7 | / 10 |
Users | 0.0 | |
Reviewer | 3.0 | |
Overall | 3.0 |
Young foreign diplomat Ronald Adair (Leslie Perrins) becomes the blackmailed pawn of devious criminal Dr. Moriarty, who threatens to expose Ronald's gambling habit if he does not make a delivery of stolen notes to France
Starring: Arthur Wontner, Ian Fleming (II), Minnie Rayner, Leslie Perrins, Jane WelshForeign | 100% |
Mystery | 36% |
Crime | 14% |
Video codec: MPEG-4 AVC
Video resolution: 1080p
Aspect ratio: 1.34:1
Original aspect ratio: 1.37:1
English: Dolby Digital 2.0 Mono (320 kbps)
English, Spanish
Blu-ray Disc
Single disc (1 BD)
Region A (B, C untested)
Movie | 3.0 | |
Video | 3.0 | |
Audio | 2.0 | |
Extras | 3.0 | |
Overall | 3.0 |
Note: This film is available on Blu-ray as part of The Sherlock Holmes Vault Collection.
Several online sites offer the presumed fact that the character of Sherlock Holmes is perhaps the most portrayed personage in the entire annals of
film
and, later, television. The sheer number of Holmes adaptations for either the large or small screens is so overwhelming in fact that some fans may
have a challenge in choosing their favorite. Some may go with more venerable classic interpretations like those from Basil Rathbone (Sherlock Holmes: The Complete
Collection) or even Jeremy Brett (Sherlock Holmes: The Complete Granada Television Series), while others may prefer more modern performances from
the
likes of Benedict Cumberbatch (Sherlock: The
Complete Series) or Jonny Lee Miller (Elementary). The Basil
Rathbone - Nigel Bruce Holmes films are an interesting assortment, for a couple of reasons. As fans no doubt know, the first two films in the
series, The Hound of the Baskervilles and The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes, were set in Victorian
England, while all the subsequent entries in the franchise were "updated" to an explicit World War II setting mimicking their production era and no
doubt tied to a perceived need for cinematic heroes to vanquish various enemies. That aspect clearly presages some of the latter day revisions to
the character as seen in both the Cumberbatch and Miller television series, but as will be mentioned in a moment, is not the first such instance of
that particular strategy. But as a film franchise regardless of any time shift, the Rathbone -
Bruce films are often the first to come to mind, at least in terms of Holmes films from that general period. In that regard, three British productions
aggregated in this collection might reasonably be deemed to be one of the major groups of Holmes films to come in the sound era at least prior to
the now legendary teaming of Rathbone and Bruce, with Arthur Wontner starring as the venerable sleuth and Ian Fleming (not that one) as Dr.
Watson. The Wontner - Fleming films in this set were produced in 1931, 1935 and 1937, while the fourth film in the set, A Study in Scarlet,
features Reginald Owen and came out in 1933. The Wontner films in particular but also the Reginald Owen film presage the World War II era
Rathbone films
by at least somewhat
contemporizing events.
Sherlock Holmes' Fatal Hour is presented on Blu-ray courtesy of The Film Detective with an AVC encoded 1080p transfer in 1.34:1. Unfortunately The Film Detective doesn't offer any really substantial technical information, though if I'm understanding the weirdly redacted Sam Sherman audio interview, it sounds like no 35mm elements of any of these films exist, and so expectations should be tempered in terms of whatever source element was utilized is able to offer. This is actually one of the better looking films in the set, but that's a relative statement. The entire presentation struck me as at least somewhat too dark, leading to regularly crushed blacks and a lack of detail in many scenes (including the intentionally shadowy opening vignette). Despite the overall darkness, variances can lead to clear milkiness washing over the blacks momentarily, only to recede again. There's manifest damage on display, including some missing frames, warping and the typical smaller signs of age related wear and tear like nicks and scratches. This presentation has one of the more organic looking grain fields in the set, though as can be seen in the screenshots accompanying this review, it can be very gritty looking a lot of the time.
Sherlock Holmes' Fatal Hour features Dolby Digital 2.0 Mono audio. Regular readers of my reviews will know I'm not a fan of Blu-ray discs with only lossy audio options, but in this case, one has to reasonably wonder how much a lossless track could have added to things. This film was produced at the relative dawn of the sound age, and it has an undeniably narrow, boxy and even almost hollow sound at times. There's evident hiss and background noise, along with the occasional pop and crackle. Dialogue is reasonably easy to understand despite some of the recurrent issues, and the good news is there are optional English and Spanish subtitles to help listeners elide any potential challenges.
This first Wontner entry definitely picks up steam as it goes along, but some elements, like the completely daffy conceit of having Moriarty talk to a character through a painting, are just plain weird. Wontner doesn't quite have the spry archness of Rathbone, but he's an appealing presence. Technical merits are definitely improvable (though I'm assuming the sources here were in ragged shape to begin with), but the supplemental package is very enjoyable, for those who are considering making a purchase.
(Still not reliable for this title)
1935
La donna del lago
1965
Death Penalty / Night Fiend / Penalty of Death / Pena de Muerte
1974
La Mort Trouble
1970
2011
La ragazza dal pigiama giallo / The Pajama Girl Case
1977
Blazing Magnum / Una Magnum Special per Tony Saitta
1976
2017
La polizia brancola nel buio
1975
Das Rätsel der roten Orchidee
1962
La donna della domenica | Standard Edition
1975
1962
Plein feux sur l'assassin
1961
Sherlock Holmes und das Halsband des Todes
1962
L'uomo Senza Memoria
1974
Le corps de mon ennemi
1976
La mariée était en noir
1968
Les Rivières Pourpres
2000
1966
The Mysterious Air Pirate
1915