SuperHeroBooks - Dressed to Kill
|
List Price: $7.98
Our Price: $0.99
Your Save: $ 6.99 ( 88% )
Availability: Usually ships in 24 hours
Manufacturer: Alpha Video
Starring: Basil Rathbone, Nigel Bruce, Patricia Morison, Edmund Breon, Frederick Worlock
Directed By: Roy William Neill
|
Average Customer Rating:  
|
|
Aspect Ratio: 1.33:1
Audience Rating: NR (Not Rated)
Binding: DVD
EAN: 0089218300591
Format: Black & White
Label: Alpha Video
Manufacturer: Alpha Video
Number Of Items: 1
Publisher: Alpha Video
Region Code: 1
Release Date: 2004-01-01
Running Time: 72
Studio: Alpha Video
Theatrical Release Date: 1946-06-07
|
|
|
|
|
|
Spotlight customer reviews:
|
Customer Rating:
Summary: Play that Tune!
Comment: Prelude to Murder (DRESSED TO KILL) was unfortunately the last of about fourteen Sherlock Holmes films that starred Basil Rathbone as the famous private detective with Nigel Bruce as Dr. Watson. The story concerns printing plates stolen from the Bank of England and a collection of three nondescript music boxes. What connection do these items have and will this caper cost the famous Holmes his life?
The restoration is very well done for a vintage 1946 film. One thing that did bother me was moving the timeline for the Holmes stories from Victorian England to the World War II era. Somehow it did not seem quite right. However, Basil Rathbone is a superb Sherlock although I think Nigel Bruce was more bungling than Dr. Watson should have been portrayed to my way of thinking.
Still all in all a fine job of restoration and entertaining. Holmes comes very close to being in a heap of trouble.
Bentley/2008
Sherlock Holmes - Prelude to Murder (aka Dressed to Kill) (Colorized / Black and White)
Customer Rating:
Summary: "Prelude to Murder (1946) ... Sherlock Holmes ... 20th Century Fox (2005)"
Comment: 20th Century Fox present "PRELUDE TO MURDER" (aka: Dressed To Kill) (Released: 7 June 1946/72 mins) (Fully Restored/Dolby Digitally Remastered) --- now in COLOR and Glorious Black and White --- Under Roy William Neill (Director / Producer), Arthur Conan Doyle (Short Story Author),Frank Gruber (Screenwriter), Leonard Lee (Screenwriter), Maury Gertsman (Cinematographer), Jack Brooks (Songwriter), Milton Rosen (Musical Direction/Supervision / Composer (Music Score), Hans Salter (Composer (Music Score),Saul A. Goodkind (Editor), Martin Obzina (Art Director), Jack Otterson (Art Director), Howard Benedict (Executive Producer), Russell A. Gausman (Set Designer), E.R. Robinson (Set Designer), Edward Ray Robinson (Set Designer), Vera West (Costume Designer), Glenn E. Anderson (Sound/Sound Designer), Bernard B. Brown (Sound/Sound Designer), Jack Pierce (Makeup), Melville Shyer (First Assistant Director) - - - - - - the story line and plot, The last in a wonderful run of 14 films by a different major production company but always kept the brilliant duo of lead actors Basil Rathbone and Nigel Bruce as Sherlock Holmes and his loyal assistant Dr. Watson --- as this is another marvelously scripted and professionally directed detective adventure! --- an old school friend of Dr. Watson is found murdered, Sherlock Holmes immediately suspects that this has something to do with his latest collector's item purchase, namely a wooden musical box --- Two other identical boxes were made by a convicted burglar in prison and the altered melody hides a secret code that leads his accomplices to the location of two stolen Bank of England printing plates! --- another very compelling mystery film.fast-paced and loaded with intriguing dialogue --- As usual, Bruce's character Dr. Watson provides the story with a couple of neat comical moments, most notably the scene in which he tries to comfort a little girl who just got traumatized by imitating the sound of a duck --- The chemistry between Rathbone and Bruce is as ever the binding of the film --- The verbal banter between Hilda Courtney (Patricia Morrison) and Holmes is for me the most memorable aspect of the film.
the cast includes:
Basil Rathbone - Sherlock Holmes
Nigel Bruce - Dr. John H. Watson
Edmund Breon - Julian Emery
Patricia Morison - Hilda Courtney
Patricia Cameron - Evelyn Clifford
Harry Cording - Hamid
Tom Dillon - Detective Thompson
Mary Gordon - Mrs. Hudson
Carl Harbord - Inspector Hopkins
Frederic Worlock - Col. Cavanagh
Ian Wolfe - Man
Leyland Hodgson
Lillian Bronson - Tourist
BIOS
1. Basil Rathbone (aka: Philip St. John Basil Rathbone)
Date of Birth: 13 June 1892 - Johannesburg, South Africa
Date of Death: 21 July 1967 - New York, New York
2. Nigel Bruce (aka: William Nigel Ernle Bruce)
Date of Birth: 4 February 1895 - Ensenada, Baja California, Mexico
Date of Death: 8 October 1953 - Santa Monica, California
3. Roy William Neill (aka: Roland de Gostrie) (Director)
Date of Birth: 4 September 1887, (ship off Ireland)
Date of Death: 14 December 1946 - London, England, UK
Sherlock Holmes is a fictional detective of the late 19th and early 20th centuries, who first appeared in publication in 1887 --- He is the creation of Scottish born author and physician Sir Arthur Conan Doyle --- A brilliant London-based detective, Holmes is famous for his intellectual prowess, and is renowned for his skillful use of deductive reasoning and astute observation to solve difficult cases --- He is arguably the most famous fictional detective ever created, and is one of the best known and most universally recognisable literary characters in any genre.
Conan Doyle wrote four novels and fifty-six short stories that featured Holmes --- All but four stories are narrated by Holmes' friend and biographer, Dr. John H. Watson, two are narrated by Holmes himself, and two others are written in the third person --- The first two stories, short novels, appeared in Beeton's Christmas Annual for 1887 and Lippincott's Monthly Magazine in 1890 --- The character grew tremendously in popularity with the beginning of the first series of short stories in The Strand Magazine in 1891; further series of short stories and two serialised novels appeared almost right up to Conan Doyle's death in 1930 --- The stories cover a period from around 1878 up to 1903, with a final case in 1914. (From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia)
Rathbone is most widely recognized for his starring role as Sherlock Holmes in fourteen movies between 1939 and 1946, all of which co-starred Nigel Bruce as Dr. Watson --- The first two films, The Hound of the Baskervilles and The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes (both 1939) were set in the late-Victorian times of the original stories --- Both of these were made by Twentieth Century Fox, later installments, made at Universal Studios, beginning with Sherlock Holmes and the Voice of Terror (1942), were set in contemporary times, and some had World War II-related plots --- Rathbone and Bruce also reprised their film roles in a radio series, The New Adventures of Sherlock Holmes (1939 - 1946) --- (From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia)
Legend Films can restore, colorize and release many of the classic earliest black and white films --- a patented coloring and remastering process makes each film picture perfect plus more vivd than ever --- no one can resist collecting every title that Legend Films releases.
Hats off and thanks to Barry B. Sandrew Ph.D. (Founder, COO & CTO) and his Legend Films Staff --- looking forward to more high quality releases from the vintage era of the '20s, '30s & '40s --- order your copy now from Amazon where there are plenty of copies available on DVD --- if you enjoyed this title, why not check out Legend Films where they are experts in releasing long forgotten films and treasures to the collector.
Total Time: 72 mins on DVD ~ 20th Century Fox. ~ (9/06/2005)
Customer Rating:
Summary: Colourful characters
Comment: Bought recently PRELUDE TO MURDER was this a working title? But it was under its original title DRESSED TO KILL why was this? Anyway apart from this minor quibble the film is one of the best colorized Sherlock Holmes movies ive seen . Im all for colorizing movies so there ! How about THE HOUND OF THE BASKERVILLES,THE PEARL OF DEATH,THE QUATERMASS EXPERIMENT,QUATERMASS II , gimme the paints and I will do the job !!!
Customer Rating:
Summary: Only a prelude
Comment: Basil Rathbone remains one of only two legendary Sherlock Holmes actors, even to this day. But "Prelude to Murder (or Dressed to Kill)" is not one of the better movies starring Rathbone -- while the mystery is genuinely entertaining, the plot isn't quite long or substantial enough.
Three plain music boxes are sold at an auction, one to Watson's old pal "Stinky" (Edmund Breon). The music boxes don't seem to be anything special, which is why Holmes (Basil Rathbone) is intrigued when Stinky is robbed of a similar music box -- and then found with a knife in his back. Obviously there's something special about the boxes.
Holmes and Watson (Nigel Bruce) rush to the next box's owner, and find that the little girl has been robbed by a disguised thief. But Holmes gets his hands on the third box, and learns what the thieves are after, and how the peculiar tune of the music box holds the key to unlimited wealth -- and ruin for England's economic structure.
"Prelude to Murder" was sadly the last of Rathbone's Sherlock Holmes movies, after thirteen other movies that ranged from Arthur Conan Doyle's own stories to ones made up for World War II. Some of those stories were amazing, and some -- like "Prelude to Murder"'s counterfeiting story -- are merely middling in quality.
The music box code and the missing five-pound plates make for an interesting mystery, especially for the first half of the movie. The thieves are especially intriguing, including a menacing colonel, a chauffeur madly in love with his employer, and the well-clad Hilda Courtney, who yanks her mink stole out from under a just-murdered man -- and seems more concerned about keeping the stole pristine.
But the plot just isn't enough to cover even a short film (about an hour and even minutes, in case you're wondering), and after the rescue of the little girl, it lags badly. Even more unfortunate, scenes like Holmes' capture don't have much suspense, even though they should.
Rathbone's performance is as solid as ever, giving Holmes elegant intelligence that he doesn't have to work at. He even gets to give Holmes some wistfulness in the opening scenes. And Bruce gives a similarly pleasant performance, although he does have his goofy moments, like doing a Donald Duck impression for a traumatized little girl.
This edition has both the original and the colorized versions, and both have been carefully restored to their original sharpness. The colorized version is quite well done most of the time, except in places (like the opening shot of Dartmoor) where it looked washed out. And it's a bit weird how "Stinky" looks like he has baby's skin.
"Prelude to Murder (or Dressed to Kill)" is an entertaining mystery, though it's rather slow and simple compared to Rathbone's other Sherlock films. But it's still worth watching.
Customer Rating:
Summary: In colour and black and white-restored to perfection
Comment: Don't be put off by people slating the colourising techniques/results.
As a lifelong fan of Rathbone and Sherlock Holmes, all the these colourised dvds are a delight. the colours come across well, and the picture and sound is excellent.
It's simply snobbish to complain about these colourisations-it's not as if it's been done permenantly and you do have the option to watch in black and white.
Oh, and nothing is cut from these films in these editions.
For Rathbone fans-buy them! For fans of the films-buy them!
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
