The House of Fear - the Good Comrades are a collection of varied gentleman who crave one thing, solitude. They reside at Drear Cliff House, ancestral home of their eldest member. All seems serene and convivial until one by one the members begin to perish in the most grisly of manners. Foul play is suspected by the Good Comrades' insurance agent, who turns to Sherlock Holmes and Doctor Watson for guidance. The Pearl of Death - the famous Pearl of Death, a valuable gem with a history of bringing murder and misfortune to it's owner since the days of the Borgias, finally reaches it's proper place at a museum in London. But before long the jewel is ingeniously stolen. Shortly thereafter, a series of horrible murders begins, with the murderer leaving his victims surrounded by a mass of smashed China. Holmes must outwit two diabolical criminals in a complicated case that could lead to his own death.
R**0
The Dynamic Duo
Before Robert Downey Jr / Jude Law and Benedict Cumberbatch / Martin Freeman, there was Basil Rathbone and Nigel Bruce.Basil Rathbone portrayed Sherlock Holmes in fourteen films from 1939 to 1946 and to many his iconic characterization of the Baker Street detective remains the best and is certainly the role Rathbone is best remembered for. I also want to give a shout out to Nigel Bruce’s rather unorthodox but excellent portrayal of Dr. Watson. In the novels, Dr Watson was nearly as intelligent as Holmes and a capable assistant but in these films, Nigel Bruce’s Watson acts buffoonish and seems to get more buffoonish with each film. Despite or perhaps because of his controversial stooging, Nigel Bruce was the perfect foil to Basil Rathbone. They played off each other wonderfully and truly are a dynamic duo.Speaking of dynamic duos, MPI Home Video has released digitally restored double feature sets for all but four (Sherlock Holmes and the Secret Weapon, The Woman in Green, Terror by Night, and Dressed to Kill) of Rathbone’s fourteen films. I find it odd MPI didn’t choose to pair the films together in chronological order but that gripe aside this set features the excellent pairing of The House of Fear (1945) and The Pearl of Death (1944). The Pearl of Death is one of my top five favorite Sherlock Holmes films and The House of Fear is close behind in my top seven.Video: Both movies are presented in a solid 1:37 full frame transfer. Even though both films are together on one single-sided dual layered dvd the image looks fine. The films are in black and white and overall look relatively clean for their age. I think UCLA really did a commendable job of restoring the films.Audio: The only audio track is English Dolby Digital 2.0 mono. It is clear sounding and I have no complaints.Subtitles: EnglishExtras: None
M**Y
10 outta 10%%%%%%%%%%solution
WOW!! If you are looking for episodes of Sherlock Holmes with Basil, no impostors need apply, these redone issues are unbelievably flawless. For years and years, years and years ago, I watched these movies late at night no matter what condition they were in, or how bad the transmission quality. Not any more, I got 'em in pristine condition, and retouched by the UCLA film dept.. The movies are incredibly sharp and clear. The blacks look black, and the whites look white, like they should. Any Basil fan of Sherlock should be gobbling these up fast. I'm going to get the final two discs also.I'm not going to review the movies at all. What is the point? You are either a Sherlock fan or not. I grew up with these movies from the 30s-40s and they are flat out fun. NO, I didn't watch them in the 30s or 40s, but 50s to 60s and beyond. These movies will always entertain. If you are not from that era, give them a try anyway. Watch these along with the new king of Sherlocks, the Cumberbatch PBS series, and compare notes. The new PBS series is possibly the best show on TV now. Check it out.
T**W
Double Deducible Fun
I'm not going to delve into these movies as likely anyone considering this is already familiar with the Holmes movies starring Rathbone and Bruce. As far as I am concerned there isn't a dud among them. What I was really pleased with was the picture and sound quality which is the best I have seen for these movies. Much better than anything I have seen on TV. Probably the only way it will get better is if at some point they go Blu Ray. The second point is the price. When I got them and still as of this writing they were $5 on Amazon. I found four other double features in this series also all $5 each. So for $25 10 Holmes movies and while I haven't watched the rest yet I am going to assume they are of the same video and audio quality. Highly recommended.
O**F
Elementary, it's great
I grew up watching these old B&W detective movies with my Dad.. he was a big fan. I was just a little girl, but had and still have a huge crush on Basil Rathbone. Part of it's nostalgia of course, but I love the film noir quality, the cars and the outfits and the way they talked . I love the story lines. Nobody else, can ever be SH or Dr. Watson in my mind, these two set the bar too high. I believe they made about 14 films in this series, and I've got about half of them on DVD. I can watch them over and over, they are classics. These two, are two of my fav. episodes. I esp. love the films that Dennis Hoey is in . He's such a lovable oaf. He's in both of these films.
A**L
A pleasant surprise
Two good movies. Never seen either one before but would watch them again.
J**K
Atmosphere galore!
For many Holmes fans, the best Sherlock was Basil Rathbone and while his Watson, Nigel Bruce, was something of a bumbling fool at times, you have to admire the way Sherlock never condescended to Watson. Holmes (Rathbone) always treated him with respect and amusement and that made their relationship work. Both of these movies are filled to overflowing with atmosphere and for me, that's half the fun of watching these oldies but goodies. THE HOUSE OF FEAR is particularly creepy and quite unsettling at times. A fantastic double-feature worth every penny. Excellent DVD quality and very attractive packaging.
J**E
A Thinking Person's Detective
This series of tales created by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle features Sherlock Holmes (Basil Rathbone) and his sidekick Dr. Watson (Nigel Bruce) who solve horrific crime in the pursuit of truth and justice using deductive reasoning.
D**A
Hannahs Nana
My husband loves Basil Rathbone as Sherlock Holmes. Since there's not a lot of great stuff on tv to watch, we're building our DVD collection. The Sherlock Holmes movies starring Mr. Rathbone are quiet interesting. I wasn't sure what to expect, but after watching 7 movies. I realized I do like them. My favorite being "The Hound Of The Baskervilles" Great movie, another good one was "Terror By Night",This seller has an abundance to choose from & the turn around time is excellent. Will keep on buying from this seller, you should too!
T**U
Feeling alittle cheated
Firstly I would like to point out that the dvd films are of course very good in terms of the stories which I have already seen previously. I have not yet checked out the dvd received but merely wanted to reinforce the point made by the other reviewer that this dvd is NOT IN COLOUR but BLACK AND WHITE! The description and features given on this website that say that the dvd is in colour is a MISREPRESENTATION! If you are looking for the colour version- PLEASE DO NOT ORDER THIS ITEM as it is only a BLACK n WHITE Version.I am only giving one Star merely as a token recognition that the films are ok but fails for me simply because I wanted the COLOUR VERSION and NOT BLACK AND WHITE. One star represents my disappointment that this Dvd was NOT IN COLOUR as advertised by Amazon. I feel cheated and am aggrieved.
A**7
Very good double feature of the Basil Rathbone-Nigel Bruce series
Very good quality DVD. The transfer is very good. Content wise, these are 2 of the better adventures in the Universal Basil Rathbone-Nigel Bruce series. A must for fans.
M**R
JEREMY BRETT PORTRAYED SHERLOCK THE BEST OF ALL THE ACTORS WHO EVER PLAYED THE ROLE.
JEREMY BRETT PORTRAYED SHERLOCK THE BEST OF ALL THE ACTORS WHO HAVE BEEN CAST IN THAT ROLE.
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