The Hound of the Baskervilles
Directed by Terence Fisher
Written by Peter Bryan based on the novel by Arthur Conan Doyle
1959/UK
Hammer Films
First viewing/YouTube rental
[box] Sherlock Holmes: This is, I think, a two-pipe problem.[/box]
Peter Cushing gives my beloved Basil Rathbone a run for his money in the Sherlock Holmes department.
The plot is a spiced up version of the Arthur Conan Doyle story. The movie starts in the distant past when a vicious dog gets revenge on the sadistic Sir Hugo Baskerville after he rapes and murders a servant girl. Some believe that the Baskerville descendants are cursed to die in the same savage manner.
Centuries later, Sir Charles Baskerville apparently dies from either a heart condition or fright depending on the belief of the diagnostician. His heir Sir Henry (Christopher Lee) comes to England from South Africa to claim his title. It is immediately apparent that the nobleman’s life is in grave danger. Who better to call on than Sherlock Holmes (Cushing)?
Hammer did a great job all-around with the gothic atmosphere in this one. Cushing had Holmes’s intelligence and supercilious attitude nailed. It was nice that the filmmakers did not choose to make Watson a comic relief character as in the Rathbone series. This is a very strong issue in the Hammer catalogue. Apparently, the public expected monsters with its gothic thrillers and Hammer stopped after its first Holmes title.
Trailer
