If the third volume of the Basil Rathbone/Nigel Bruce Sherlock Holmes films released by MPI Home Video is any indication - and there's no reason it shouldn't be - then it's safe to say that all three volumes of these ever-popular movies are must-have DVDs. The prints come from 35mm restorations performed by the UCLA Film and Television Archive, one of the best such facilities in the world, and the quality and overall presentation is superb.
Basil Rathbone and Nigel Bruce starred as Sherlock Holmes and Dr. Watson in fourteen films over eight years. The first two,
The Hound of the Baskervilles and
The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes, were produced by 20th Century Fox in 1939. In 1942 Universal acquired the rights, borrowed the actors, and launched its own 12-film series which has now been released chronologically in three sets of four DVDs by MPI.
One of the beauties of these pictures is that they can be enjoyed by truly all ages. They feature elegant suspense, satisfying mystery and action, intellectual problem-solving, wonderful comic relief, good villains, and of course the unique chemistry of Basil Rathbone and Nigel Bruce in the roles for which they will forever be known.
The Woman in Green (1945) is a standard entry in the series but has perhaps the best of the Prof. Moriartys (Holmes' arch-nemesis) in the actor Henry Daniell. Three films featured Moriarty, and he was played by three different actors - the other two being George Zucco and Lionel Atwill. Daniell's smoothness made him especially menacing, and Rathbone himself later wrote, "There are other Moriartys, but none so delectably dangerous as was that of Henry Daniell."
Pursuit to Algiers (1945), set almost entirely on a ship, is dramatically perhaps the weakest of the series, but there's really not a bad film in the bunch. Watson sings in this one - not too badly, as it turns out - and handles a touching dramatic moment very well.
Terror By Night (1946) is a rock-solid entry which finds the duo aboard a train, on which almost every passenger could be a murderer and jewel thief. Dennis Hoey makes his last appearance as Inspector Lestrade. Roy William Neill (who produced and directed most of these films, and died of a heart attack just months after they concluded) keeps the tension high, and the twist ending is especially clever.
The series finale,
Dressed to Kill (1946), is very strong and satisfying. It moves so well that you don't really notice how prepostrous the story is. The woman who walks around dressed to kill is played by beautiful Patricia Morison, a talented actress who never got the major parts she deserved, and Holmes and Watson engage in delicious dialogue such as this typical exchange: Watson: "It seems to me they're a bunch of lunatics." Holmes: "Not lunatics, my dear fellow. Extremely astute cold-blooded murderers."
Even before
Dressed to Kill began shooting, Rathbone had had enough. He'd been feeling pigeon-holed by Holmes and wanted to move on. In addition to the movies, he had played the role on over 200 half-hour radio programs with Bruce. But Rathbone's best non-Holmes films were behind him, and his career started a steady decline. Bruce wanted to continue, and this was the source of a sizable disagreement between the two friends. (Bruce did continue the weekly radio show for one more season, with Tom Conway filling in for Rathbone.) In the end, "pigeon-holed" is a vast understatement when it comes to these actors in these roles. No one who has ever seen them can ever think of Holmes and Watson without thinking of Rathbone and Bruce, so perfect were they for the characters and so perfect was their chemistry.
Audio commentary by David Stuart Davies, author of
Starring Sherlock Holmes, can be found on the DVD of
The Woman In Green, though Davies discusses all four films. He is quite knowledgeable, and Holmes connoisseurs will be pleased to hear from which stories by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle each film borrowed bits and pieces. Volume 3 also includes a brief, fascinating newsreel of Conan Doyle himself talking about his creation, and a 3-minute, nicely done montage of production stills and poster art. The liner notes by Richard Valley offer enough details on the films and their supporting casts to satisfy the most relentless trivia hounds.
There's also a page in the notes from UCLA explaining the source materials for the restorations. Due to the various states of existing negatives and safety prints, the films do vary in quality, and some minor blemishes have permanently worked themselves into the films. For the most part, however, the movies look sensational, with beautiful blacks and rich shadows.
With the release of Volume 3, all twelve Universal films are now available on DVD. As for the two Fox films,
The Hound of the Baskervilles and
The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes, MPI plans to release them on April 27, 2004. While they are not UCLA restorations, MPI assured this reviewer that the source materials are good-quality 35mm prints and that the discs will be laden with extras.
To order
The Sherlock Holmes Collection Vol. 3, go to
TCM Shopping.
by Jeremy Arnold
