PRIMITIVE SCREWHEADS

Sherlock Holmes And The Masks Of Death 1984

Sherlock Holmes And The Masks Of Death 1984 Story by John Elder, screenplay by Anthony Hinds, N J Crisp, directed by Roy Ward Baker.

Peter Cushing is Holmes, John Mills is Watson, and Anne Baxter is Irene Adler.It's Peter Cushing's last turn as Holmes, his ill health kept him from being able to appear in a sequel.

Inspector MacDonald asks Holmes for help with the three dead bodies in the East End. Before he gets going on that, the Home Secretary shows up with a German diplomat who has lost one of his envoys, a German Prince, who has disappeared right out of his house in Buckinghamshire. Could get serious between England and German if the guy isn't found.

There's a fairly good script that pokes a bit of fun at Sherlock's age. He's not quite as sharp as he used to be, it takes a while for him to get going and figure things out. Not a top notch film but entertaining for the most part. You can see it on YouTube. Link above.

Sherlock Holmes And Doctor Watson 1979

Sherlock Holmes And Doctor Watson 1979 Created by Sheldon Reynolds, he was also the creator of the 1954 American TV show Sherlock Holmes with Ronald Howard and Howard Marion-Crawford. That was a more successful series, I've seen most of those episodes a couple of times and I find the episodes entertaining, it's in the public domain and all the episodes can be found on YouTube or DVD. Worth having a look at for the Sherlock fan.

The copies of Sherlock Holmes And Doctor Watson on YouTube don't look anywhere near as good as the Ronald Howard shows do, one of the reasons I ordered the German DVD set of all 24 episodes. Apparently the show was popular in Germany, they seem to be the only one to produce a real DVD release. The image is fairly good looking and the sound is so much better than the YouTube uploads.

Sheldon Reynolds filmed the series in Poland with British actors in the lead roles. Geoffrey Whitehead plays Holmes, Donald Pickering plays Watson and Patrick Newell plays Lestrade. British guest actors include Bernard Bresslaw, Sue Lloyd, Sally Travers, Julian Fellowes, William Morgan Sheppard, Geoffrey Talbot, Richard Greene, Catherine Schell and Victoria Tennant.

Some of the episodes were adapted from Doyle stories, some were recycled scripts from the 1954 series and some were original stories. Sheldon Reynolds directed a few episodes and the other directors include Roy Stevens, Val Guest, Peter Sasdy, Roy Ward Baker, Aurelio Crugnola and Freddie Francis.

There's decent sets and locations, Poland lends itself to the Sherlock time period quite well. The stories are entertaining and humorous, I usually had a laugh or two out of each one. I'm glad I picked one up.

The Sherlock Holmes Vault Collection

The Sherlock Holmes Vault Collection consists of four restored Sherlock Holmes films from the 1930s. Three of the films star Arthur Wontner and one stars Reginald Owen. The Film Detective put the set out and each film is on it's own Blu-ray with a commentary, an essay in a booklet, a small postcard of the film's poster, and a series of short bits and pieces.

The Wontner films are much better looking than the Owen film. I suspect they might not have had any good film elements to work with as the Wontner films are much sharper and darker. I've seen these films 2 or 3 times already and they're all fairly entertaining. I like Wontner as Sherlock more than Owen.

I wasn't that impressed with the extras. I tried all the commentaries. I bailed on the one by Jennifer Churchill on The Fatal Hour because she wasn't that interesting and giggle too often at her own comments. I quit listing to the Atkins and Breckman on A Study In Scarlet because they had too much uninteresting banter and laughed at their own jokes too much. The Ney commentary on The Triumph of Sherlock Holmes was fairly good but he spent too much time on studio history than the film. The Sutton & Legan commentary on Silver Blaze was mostly worth listening to though it had a bit of time wasting banter. The Sam Sherman featurettes were short and sort of interesting. The short films and other Sherlock items were a mixed bag, mostly public domain material but not the best of that sort of thing.

I'm glad to get the nice versions of the Wontner films and will watch those again sometime. The rest I'd pretty much skip across the board. I got no time for it.

Here's the list of what's on each disc.

Disc 1

• The Fatal Hour (1931) featuring Arthur Wontner
• Essay by Don Stradley
• Commentary Track with Jennifer Churchill
• The Adventures of Sam Sherman: Part One featurette
• Recreated Sherlock Holmes Radio Broadcast
• A Black Sherlock Holmes (1918) cut bonus short
• A Black Sherlock Holmes (1918) uncut bonus short
• Baffled (1900)

Disc 2

• The Triumph of Sherlock Holmes (1935) featuring Arthur Wontner
• Essay by Jason A. Ney
• Commentary Track with Jason A Ney
• The Adventures of Sam Sherman: Part Two featurette
• The Copper Beeches (1912)
• Blind Man's Bluff TV episode (1954)

Disc 3

• Silver Blaze (1937) featuring Arthur Wontner
• Essay by Don Stradley
• Commentary Track with Phoef Sutton & Jordan Legan
• The Adventures of Sam Sherman: Part Three featurette
• Sure Luck Holmes Felix the Cat cartoon
• Cousins of Sherlocko (1913)

Disc 4

• A Study in Scarlet (1933) featuring Reginald Owen
• Essay by C. Courtney Joyner
• Commentary Track with Peter Atkins & David Breckman
• Elementary Cinema an original production by Ballyhoo Motion Pictures
• Slick Sleuths Mutt & Jeff cartoon

Also includes:

• 4 original poster replications in ease disc case

Sherlick Holmes 1975

Sherlick Holmes is a 1975 porn parody of Sherlock Holmes. It's written by Bear Wilson and directed by Tim McCoy (Victor Milt). It's part of a two film set from Vinegar Syndrome's Peekarama DVD series.

Harry Reems plays Sherlick and Zebedy Colt plays Watson. The movie starts with Sherlick and Watson banging some lady. Holmes has invented a time travel machine. Watson accidentally sends them to New York in the 1970s. They meet up with pimp Bobby Astyr and he lends them some of his spare pimp outfits. The time machine disappears and Sherlick and Watson noodle around sticking their plonkers into any available lady they come across. Eventually Sherlick finds the time machine and they get back home and start banging again. It's kind of funny, more for the film making than the jokes, and part of that fun was watching Harry and Zebedy running about the streets of New York in those pimp outfits. I wouldn't have picked it up, other than for the Sherlock connection. I might watch it again someday but who knows. So many other better films to watch again.

Hands Of A Murderer 1990

Hands Of A Murderer is a 1990 British TV movie that was written by Charles Edward Pogue and directed by Stuart Orme. Pogue had previously written 2 British TV movies with Ian Richardson playing Sherlock Homes. They came out in 1983 and HOAM would have been part of that series, under the title The Prince Of Crime, but it didn't get produced because the Granada Sherlock series started in 1984. Producer Sy Weintraub took Granada to court and won 2 million pounds. Edward Woodward plays Sherlock Holmes and John Hillerman plays Dr Watson. Anthony Andrews plays Professor Moriarty and Peter Jeffrey plays Mycroft Holmes. Moriarty is about to be hung but he manages to escape while his head is in the noose. He had some help, a pretty redhead played by Kim Thomson and his own henchmen. Holmes is furious with Lestrade, played by Terence Lodge, and he plans to go after Moriarty. Mycroft asks Sherlock to help him with a leak in his office but Sherlock is focused on Moriarty. That scumbag has a plan going to steal the code to secret documents that Mycroft receives. Moriarty kidnaps Mycroft to get the code from him and Sherlock is on his trail. It wasn't too bad a story, there's action and the story moves along fairly well. Locations, sets and props are all good. I got used to Woodward and Hillerman as Holmes and Watson but they aren't ever going to be my favs. Moriarty was a more interesting character. It's an interesting addition to the Holmes collection and I'd still watch it again someday.

Sherlock Holmes Against Conan Doyle

Sherlock Holmes Against Conan Doyle is a documentary about Doyle and the effect his creation had on him. It's directed by Emmanuelle Nobecourt and it aired 2-18-18 on French TV. It seems to have been made in English, somewhat logical as most of the people interviewed were English. There's not much info about it on the IMDb or the Internet in general.

I'd read before that Doyle came to hate being tied to Sherlock and that's why he killed him off. The documentary gives a fair overview of Doyle's life and writing. It's only 53 minutes, there isn't room to get really detailed. It's nice that the documentary doesn't get overly dramatic about the battle between Doyle and his creator. Doyle was an interesting guy with some ups and downs in his life. Holmes was the elephant in his room and it was an issue for him.  Still, he put a lot of work into the stories and their quality has stood the test of time. Sherlock is one of the most adapted characters in media and still highly beloved. I enjoyed the documentary and would recommend it to the Homes fan.

Young Sherlock: Mystery At The Manor House Granada Television 1982

Young Sherlock: The Mystery Of The Manor House is an 8 part Granada Television production from 1982. The episodes were written by Gerald Frow and directed by Nicholas Ferguson. For some unknown reason the first episode is double the length of the all the others. It's like there are 9 episodes, time wise. Sherlock is played by Guy Henry and he's 17 at the time. He's returned home from school to find that his parents have moved out of the manor house and gone to France. They'd suffered financial ruin and Sherlock must board with the Turnbull family. A right horrible bunch they are, let me tell you.

A different family of a horrible nature has moved into the manor house and their actions rouse Sherlock's suspicions. There's a good bit of sleuthing and a good bit of family drama. Sherlock finds friendship in the housekeeper, Mrs Cunliffe, and Doctor Sowerbutts and family. At the end of the series Mrs Cunliffe gets married to a man named Hudson and moves to 221B Baker's Street. Sherlock eventually uncovers a devious plot and works to foil it. He gets some help from the Doctor and family and a young woodsman called Newbugs.

The story is OK, the details a bit sloggy. The bit with Mrs Cunliffe/Hudson is weak but other bits are better. I was glad to see it but doubt I would shell out some cold hard cash for a set of the DVD. It's out of print but you can still get a set for $20-30, depending on the disc quality. You can see the lot on YouTube by clicking these links. Episodes 1-5 6 7 8

The Many Faces Of Sherlock Holmes

I went looking for a cover shot of The Many Faces Of Sherlock Holmes and found The Many Faces Of Sherlock Holmes. The first is the Mill Creek Entertainment 3 DVD set that you see the cover to above. The second is a 47 minute documentary, narrated by Christopher Lee, about the various actors who've played the detective. I watched the first 10 minutes and it seems interesting enough. I'll finish it while I type this.

I bought the DVD set because it had two Sherlock Holmes TV productions on it that I hadn't seen. So, I thought. When I went to put it away with the rest of the Holmes stuff I found I had gotten a different DVD and watched it 3 years ago. Totally forgot about it. I even posted a blog post about it.

Sherlock Holmes & the Leading Lady 1992 Written by Bob Shane and H R F Keating, with Peter Sasdy directing. Mycroft asks Holmes to investigate the theft of stolen plans for a bomb detonator. Holmes and Watson travel to Vienna where they run into Irene Adler. Irene is played by Morgan Fairchild and Vienna is played by Luxembourg.

Sherlock Holmes: Incident at Victoria Falls 1992 Written by Bob Shane and Gerry O'Hara, directed by Bill Corcoran. This time they filmed in Victoria Falls as well as Luxembourg. The King asks Sherlock to protect the Star Of Africa on a trip to Cape Town. There's lots of outdoor travel and plenty of killing. Jenny Seagrove plays Lilly Langtry and Claude Akins plays Theodore Roosevelt.

Both are a bit stodgy but they're fine. Lee and Macnee do a fine job. I gave them both a 6 when I saw them the first time and I still stick by that now.

The second disc contains the 1965 feature A Study In Terror with John Neville. I had just gotten this on a Blu-ray that looks so much nicer. The rest of that disc has 5 episodes of the 1950s TV show The Adventures OF Sherlock Holmes with Ronald Howard. I already have them in a DVD set that I got ages ago. The series is in the public domain and there are several sets out there, often mixed with other PD Holmes material. Just like this set. You can see them all on YouTube.

The third disc has 5 older films that are all in the Public Domain.

A Study In Scarlet 1933 Reginald Owen as Sherlock Holmes in a fairly good film. Warburton Gamble is Watson and Anna May Wong co-stars.

The Sign Of Four 1932 Another fairly good film with Arthur Wontner as Holmes and Ian Hunter as Watson.

Murder At The Baskervilles 1937 Another film with Arthur Wontner as Homes. This time Watson is played by Ian Fleming. Not the James Bond guy. It's an OK film.

Dressed To Kill 1946 This Holmes film is in the Public Domain, as is the one below. Basil Rathbone plays Holmes and Nigel Bruce plays Dr Watson. Better than all the others here by far. You can find better copies of the whole lot of the Rathbone and Bruce films on DVD. I recently bought the Blu-Ray set and was mighty pleased.

Terror By Night 1946 Another good one with Nigel and Basil.

Here's another production I found while looking for other Holmes material. I hadn't seen before. Now that I've watched it, it's pretty poor in every way. Patrick Macnee plays Sherlock Holmes, making him one of 4 actors to play both Holmes and Watson. Sadly, he's part of the pretty poor formula. One of the worst Holmes films ever is based on a play by some Canadian bloke. He wrote the screenplay and it's also pretty poor. Just everything about it reeks. Have a look.

Sherlock Holmes and The Hound of London 1993

Here's a documentary called Sherlock Holmes The Great Detective.

A Study In Terror 1965

I really liked the 1965 Sherlock Holmes film A Study In Terror. It's the second film with John Neville I've seen in the last two weeks. What are the odds? The movie was written by Donald and Derek Ford with James Hill directing. The Ford's are brothers who often wrote together. Together they wrote some British TV for shows like Adam Adamant Lives!, The Saint, and Z Cars. I've seen their film The Black Torment and thought it was alright. Better was Derek Ford's 1970 film Groupie Girl. In the 70s and 80s Derek wrote a lot of films with naked ladies in them. I haven't seen any of them. James directed a lot of stuff over the years, documentaries, feature films and TV episodes. I can't say I've seen much of his work. I know I've seen the three episodes of The Saint and the film Captain Nemo And The Underwater City. He directed a lot of episodes of Worzel Gummidge with Jon Pertwee. I didn't care that much for the couple of episodes that I watched and never went any further.

John plays Sherlock and Donald Houston plays Dr Watson. They do a great job and the rest of the cast is equally fine. Someone sends Sherlock a case of surgeon's tools, he's holding it in the picture. That sets Sherlock on the hunt for Jack The Ripper. Frank Finlay plays Inspector Lestrade, a role he would play again in the 1979 film Murder By Degree, also about Jack the Ripper. Anthony Quayle plays a surgeon who helps the needy in ASIT and he played a different character in MBD. Both are original screenplays, Doyle's Sherlock never investigated the Ripper killings.

I'm not really overly fond of the posters. The byline, Here comes the original caped crusader!, is pretty sad and the poster to the left is even worse. Too bad someone wasn't fired out a cannon for that. Thankfully the movie is more entertaining. The sets, locations, props and costumes are good looking. It moves along briskly and there's a nice mix of drama and humor. I enjoyed Robert Morley as Mycroft. Carry On favorite Barbara Windsor plays one of Jack's victims, she stops by just long enough to get murdered in her new hat. Keep an eye out for Patrick Newell, Jeremy Lloyd and Judy Dench in smallish parts. I picked up the Columbia Blu-ray for about 6 bucks at Hamilton Books and was glad I did. It's a nice addition to my Sherlock collection and a movie I'll enjoy again.

Dressed To Kill 1946

Dressed To Kill was the last of the 14 Sherlock Holmes films that Basil Rathbone and Nigel Bruce made. It came out May 24 1946. Frank Gruber and Leonard Lee are responsible for the script and Roy William Neill directs.

A prisoner in Dartmoor Prison creates 3 music boxes with a secret message in the tune. The message gives the location of stolen Bank Of England printing plates. The music boxes are sold at auction to the wrong people. Now the villain's pals are looking for them and they'll murder anyone who gets in their way.

Sherlock and Dr Watson take up the case and just over an hour later the crooks are caught. There's a good villain and some running around. People complain it's one of the weakest of the lot but I didn't think it was much better or worse then most of them. There's a commentary by David Gregory, Richard Valley and Patricia Morison. Patricia was in the film. Now I'm done until I see them again someday.