Sherlock Holmes: A Baker Street Dozen Audio CD – CD, July 21, 2009

I'm 25. I first heard Gielgud and Richardson's "The Speckled Band" back when I was in 6th grade. I found copies of the Baker Street Dozen stories at my local library, and would constantly check them out, over and over again. Around 8 or 9 years ago, I bought my own copies in a cassette boxed set, which have since worn out.So I was more than thrilled to see this, the Baker Street Dozen stories on CD, and separated into chapters, at that! There are websites that have copies of these stories, but they are in terrible quality, or chopped up. For stories that were first recorded in 1953, they sound like they were recorded yesterday. I have a bunch of old radio broadcasts on CD, ranging from THE SHADOW to MURDER AT MIDNIGHT and THE GREEN HORNET, and their quality ranges from horrible to fair. But THIS, my friends, is British radio at its finest; fully dramatized, with music and sound effects that fit right into the story, characters that come to life, and stories that will keep you listening over and over again.It seems everyone in America can't look past the Sherlock Holmes ideal with Basil Rathbone and his rendition of the great detective... nobody really bothers to look or listen to other actors' versions of the character. Sir John Gielgud is, in my opinion, the greatest portrayer of Holmes. EVER.To wrap this up... if you're a Sherlock Holmes fan, GET THIS. Trust me, you won't be disappointed. The acting is superb, the quality is astounding for something that's over 50 years old, and the replay value is higher than high, because these stories are timeless. The game is afoot, and you should come along...

Had these been the unabridged Sherlock Holmes stories from the pen of Conan Doyleas I once read and treasured them, I would probably have been happy to award this production 4 stars, or even 5. Given however that I belong to that apparently tiny minority of people for whom therichly atmospheric narratives of Conan Doyle were no small part of the pleasure of these stories,I confess myself somewhat disappointed. Far from being unabridged, these--dramatizations--are not even abridgements in the proper sense of the word. As adaptations for short radio plays- which is all they are- I guess they are not bad. What I expected was Conan Doyle in audiobook form; what I miss is the considerable amount of Conan Doyle each story left out- the bulk in fact of each masterly unhurried narrative, full of observation and description of character and place and incident- with the really full atmosphere you get in the reading.But with most - yes, most- of this pared away for the sake of the 20-25 minute radio format- and with too much indifferent interpolation in its place- too little remains of what I for one would require in any audiobook version of Conan Doyle's stories.It is interesting at least to follow these adaptations with book in hand, and to fill in the story as you go, hitting the pause button as often as needed to let Conan Doyle read you the rest of the tale.

This is a "classic" take on the classic tales. It has amazing 20th century lions doing the acting (Geilgud, Welles, etc.) so you can hardly go wrong. If you're American you may find the accents a bit dense at times, but they do a great job giving an as-written rendition of A. C. Doyle's work.BTW, my bias is that I'm not crazy about the modern Sherlock Holmes re-dos, even the ones with good actors (like Cumberbatch), because I think they lack authenticity. Part of what made Holmes so special is that he existed before the advent of technology -- his detective work was based solely on direct observation and deduction, which is what made it so powerful. Having a team of computer hacks and forensics experts behind you may be modern, but it's not Sherlock Holmes.

Sir John Gielgud and Sir Ralph Richardson are magnificent actors, whose era was the greatest flourishing of British theater since Shakespeare's time. I only took off one star because four episodes of this magnificent version are omitted, which seems ludicrous. Why not just raise the price a little? The only other complete series costs a fortune, so they could have easily included all episodes for $50 and still attracted Holme-o-philes.Still, if you are a Holmes fan, you will love this version. Who do you think guest stars as Moriarty? Orson Welles! How could you possibly find a more gifted and legendary cast?

One could hardly ask for a more suave and convincing pair of actors to play Holmes and Watson than John Gielgud (Holmes) and Ralph Richardson (Watson). Their radio series of the 1950s puts previous portrayals on radio to shame. Gielgud plays Holmes with a light touch, and Richardson give Watson, often played as an idiot, a foxy air. He is the narrator, as he was in the Conan Doyle stories, and does it intelligently. The twelve spisodes on this CD, produced by Harry Allan Towers in England, are superbly directed, and the sound effects (those trotting hooves of the Hansom cab horses are charming) are effective. If Gielgud's Holmes at times seems a bit too light-hearted, that is a minor quibble. All in all, the best Holmes on the air, bar none. The sound is excellent.,

I remember these stories from childhood, dramatized with actors, sound effects, yet very true to the original works. Highly recommend these.

These great recordings were made for the BBC in 1954 and were first aired in the UK that year and in the US in early 1955. The casting is perfect John Gielgud as Holmes and Ralph Richardson as Watson could not be beaten for a radio broadcast, and this probably still holds true to this day 53 years later. Although I think Jeremy Brett would push Gielgud close even without the visual aspect.The addition of Orson Welles as Prof Moriarty in the story The Final problem is the icing on the cake. That penetrating voice is chilling and truly Holmes/Geilgud meets his match in Welles/Moriarty. Any Sherlock Holmes fan should get these historic recordings - you really don't know what you are missing.

reminds me of the good old days

A good 'READ' - however the 'FREE' audio book is from a free US web site (librivox), which you can access for free anyway. A bit of a rip off IMHO.

A very good product , safely delivered . Thank you .

Always a fan of Holmes this is a must for old and new fans alike.

bit of a carry on to get audio book

A welcome gift.