawney Hope (Stuart Wilson), which could incite a major war if it turns up in some visible way. On the other hand, Hope's wife, Lady Hilda (Patricia Hodge), appears to know something about the letter's disposition, but she won't say on pain of some undefined disaster to her marriage. Holmes (Jeremy Brett in his finest hour) and Dr. Watson (a wonderful performance by Edward Hardwicke) can't unravel one mystery without tackling the other, and then there is a murder to boot. The results are well worth the story complications that ensue. The look of epiphany on Brett's face when the ever-clueless Inspector Lestrade (Colin Jeavons) tells Holmes about an odd detail in the murder victim's home--the placement of a certain bloodstained rug doesn't correspond to the location of the soaked-through stain on the floor below--is enormous fun.

"The Six Napoleons"
Yup, that is Counselor Troi from Star Trek: The Next Generation, looking particularly glum in this episode from Granada Television's Sherlock Holmes series. Troi--or rather actress Marina Sirtis--is part of the cast of this wild mystery, which suggests that a madman with a grudge against Napoleon Bonaparte is smashing clay busts of his likeness all over London. Dr. Watson proposes that the criminal has a psychological obsession, but Holmes scoffs at that idea. There is indeed much more going on than meets the eye in this story, as plainly evidenced when a notorious Mafia figure turns up dead. Meanwhile, anyone in possession of ornamental Bonapartes is in danger--and only Holmes knows why. This exciting installment in the series is also noteworthy for its rare glimpse of a softer side of Holmes, as seen in a memorable coda to the story. Brett is brilliant as the famed sleuth. --Tom Keogh THE SECOND STAIN: A secret letter is stolen from the house of the Secretary of European Affairs. It is feared that the contents to the letter could cause a "great war" by falling into the wrong hands, and Holmes and Watson are called in to get the letter back. But when the person Holmes suspects of stealing the letter is found murdered, the great detective is led into a tangled web of international intrigue. THE SIX NAPOLEONS: Busts of Napoleon are being found smashed to bits all over London. Holmes and Watson are asked to investigate the bizarre events, and a murder that may be related. Is it the work of a madman who still harbors hatred for the dead emperor, or perhaps the work of the Mafia? The case takes the famous sleuth on a chase to find a killer, and to solve the mystery before all six Napoleon statues are destroyed.