With Robert Downey Jr.’s SHERLOCK HOLMES burning up the holiday box office, it was inevitable the home video market would take advantage of the renewed interest in Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s iconic character by re-releasing the great detective’s early screen exploits.
Perhaps most notably, MPI Home Video has reissued eight of the 14 Basil Rathbone films under the SHERLOCK HOLMES DOUBLE FEATURE banner, pairing two titles to a DVD. Most of them are in the public domain, so the movies themselves aren’t rare. These, however, have been restored in 35mm and come with extras, so you’ve been warned if other companies’ versions don’t measure up.
The first film to see Rathbone don the deerstalker hat was 1939′s THE HOUND OF THE BASKERVILLES, which is an indisputable classic, with Holmes and Dr. Watson (Nigel Bruce) investigating the legend of a killer dog that has plagued a family for generations. It’s full of Gothic atmosphere, set amidst the foggy moors of Devonshire.
HOUND keeps the core idea of Doyle’s novel, while streamlining the narrative and pumping up a romance angle. Suspense is palpable, thanks to director Sidney Lanfield’s milking the horror elements, and the movie concludes surprisingly with a line alluding to Holmes’ coke habit, as he instructs his sidekick, “Oh, Watson, the needle!”
On the DVD, it’s paired with one of the series’ last entries, 1945′s PURSUIT TO ALGIERS. Not based on a story from Doyle’s canon, it largely takes places on a passenger ship, as Holmes and Watson attempt to keep a Rovinian prince (Leslie Vincent) from being assassinated during his trip home. Although slight in script, the 65-minute flick remains enjoyable, especially in Holmes’ continual outsmarting of the prince’s would-be murderers.
HOUND excepted, perhaps the series’ most famous installment is its second, also from 1939: THE ADVENTURES OF SHERLOCK HOLMES. Not based directly on any one particular story, it does a great job of culling from Holmes’ overall world, to the point where it seems like it could’ve preceded HOUND.
The joy here is watching Holmes try to remain one step ahead of his archenemy, Prof. Moriarty (George Zucco), who’s declared not guilty of murder by the courts, but only due to lack of evidence. Holmes has such evidence, but arrives a minute too late, leaving Moriarty free, since no man can be tried for the same crime twice. He vows to Holmes that he vows to pull “the crime of the century,” and that our hero won’t be able to stop him.
A jewel heist is involved, and events culminate in a tussle atop the impressively moody Tower of London. Both Holmes and Moriarty reveal themselves as masters of disguise, suggesting an even match. As with its predecessor, ADVENTURES is a Hollywood classic. It’s not for nothing Downey’s HOLMES lifted the amusing scene in which the detective experiments with a fiddle and a glass full of houseflies.
Sharing disc space with ADVENTURES is one from the franchise’s middle: 1944′s THE SCARLET CLAW. It’s the most overtly supernatural of the bunch, but we all know Holmes isn’t a believer in such things. The same can’t be said for Lord Penrose (Paul Cavanagh), whose wife becomes the latest victim of a rumored marsh monster that has the village of La Mort Rouge gripped in fear.
Just like ALGIERS, this flick stands at more of a B level than the earlier pictures, yet it’s so quick, it can’t help but be fun. The same pretty much applies to all of them; with such short running times, it’s difficult not to want to watch at least two in a row. I screened all four of these in less than 24 hours’ time.
Rathbone makes an excellent Holmes, so much so that we tend to picture him when he think of the character. He enjoys a natural rapport with Bruce, too, although this Watson isn’t Doyle’s Watson, reduced to a bumbling, occasionally pigheaded sidekick, rather than the detective’s equal. That’s not really a complaint, but an observation.
But here’s one complaint: Typical of the studio pictures of their era, these films are
prone to musical numbers in which a character sings an entire song — or several — apparently because audiences liked that sort of thing. That’s really the only negative comment I can make. Certainly, MPI’s cleanup job can’t be faulted, as any flaws in the film are few between. To see just how extensive of a restoration was made, compare CLAW with its theatrical trailer.
Other extras include feature commentaries with some noted Holmes experts and photo galleries. The stills are kind of no big deal, but the commentaries are full of interesting facts that fill in a ton of background. MPI’s other discs in this wave of double features are THE HOUSE OF FEAR / THE PEARL OF DEATH and THE SPIDER WOMAN / SHERLOCK HOLMES AND THE VOICE OF TERROR. If you like one, you’ll want them all. —Rod Lott
OTHER RECENT BOOKS 2 FILM REVIEWS:
• BOOKS 2 FILM >> Bored to Death
• BOOKS 2 FILM >> I, Madman
• BOOKS 2 FILM >> The Last Lullaby
Related posts:
- Sherlock Holmes Was Wrong: Reopening the Case of The Hound of the Baskervilles
- The Mysterious World of Sherlock Holmes
- Klinger offers ANNOTATED SHERLOCK HOLMES bookplates
- The Further Adventures of Sherlock Holmes: The Ectoplasmic Man
- Sherlock Holmes Mystery Magazine #1
{ 2 comments… read them below or add one }
Been working my way through the Rathbone sequence. THE SPIDER WOMAN is particulary fun.
The Voice of Terror is set during WWII and slightly suffers for it.