Original half-sheet poster.
will feel insulted by this rushed- through presentation of the Bard of Baker Street.
Richard Valley’s third set of
liner notes is his least meander- ing and most consistently informa- tive. As before, he recapitulates the IMDb listings of various actors, but his attention remains focused as he complements the data with appropriate interview bytes (from the likes of actress Hillary Brooke, Martin Kosleck and UNIVERSAL HORRORS co-author John Brunas) and astute details about which Conan Doyle stories were tapped for which scripts. He does make the occasionally silly pronounce- ment (“PURSUIT TO ALGIERS is the LOVE BOAT of Sherlock Holmes films”) and, when em- barrassed for actual production detail, wastes entire paragraphs on the history of trains in mys- tery thrillers and the “meaning- lessness” of the title DRESSED TO KILL (before finally asserting
it as meaningful!), but the mate- rial is at least competently writ- ten and edited. Apart from a reference to actor Rex Evans as one of George Cukor’s pool boys and a raised eyebrow reference to Ouida Rathbone’s alleged jeal- ousy over her husband’s past relationship with ex-roommate Martin Kosleck, the locker room gossip is thankfully kept to a minimum.
Some closing thoughts: I’ve always been very fond of this se- ries, but until the release of these sets from MPI, I have never watched them all together in correct sequence. To do this is to expose some of their weak- nesses (the substitution of de- ductive process with less clever whodunits, the heavy rotation of supporting cast, the progressive cheapening) as well as their strengths (Neill’s stylish direction, their puckish humor); it also helps to explode one or two
myths, such as the supposed idiocy of Nigel Bruce’s Watson, who has some comic moments and naturally walks several de- ductive steps behind Holmes, but also offers a cumulative portrayal of courage, adventurousness, resourcefulness and sentiment. And then there is Basil Rathbone as Holmes, who has at least one notable rival for the honor in Jer- emy Brett but nevertheless re- mains the definitive interpreter after nearly 60 years. In Rathbone’s performances, we see none of the theatrical flamboyance, none of the neurosis and eccentricity that mark so many other interpreta- tions following in his wake; he simply is Sherlock Holmes, even when acting decidedly unlike him. The series has its ups and downs, as do their presentations here, but taken as a whole, they are a remarkable achievement and MPI’s three sets, as a whole, do them honor.
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