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drpayn1963
Reviews
The Woman in Black (1989)
Superbly creepy
Much better than the remake with Daniel Radcliffe (though Radcliffe was one of its stronger elements). In answer to xavierramos - this is available to buy from My Rare Films (at the time of writing).
Sherlock Holmes (1954)
Enjoyable overall
Anyone looking for faithful adaptations of Conan Doyle stories aren't going to find them here (save for one or two episodes) but if you accept them for what they are, ie original stories (sometimes loosely based on Doyle's writings) then they're mostly enjoyable. Some of the plots creak without quite collapsing and some of the acting is a bit wooden but Messrs. Howard, Marion-Crawford and Duncan are OK. As a nostalgia-fest, they're wonderful, though. It's presumably what viewers saw on ITV soon after its inception in 1956, along with the likes of Colonel March of Scotland Yard and similar detective series.
Sherlock Holmes (1954)
Enjoyable overall
Anyone looking for faithful adaptations of Conan Doyle stories aren't going to find them here (save for one or two episodes) but if you accept them for what they are, ie original stories (sometimes loosely based on Doyle's writings) then they're mostly enjoyable. Some of the plots creak without quite collapsing and some of the acting is a bit wooden but Messrs. Howard, Marion-Crawford and Duncan are OK. As a nostalgia-fest, they're wonderful, though. It's presumably what viewers saw on ITV soon after its inception in 1956, along with the likes of Colonel March of Scotland Yard and similar detective series.
A Set of Six (1990)
A Scrote of note
It was a brilliant idea to extend the character of Dr. Martin Scrote (who first appeared on The Last Resort with Jonathan Ross) to include 'the other five', and Rowland Rivron's finest achievement. Some absolutely laugh out loud moments (the opening scene of David 'Top Shot' Scrote, for instance) and some pretty dark humour along the way. To the reviewer who was asking where he could get hold of them, the whole set was on iTunes last time I looked.
Curse of the Crimson Altar (1968)
Somehow just about watchable
... despite more holes in the plot than would ever be caused by moles in a graveyard. The basic story is sound but there are so many inconsistencies in plot and character development it becomes at times, quite laughable. That it's still watchable for me is largely down to Messrs. Lee and Karloff saving the day. However, at one point the director (presumably) thought it would be funny (mistakenly) for Robert Manning to remark 'It's like Boris Karloff will pop out at any moment' when Karloff was there playing another character. It should also be noted that in an accompanying extra on some DVD/Blu-Ray issues, Christopher Lee, in an interview, describes this as a 'dreadful little film'. I guess it's a mark of honesty to include that in the DVD but not a great selling point...