Sherlock Holmes and the Sign of Four

These Four Sherlock Holmes cartoons, as well as the literary adaptations done by Burbank Studios Australia, are fun little pieces. They were made in the 80's, and played on TV, sometimes on Saturday mornings, but mostly on school holidays to give kids an alternative to Soap Operas in the days when there were only three channels from which to choose.

For kids raised on anime, these will seem boring, they also lack all the high pitched screaming and shrieking prevalent in the cartoons on TV today.

The cartoons give a nice representation of Victorian England both in locations and in the characterizations.

Definitely recommended for fans of Sherlock Holmes, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, and cartoon adaptations of literary classics.

I've been a lifelong fan of mysteries, as was my father before me, and it's a tradition I've tried to pass down to my nieces and nephews. I recently came across these four animated Sherlock Holmes specials from the early 80s with acting legend Peter O'Toole voicing the greatest detective of all time. I'd never heard of these before, and boy was I in for a treat! Peter O'Toole has an amazing vocal quality that brings the right amount of sincerity and wit to the role, and his ability to have fun within character makes him a real treat for children. The animation is on par with any Hannah Barbera production from the era, and it reminded me of one of my other all time favorite animated shows, Scooby Doo, only with the higher quality writing of the Arthur Conan Doyle original stories. I can't wait to see these again, as I've heard a DVD release is pending. Wonderful family entertainment, and a great way to get kids reading. Highly recommended! One of the directors has been the chief layout artist for many Disney films in recent years, too, so if your kids have grown up on the Jungke Book, Little Mermaid and Aladdin sequels, it will be nice to see where the layout originated.

The Sign of Four is one of my favourite Conan Doyle Sherlock Holmes stories, so I naturally hope that any adaptation would be good. And they have been, the best being the Jeremy Brett version. Burbank's version is highly laudable. There are some letdowns, two of them are general problems with all four of the Burbank Sherlock Holmes adaptations. The character designs are rather stiff and the camera angles rather rushed, while the pacing has moments when it is sluggish and I felt that the character of Jonathan Small was not quite sinister enough. However, the backgrounds and colours are very evocative and impressive, The Baskerville Curse may be the best overall of the four in terms of story and atmosphere, though I give all of them the same rating, but it is The Sign of Four that is the most handsome-looking. The music manages to be haunting and not over-bearing, and the dialogue is thought-provoking. What struck me as really good about these four adaptations is how faithful in detail and spirit to Conan Doyle's writing they are(which is more than I could say about the worst of Burbank's animated adaptations, and I can only think of 5 or 6 that completely underwhelmed me) and Sign of Four is no exception. Most of the characters are true to character, and the voice acting is solid. As with the other three adaptations there is the odd monotone voice but that is certainly not the case with Peter O'Toole, who is splendid as Holmes. In conclusion, a number of excellent things with some letdowns. 7/10 Bethany Cox