This week we have five DVDs that offer new takes on old tales, or rework familiar plots. They include different views of “Sherlock Holmes,” a coming-of-age tale from Britain, a story about a songwriter’s redemption and one of the biggest movies of recent times, “Avatar.”

Sherlock Holmes

Directed by Guy Ritchie
Warner Home Video; $28.98

This rethinking of Arthur Conan Doyle’s classic character turned the cerebral detective into a man of action — one who engages in “Fight Club”-style shirtless boxing bouts, no less. For an audience raised on Bond and Bourne, this updated Holmes was more accessible than the cerebral hero of yesteryear.

Some people loved the concept – embracing the movie’s derring-do adventures, and some didn’t, feeling that Holmes’ deductive reasoning was lost amid the chases and the hyperkinetic editing. But enough people responded to the movie to turn it into a hit (it grossed $208 million in the U.S.)

Robert Downey Jr. is a rare actor who can convey intelligence, and his Holmes does occasionally seem to have sprung from Conan Doyle’s imagination. And Jude Law is a more dashing (if similarly opaque) Watson than movies usually provide.

The plot gets a bit chaotic and the action at the end veers toward the desperate, but despite director Guy Ritchie’s tinkering with a time-tested formula, the Holmes mystique endures.

The Rivals of Sherlock Holmes

Various directors
Acorn Media; $59.99

Arthur Conan Doyle wasn’t the only one writing popular mystery stories in the late 1800s. This early 1970s British mystery series dramatized some of the best tales of the era and showcased the work of some of Doyle’s British and American contemporaries. Like Doyle, these writers featured detectives who outwitted their opponents through the use of brainpower, not force.

The names of the detectives alone gives a flavor of what’s in store for viewers: There’s Dr. Thorndyke, Max Carrados, “Klimo,” Lady Molly, Detective Dagobert Trostler, the mysterious Mr. Laxworthy. And they are brought to life by a cast of great British actors including Derek Jacobi (“I, Claudius”; “Cadfael”), Jean Marsh (“Upstairs, Downstairs”), Robin Ellis (“Poldark”) and John Thaw (“Inspector Morse”).

For mystery buffs who prefer old-fashioned detective tales, and the pleasure of seeing famous actors earlier in their careers, this is a rewarding series.

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