This Blu-ray Disc edition utilizes the same finely-detailed, high-definition video transfer of George Eastman Museum’s 35mm reconstruction print materials that was issued by Kino on DVD in 2009, which impressively holds highlight details, but is dark and swallows up shadow details. Dust, speckling, timing marks, emulsion scuffing and print damage that is present in the restoration print materials has been allowed to remain in the video master, which appears to be a straight transfer of the source print without digitally-processed defect removal and image stabilization. Some footage is quite unstable and jumps around within the frame, while other footage contains a noticeable amount of film grain, dust, speckling, emulsion chipping and rough splices. Insert shots are represented as photomechanical still frames in the restoration print. Really, the presentation could have (at very least) benefited from image stabilization.

Through the process of watching the film, it is appearent that brief sections of footage are missing — sometimes only a few feet of film, sometimes entire shots or sections — but the narrative appears to be intact, with restoration producers replacing missing intertitles.

The film is accompanied by a music score performed by Ben Model on a Miditzer virtual (computer-based) theatre pipe organ.

The disc is supplemented by promotional trailers for three other 2011 Kino Lorber home video releases.

As good as the 2009 Kino DVD edition (noted just below) was, this Blu-ray Disc edition is just a but better, with its extra sharpness and its finer rendering of the difficult to hold darker greytones. This is our top recommendation for a home video edition of Sherlock Holmes.

USA: Click the logomark to purchase this Region 0 Blu-ray Disc edition from Amazon.com. Your purchase supports Silent Era.
Canada: Click the logomark to purchase this Region 0 Blu-ray Disc edition from Amazon.ca. Your purchase supports Silent Era.

Throw away those crappy VHS videotapes of Sherlock Holmes you’ve been holding onto over the years. This is the first high-quality DVD edition mastered from George Eastman Museum’s 2001 reconstruction (their second) of the 1922 feature film, long thought to be lost in print fragments. This recent reconstruction is likely to be the most complete surviving version of the still incomplete film until additional footage or a complete print is recovered sometime in the future.

The disc utilizes a finely-detailed (likely high-definition) video transfer of George Eastman Museum’s 35mm reconstruction print materials that impressively holds highlight details, but is dark and swallows up shadow details. Dust, speckling, timing marks, emulsion scuffing and print damage that is present in the restoration print materials has been allowed to remain in the video master, which appears to be a straight transfer of the source print without digitally-processed defect removal and image stabilization. Some footage is quite unstable and jitters around the frame, while other footage contains a noticeable amount of film grain, dust, speckling, emulsion chipping and rough splices. Insert shots are represented as photomechanical still frames in the restoration print.

Through the process of watching the film, it is appearent that brief sections of footage are missing — sometimes only a few feet of film, sometimes entire shots or sections — but the narrative appears to be intact, with restoration producers replacing missing intertitles.

The film is accompanied by a music score performed by Ben Model on a Miditzer virtual (computer-based) theatre pipe organ, which sounds quite genuine and pleasing.

A generally good-looking disc despite the restoration print’s authentic warts, we highly recommend this DVD home video edition of Sherlock Holmes.

USA: Click the logomark to purchase this Region 0 NTSC DVD edition from Amazon.com. Your purchase supports Silent Era.
Canada: Click the logomark to purchase this Region 0 NTSC DVD edition from Amazon.ca. Your purchase supports Silent Era.

Other silent era WILLIAM POWELL films available on home video.