Page 1 of Any Sherlock Holmes fans.....

....who can tell me the difference between this set:

http://www.play.com/play247.asp?page=title&r=R2&title=572458&p=57&g=72


and this one:

http://www.play.com/play247.asp?page=title&r=R2&title=532421&p=57&g=72

apart from the price!!

I think they came out around the same time, but I just wondered if any officionados out there could point out the differences.

Couldnt find anything on dvdcompare

If i can be a stickler...

the box art ;)

and the running time (chepaper sold out box has a longer run time by approx half an hour)

No idead on why there is a difference though.

Okay, just to verify the facts:

Both boxes contain the 14 Sherlock Holmes pictures made between 1939 and 1946 and starring Basil Rathbone as Holmes and Nigel Bruce as Watson. The first two pictures were made "in period" by Twentieth Century Fox, then the rest were contemporary adaptations and fresh non-Doyle stories made by Universal.

I haven`t got the cheaper of the two sets, but I suspect they may be the rather dodgy public-domain prints of the movies that have been around for some time. These discs are Region-free and have no extras whatsoever.

The more expensive "Definitive Collection" is exactly that, and I`m staring at the box this very minute. It`s a gatefold digipak set of seven discs containing all fourteen movies, released by Optimum Releasing. The movies themselves have been fully restored by Robert Gitt at the UCLA Film and Television Archive, and they look fantastic compared with the old public-domain releases. There`s still a little damage because the movies haven`t been looked after very well over the years, but these prints have been mastered from camera negatives or decent extant materials. The PD copies are mastered from NTSC video masters created for television and VHS, often from 16mm prints. The improvement in clarity is amazing. As regards extras, there is a set of four postcard artworks of the original posters of four of the movies in the box along with production notes and synopses. On the discs, there are audio commentaries for five of the movies by Holmes historians, more production notes, some films have original cinema trailers and poster artwork included. All the discs include a copy of the same preservation featurette with Robert Gitt. I believe the restoration work was part-funded by Hugh Hefner of Playboy.

I`ve been a fan of Jeremy Brett`s Holmes for a number of years, but seeing these movies again over the past fortnight or so, I`ve switched my allegiance back to the original and best Holmes and Watson on the big or small screen - Basil Rathbone and Nigel Bruce.

Hence my current sig:

J Mark Oates

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Come along, Watson, there`s not a moment to lose!

Does anyone know why the "Definitive Collection" has become so hard to get? Amazon advise to buy it used, HMV say it has now been deleted and other online stores no-longer list it. It still appears on the Optimum Releasing website but seems to have become scarce.

ST

Quote:
I`ve been a fan of Jeremy Brett`s Holmes for a number of years, but seeing these movies again over the past fortnight or so, I`ve switched my allegiance back to the original and best Holmes and Watson on the big or small screen - Basil Rathbone and Nigel Bruce.
NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOoooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo!
They were brilliant but IMHO Brett was better.

I prefer Brett. Rathbone has that profile, but I`m a big fan of the Conan Doyle stories and I think Brett`s interpretation of the character is the closest yet. I do think however that the tv series struggled to pad some of the short stories out to the episode length and seemed, to me, dramatically somewhat flat.

I agree. Brett`s Holmes is a tour de force, and he`ll probably never be bettered as the onscreen personification of Holmes, but I actually enjoy the Rathbone Holmes pictures more. It`s no poor reflection on Jeremy Brett (and if I could afford the box set of his versions, I`d have it like a shot), but it`s more a nostalgia thing. Rathbone was the first Holmes I saw, and I have an enormous soft spot (it`s between my ears) for the movies.

As regards what`s happened to the Definitive Collection, I think Optimum underestimated the demand for the release, and maybe there`s something funny going on about the rights because a set of individual two-picture discs they were planning appears to have been postponed. There will be a release by Orbit of their Holmes Collection (the other set mentioned in the first post) as individual two-picture discs. I believe the transfers involved are the poorer-quality PD prints rather than the UCLA restorations.

And GCampbell, the Definitive Collection`s still available at Play.com for £39.99 (which is a bargain).

J Mark Oates

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The only good politician is an ex politician
(In the parrot sense of ex-)
Vote for someone who`s not in politics for their own end.
You never know, there might be one.

This item was edited on Wednesday, 4th May 2005, 03:24

J Mark Oates - thanks for the info and did infact get it from Play.com. Originally my local WH Smiths also had it for £39.99 then they never stocked up again and all of a sudden no-one seemed to have it.

GCampbell

Jeremy Brett`s the prefect Holmes for me, and whenever I re-read the books it is always his voice I hear in my mind.

They may have been big in their day, but I`ve always seen Basil Rathbone and Nigel Bruce`s portrayal of Holmes and Watson as human cartoons.

I gonna kill that firefox spell checker, and enjoy doing it.

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Bog off Foggy
OK, I admit it, I HAD a Philips DVDR70...... now I`m getting withdrawal symptoms :¦
... If found, please return this person to the insane asylum

Quote:
I`ve switched my allegiance back to the original and best Holmes and Watson on the big or small screen - Basil Rathbone and Nigel Bruce.
Not really the original, Maurice Costello was, I think, the first proper movie Holmes in 1905 although there had been a 30 second Mutoscope film before that, Harry Benham played him in 1913, William Gillette in 1916, Eille Norwood in three films starting in 1921, John Barrymore in 1922, Clive Brook was the first sound Holmes in 1929 and there were several others before Rathbone made his first appearance in 1939 including Czech, Danish (the first film series) and German versions. I`m currently watching an 80`s Russian TV version.
For me there are three great Holmes - Rathbone in the 30`s and 40`s, Peter Cushing in the 50`s and 60`s and Jeremy Brett in the 80`s and 90`s and I wouldn`t like to pick one as my favourite.
Quote:

They may have been big in their day, but I`ve always seen Basil Rathbone and Nigel Bruce`s portrayal of Holmes and Watson as human cartoons.
A bit cruel but true I think of Bruce`s Watson, although I can`t agree about Rathbone.

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`.....be nice until it`s time to not be nice`