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Miss Marple Box set (Joan Hickson)

Advantages: Has the best portrail of Miss Marple ever
Disadvantages: No special features

...Joan Hickson will always be the best 'Miss Marple'. Possibly as she was the first one I saw playing the part. I'm surprised that it took the BBC so long to releace them on DVD From the acting to the setting to the pacing... everything seems just right. Every part of Joan Hicksons performance (which earned her two BAFTA nominations) was perfect. She plays Miss Marple as the 'rather nosey busy body' who the criminal always seems to dismiss as past ...
...brain she can always solve the crimes faster than the inspector. Marple lives in her small village and knows everything that goes on there. Through this she knows the world. She is always saying 's/he reminded me of...' Unlike Poirot who always had a good relatioship with the Inspector, the relationship between Marple and the inspector in these storys is a little more strained. He thinks she's an interfering old busy body, which she is, but she always ...

mjc121 30.06.2007 · Read full review
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Review of The Miss Marple Collection - Starring Joan Hickson (Box Set) (DVD)

The Definitive Holmes and Watson

Advantages: Beautifully restored versions of the greatest Holmes and Watson of all time
Disadvantages: None a single one

...not conversant with the Rathbone/Bruce Sherlock Holmes films, they began as almost A-movies for Twentieth Century Fox first in Hound and then The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes. At this point Fox decided not to film any further adventures but Universal, ever desiring to put together B-movie series, which might draw in audiences, negotiated with Conan Doyle's estate to gain the rights. Successfully so, they brought back Rathbone, as an angular, slightly ...
...Baskervilles and The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes remained faithful to Conan Doyle's late Victorian, fin-de-siecle, milieu, Universal decided to update Holmes and Watson to the present day, and as such the first few films, including Sherlock Holmes in Washington and Sherlock Holmes and the Secret Weapon were patriotic flag-wavers, where Holmes was pitted against dastardly Nazis but it soon became clear to them that it was fog drenched London and/or ...

No_name 20.01.2007 · Read full review
Ciao members have rated this review on average: very helpful
Review of Sherlock Holmes - The Definitive Collection (Box Set) (DVD)

"my wife loves you" (but mine hates him!)

Advantages: acting
Disadvantages: old fashioned

...a scruffy looking, forgetful guy, Columbo always manages to track down his killer. The show was always more than an hour long, and half were 90 minutes, giving an almost movie depth to each episode. IS IT ANY GOOD: I love this show, and would watch it regularly if it wasn't for my 'anti Columbo' wife. The show works because of a couple of elements that set it apart from other detective TV: 1) The inverted detective plot - Columbo episodes start ...
...it, but watching the process Columbo goes through to find out who did it. 2) Columbo, as played by Peter Falk, is an immensely appealing character. His odd looks and shabby apparel make him stand out a mile, and his apparent absentmindedness also jumps out at you. Of course, what all this does so brilliantly is makes him seem real. Unlike most detective films or shows, there is no sense of supernatural, inhuman brilliance about Columbo - he's just ...

bruffyboy 28.05.2009 · Read full review
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Review of Columbo - Series 1 - Complete (Box Set) (DVD)

Great Sunday Afternoon Fun

Advantages: Plot is great
Disadvantages: Does drag in parts

Midsomer Murders has some great who done it plot lines which will keep you glued to the screen. The murderer is always the person you least expected and so is the motive. Barnaby does not sound or look like a copper and I suppose that's what makes him a good one. He kind of creeps up on the unsuspecting murderer. It's like they knew they were going to get caught but they had not been expecting it to be that soon. When he identifies the murderer, ...
...less time investigating and more time attending, fairs and having tea with his wife. If you love who done its then this is the box set for you. The plot lines are got and the story lines okay. It will not keep you at the edge of your seat but you will feel fairly suspended. Good fun. ...

flamesk 11.04.2008 · Read full review
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Review of Midsomer Murders Vol.2 (Box Set) (DVD)

A twist in the tale...

Advantages: Episodes right length and not too long, interesting stories
Disadvantages: Some episodes can be disappointing compared to others

Tales of the Unexpected are a series of stories that have been adapted to be show on television. The stories are very different to each other but the one thing that they have in common is that they all tend to have an unexpected twist. Most of the time, these are very hard to guess. Tales of the Unexpected ran from 1979 to 1988. There were 9 series. The one that I am reviewing is the complete first series. I have just started to collect these as ...
...I came across them I remembered how much I used to like watching them years ago. I wasn't born when the first series was released but can remember my mum watching these in later years and that is how I started to get into them. I enjoy short stories with a twist (as you will also see from my Alfred Hitchcock Presents review) and have been enjoying watching these. This series comes in a two disc set. Six episodes are on the first disc and three episodes ...

Jo586 23.11.2007 · Read full review
Ciao members have rated this review on average: very helpful
Review of Tales Of The Unexpected - Series 1 - Complete (DVD)