Sherlock Holmes: The Archive Collection Vol. 1

In the beginning there was Eille Norwood. who begat Arthur Wontner, who begat Basil Rathbone, who begat Jeremy Brett. These are the 4 British actors actors who personified Sherlock Holmes in the twentieth century.From 1921 to 1923 Eille Norwood appeared in 47 short silent films. We are given "The Man With the Twisted Lip". It would be nice if some company would give us more, maybe a multi-DVD set, but don't hold your breath. [P.S. Does anyone know how to pronounce his first name? I've heard "Isle", "I-Lee", "Eel", "Ee-Lee", "El" and even "Ellie"].Actually, the Norwood is not the earliest film in this collection. From the prehistoric period we are given "The Copper Beeches" (1912), one of 8 films starring French (!) actor Georges Treville. They were filmed in England, and "The Copper Beeches" makes good use of exterior photography. Georges Treville is forgettable, but this may be my favorite film of the bunch. The acting style is pure Victorian melodrama. The acting in the Norwood film from only 9 years later is much more realistic and "modern". Also, I have a major crush on the actress who plays Alice Rucastle. Do you think there's too much of a an age difference? - I'm 61 and she's 120.Arthur Wontner appeared in five feature-length films from 1931 to 1937. The last three ("The Sign of Four", "The Triumph of Sherlock Holmes", and "Murder at the Baskervilles") are available cheaply on Alpha Video. The first two films were believed to have been lost until a single print of the first one, "Sherlock Holmes' Fatal Hour", was discovered about about 25 years ago. Here it is. Unfortunately, the second film, "The Missing Rembrandt" still is missing.There are also three early Television shows starring Alan Napier (1949), John Longden (1951) and Boris Karloff (1955). Alan Napier is best remembered as Alfred the butler on the Batman TV show. John Longden appeared in several early Hitchcock films. I assume you've heard of Boris Karloff. He plays "Mr. Mycroft" in an adaptation of H.F. Heard's novel "A Taste for Honey". "Mr. Mycroft" is an alias that Sherlock used during his retirement to the Sussex Downs where he devoted his energies to bee-keeping. There is also a 1954 TV appearance by Basil Rathbone, but this is a ringer - he plays a British officer in World War II on "Schlitz Playhouse of the Stars".The collection is padded out with five parodies and cartoons from 1930-52. Apparently our ancestors were easily amused. [One curiosity - the 1933 parody "Lost in Limehouse" stars Olaf Hytten as Sheerluck Jones. Hytten was an extra /character actor who appeared in 293 films between 1921 and 1955, including 6 of Rathbone Sherlock Holmes films (he usually played the butler). This is his only starring role.]A strange collection, but I enjoyed it.

"Sherlock Holmes, The Archive Collection" is an absolute treasure! I had previously seen some of the films from this compilation but "The Sting Of Death" (with boris Karloff as Mr Mycroft) is a gem plaid with first rate actors. Of course one can see the painted backgrounds shake when the actors brush against them but well, it's part of the fun. And I had just finished reading "A Taste For Honey" from which the film was made..The cartoon is crazy but well animated, The string-puppet show (Lime Juice Mystery) is a catastroph, but naïve enough to be lovable.Arthur Wontner and Ellie Norwood episodes are quite good too and absolutely new to me.I only regret the last thirtyish minutes bonus put there just to have something of Basil Rathbone in the bunch.It is essential for a true Sherlockian, to have this 3-disc set in his files!

I love Sherlock Holmes. Especially seeing various actors portraying him. Wontner is pretty good. However, I find him slightly wooden. Also, the transcriptions of the film's is poor. Too bad they couldn't have been cleaned up slightly.

A rather interesting compilation of oddities that included one Arthur Wontner full-length movie and several adaptations and stories, both silent and cartoonish that bore no resemblance to sensible Sherlock Holmes presentations. The contents of the disappointing DVD are worth a laugh, but little more.Terese T Mullican

I just finished forcing my way through the last of the pieces in the alleged SHERLOCK HOLMES ARCHIVE COLLECTION. Out of 12 titles in this collection, only five are Sherlock Holmes films and/or TV shows...and two of them are silent films so abbreviated that they bear little to no resemblance to the stories on which they're based.Several selections are animated shorts, which are as short on laughs as they are on connection to Holmes. One comedy short, starring Cliff Edwards and featuring that incredibly annoying gimmick of rhymed speech that came and thankfully went fairly quickly in the early 30s, isn't even about Holmes. The lead character is called Silo Dance and is thus a parody of Philo Vance, not Sherlock Holmes.Two strange entries are a 30-minute drama starring Basil Rathbone that, aside from its star, has no connection with Holmes whatsoever. The other is a TV comedy/drama from 1955 called "Sting of Death" that stars Boris Karloff, included probably because the name of Karloff's character is Mycroft and somebody must have thought it referred to Sherlock's elder brother. It doesn't!This is so disappointing because there must be so much more that they could have included...and certainly so much here that they shouldn't have. The stuff here that actually does relate to Holmes could have been fit onto one DVD at one third the price.There is a second volume of this series. I shall not be suckered into buying that one.