I'm definitely buying the box set of this series. 100 U.S. dollars is a paltry sum for entertainment of this caliber. All parties involved in this series deserve the recognition.
Indeed. Brett presents Holmes as a human being. Now whenever I read a Holmes story from the Canon, I heard Brett's voice. And I also agree that Granda's presentation mostly faithful to the stories.
This is a load off my mind...Holmes is back and is better than ever. :D I have always been crazy for a good mystery, and NONE come anywhere close to these. Both in the book, and on TV, nothing can compare to Sherlock Holmes and Dr. John Watson. Would I ever love to meet them (all 3 of them)
There will be no Holmes shows or movies to equal the books so brilliantly written, but Jeremy Brett had a flare for the character that was irresistible and ingenious in itself. Brett was a mastermind for the part.
Some of us actually LIKE having our favorite Holmes stories interpreted on TV. If you haven't seen "Sherlock," you should. It's a fantastic reinterpretation, with a modern setting, of the original stories. I wholeheartedly agree with your statement. R.I.P. Jeremy and Edward.
I remember watching this for the first time on ITV3 right after 'The Final Problem' . I remember thinking "They can't have Sherlock Holmes [the series] without Sherlock Holmes [the character]!" (this was made up of shock more than logic). The delight when I realised Holmes was still there will forever be etched in my memory.
My favorite all time episode. I love Edward Hardwicke as John Watson. Burke, was good, and did a lot for revamping the Watson character at the time, (most people thought of Nigel Bruce's portrayal) but in re-watching the DVDs, which I have done many times, I keep thinking about how Burke's Dr. fawns over Holmes, and gives out that somewhat cheesy smile. He still played it sorta wimpy and dumb in some ways. Hardwicke was perfect, and they picked a great time to make the change.
Not as good as the book but as good as television could possibly be. A masterpiece of character development. Brett managed to take the cold, clinical literary Holmes and infuse him with a Byronic and mercurial romanticism without compromising him in any way. He is simply wonderful; he moves like a rattlesnake: from total ennui to a flickering action almost too fast to see.
The theme song for this makes me feel... I don't know, it's so beautiful it kind of makes me dizzy. I absolutely love the theme song, and this episode is so emotional. It's so awesome that Sherlock Holmes was alive!!!
If you want to recreate the atmosphere of the time they were made in try renting a room, but get an old CRT television with a single speaker below the screen and have the air cold and damp; to accentuate the slight hiss of the moisture vapourising against the condensors and transisters - Equip yourself with a nice hot milo and a couple of ginger nut biscuits :) and sit in on the carpet !!
@Mimi2591 I agree, the loss of Burke was hard to get used to for me personally. The chemistry between him and Brett was capital, what they did together on screen as these two legendary characters was magic. Don't get me wrong I think Hardwicke did a wonderful job as Watson but I must say I miss Burke terribly.
I agree, but Benedict Cumberbatch is also doing a hell of a job with it. Fun fact: Benedict is the voice of Smaug, the dragon, and Martin Freeman (Watson) is Bilbo Baggins in the upcoming "Hobbit" movies. R.I.P. to Jeremy and Edward still; they're incomparable.
I love how Holmes has a drawing of Reichenbach Falls in his flat the entire series, as sort of a foretelling of his and Moriarty's final showdown and demise in "The Final Problem." Until fan pressure induced Conan Doyle to resurrect Holmes but not Moriarty. As Wikipedia says, "'The Final Problem' was intended to be exactly what its name says. Conan Doyle meant to stop writing about his famous detective after this short story...But this device failed in its purpose and pressure from fans eventually persuaded Doyle to bring Holmes back, writing The Hound of the Baskervilles (set before "The Final Problem") and reviving him in "The Adventure of the Empty House". There were enough holes in eyewitness accounts to allow Conan Doyle to plausibly resurrect Holmes..." I agree with you about Eric Porter as Moriarty. Much more believable than most villains who are shown to be too crazy or evil. Porter's Moriarty comes across as a flawed human like all of us; just more "flawed" than most people (fortunately). That's what the great majority of history's criminals have been; very few are as crazy and macabre as Charles Manson or Jeffrey Dahmer. Most of them, you wouldn't know were any different from anyone else if you met them on the street. That's how I view Porter's Moriarty - just another ordinary looking, aging man if you passed him on the street. But that "over the edge," pathological quality comes out in a dialogue like the one with Holmes in the first part of "The Final Problem". He was so good that I kind of wish Conan Doyle had resurrected him too. One of the best villains in cinema/TV history IMO
@ghostfanX2 True, there were several points in the stories where Holmes mentioned that Watson stimulated him intellectually. I always thought that bit in THOTB was that at this point in the partnership Holmes was tutoring Watson in some of the basics of deduction. And I even remember in some of the later stories where Watson is able to make deductions on his own by observing people.
@Krizushi Holmes and Moriarty were equals on pretty much every level. Although he looks like a frail old man, it doesn't take much to imagine that he has a large reserve of strength. Besides, Holmes had the upper hand for the most part; had they been anywhere else he would have easily won. But at Reichenbach Falls they had restricted movement, and so it made things much more difficult.
I remember seeing "the empty house" many years ago and was totally upset that Sherlock Holmes was dead. So I turned off the TV and never saw it again. But now after reviewing it on DVD and seeing it in total, I realize that Holmes wasn't dead. If I were Doctor Watson I would have punched him in the face for doing such a thing to his dear friend. now I'm going to make a special flight to Great Britain and visit Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's grave and kick it!
I think he means The Great Mouse Detective, the rodent version of Sherlock Holmes parody. Holmes & Watson(name changed as Basil & Dawson) other extras appear as mice, Moriarty(name changed as Ratigan) appears as a rat who has some mice, a lizard & a bat as thugs!
Never mind . . . I just saw from the closing credits that James Bree is the actor who played the coroner. Don't think he ever played Holmes, though, unless his list of roles at IMDB is missing something.
I agree. But don't let my Mom hear you say that. SHe grew up watching the late-night Sherlock Holms movies on TV and for her Basil is the only Sherlock.
Granada is under the BBC flag- J Brett was fighting cancer and became too ill to continue working- He died not long after he quit the series from what I remember-
@5:02 the guy saying 'We can get our revenge' is the actor who played Mordred in Boormans Excalibur movie. Wow seems like a lot of the cast is enjoying some work on the Holmes series.
He wanted to spend more time with his family. I believe he was also the one who suggested Edward Hardwicke to fill his role. I personally prefer Hardwicke but I love both of them...
@ghostfanX2 Nigel Bruce and Basil Rathbone in 'The Hound Of The Baskervilles' "Have I missed anything?" "Almost everything my dear fellow" Bruce's portrayal of Watson as a fat doofus always grated on me.
At only 240p, this is a very blurry version. I appreciate it nonetheless because I love all of the Brett versions of Holmes stories. But if you look elsewhere on YT, a 480p version in its entirety not broken into segments, was posted since this post.
@hzy126 For me Burke brought out Watson's humanity and friendship with Holmes in a way that no other actor has come close to, not Edward Hardwick or really anyone else, and for me Burke's Watson was never short, fat, and bumbling, we're not talking Nigel Bruce here.
the reason holmes returned is because before his death people loved him and alot thought he was real. the reason why doyel desided 2 make holmes die is because holmes was more popular then doyel. after holmes died, doyels house and him got destroyed so he brought him bak. notice normal it will say the adventures of homes when it says now the return of homles... i learnd this in english GSCE the fun way so its all true :)
@cha5 I agree Bruse could be something of a doofus - honestly, I think it is more he was instructed to play it that way. And the movies, because of the war, also wanted "comic relief" and Bruce was a great way to get that. The Baskervilles line WAS a change. In the book/Brett version it is closer, but still in a way, a put down-"Watson, you may not, yourself be luminous, but you are a great CONDUCTOR of light." Wish Rathbone and Bruce could have done a better version. Lots of changes!
@ghostfanX2 I'm a Burke man myself although Hardwicke was good in the role. Burke had for me a certain zest and humor while Hardwicke gave Watson a certain gravitas. They were both memorable in their own ways IMHO and were certainly an improvement over Nigel Bruce.
Can anyone upload the red headed league? It's the only one I can't find on here! I know it's a bit ocd but it's driving me nuts knowing I've missed one! LOL
@BicPentameter I remember some Sherlock Holmes retrospective some years after the ending of the Granada series that had Burke as Watson offering his recollections of Holmes at a dinner table with guests, I always wish Burke could have stayed throughout the entire series, no disrespect to Edward Hardwicke but IMO he just couldn't capture the earlier Brett and Burke magic.
can anyone tell me if the makers made episodes of most of the stories penned by sir Arthur Conan Doyle? I know they left a few out, but did most of them.
Mr. Jeremy Brett passed away, sadly, before this production could finish the canon. And, please forgive me, but 240p? Seriously. It's work to watch this.
Bit late to the game, but watchseries(dot)eu has pretty much anything you're looking for somewhere. It's a hosting site for various video upload sites, and it has access to shows that I've forgotten about, let alone all new episodes of current series.
@HarryplusHermione You get used to it....I think Hardwicke is like five times better then Burke as Watson. I think Burkes Watson is more dumber and more silly then Hardwicks role...Just like Nigel Bruce potrait....I never liked Bruce...He potraited Watson like some kind of loony or fool..In the books Watson is a clever and intelligent person...Not some idiot...Hardwicke and Brett is the best Holmels an Watson ever....No offend to you:). You don´t have to agree. It´s my own oppinion....
Well, considering the time Rathbone and Bruce were filming, was the eve of world war 2, perhaps the film makers wanted some comedy relief with Bruce, to sorta cheer up folks? Who knows. I did like the 1954 Tv series with Ronald Howard and Crawford.
Where is that Sherlock Holmes episode in which he cracks the case involving this villain who is blackmailing aristocratic women in exchange for keeping certain embarassments secret?
"Sherlock Holmes by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. Not as good as the book, but still worth watching." I totaly disagree with that, I think this serie is far more interesting than the books of Conan Doyle
Would it have killed you to have come up with at least one original description to all these episodes? It's not only repetitive, but false, as the vast majority of the stories originated as features in The Strand magazine.
Wikipedia has its uses but it's pretty mediocre IMHO when it comes to information on Sherlock Holmes since just about anyone can put almost anything they want to on it, regardless if it's true or not, I prefer Sherlockiandotnet.
ohhhhhhh! 2:39 - 2:52 That is a terrible bearing rein!! That poor horse! look at it's neck all tightened up; it can't pull the carriage like God made it to! Poor Thing. Why the uproar? Well, if what i heard from Black Beauty holds true, then this poor horse is suffering terrible back pain. And don't take that like a joke. I'm no animal worshiper, but I am conscious of our duty to care for God's creation!
I vote for Hardwicke. I prefer his more sober and solid interpretation. Burke was a bit too festive for my taste. Too wide-eyed and boyish. Both fine actors, though, no question. I've seen them in other things, and they are excellent. Love Brett. Rathbone's equal, I think.
Burke was a great pre-Reichenbach Watson: so full of schoolboyish life, intelligent and muscular. Harwicke is very good but he's an older, sadder man: one feels that Holmes 'death' must have broken him in some way and he never really recovered.
David Burke played a very cheerful mischievous playful and silly Watson full of life and energy ready to take on great adventures with Holmes. Hard wick (the new Watson) is a more serious and senior and somber Watson not exactly the character Doyle sketched in his books.
It's kind of tasteless (to say the least) to say "Not as good as the book, but still worth watching. " considering this series is probably the best of cinematic or television SH adaptations. Besides, it's a useless comparison.
