THE HOUND OF THE BASKERVILLES
US, 1939, 79 minutes, Black and white.
Richard Greene, Basil Rathbone, Wendy Barrie, Nigel Bruce, John Carradine.
Directed by Sidney Lanfield.
In 1939 20th Century- Fox made the first of its Sherlock Holmes adaptations from Conan Doyle's The Hound of the Baskervilles. He then made The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes with Rathbone and Bruce. In 1942, Universal Studios began a series of eleven films featuring Sherlock Holmes and Dr Watson, but in an updated contemporary setting.
The Hound of the Baskervilles has always had a great appeal as a novel and as the basis for a film. Peter Cushing starred in the 1959 version, Stewart Granger in a 1972 version and there was a send-up, directed by Paul Morrissey with Peter Cook and Dudley Moore as Holmes and Watson.
While the film is very much studio-bound, it recreates the atmosphere of Conan Doyle's story, especially giving Basil Rathbone a chance to impersonate Holmes and make him a screen icon. Nigel Bruce is effective as a bumbling Watson. There had already been a Sherlock Holmes in 1932 with Clive Brook. Other Sherlock Holmes include Christopher Plummer, Robert Stephens, even Roger Moore.
1. The popularity of Conan Doyle's stories? The personality of Sherlock Holmes? Dr Watson? The comparative ease with which Holmes solves cases?
2. The first of the Sherlock Holmes Hound of the Baskervilles for the screen? B-budget, 1939 studio filming? The studio interiors and exteriors? Black and white photography? The British cast in Hollywood? The musical score and atmosphere?
3. The personality of Holmes, Britain's greatest detective, chronicled by Dr Watson? Admired by everyone? Holmes and his arrogance (not so pronounced here)? His love of detection? His praise of imagination (as different from other films where he emphasises facts)? His impersonations? The qualities that would lead to a series? Dr Watson, medical, bumbling, trying his best to keep pace with Holmes? Making a fool of himself?
4. The credibility of The Hound of the Baskervilles: the opening, Sir Henry Baskerville and his heart attack and death? The convict trying to steal his watch? Dr Mortimer and his decision? The coroner's hearing and the pronunciation of death by heart attack? The legend of The Hound of the Baskervilles - and its being re-enacted on screen, 1660, Sir Hugo and his evil, the woman he abducted, his friends, out on the moors, his being destroyed by the hound? The manuscript, its being read by Dr Mortimer? Stapleton and his knowledge of it, using the legend of the hound, his ancestor's portrait, his investigations and knowing that he was the heir?
6. Sir Henry and his arrival in London, Dr Mortimer meeting him, going to see Sherlock Holmes, the discussions, the carriage and the gun attempt on Sir Henry? The interrogation of the cabbie? At the hotel, the enigma of the missing boot and its return, the other boot missing?
6. Holmes' strategies, not going down to Dartmoor, staying behind, coming quietly, the letters written by Dr Watson (copperplate and dotting all his it’s)? His message to Watson, his disguise, meeting him in the cave? Saying they would return to London, getting out of the train, the set-up for the attack on Sir Henry, his saving Sir Henry?
7. Sir Henry, a young man with a future? A legend, his fears? The meeting with Beryl, falling in love, the wedding plans?
8. The characters: Dr Mortimer and his wife, his being fussy, the attempt at a séance to communicate with the dead Baskerville? Frankland and his litigious nature? The Barrimans and their place in the household, the signals of night, the revelation that the murderer escaped on the moors was Mrs Barriman's brother? His death? Holmes giving her the news?
9. The build-up to the final dinner, Stapleton and his cover, scientific investigations? His getting the hound, unleashing him on the moor? Holmes and Watson shooting the hound? His trapping Holmes in the hole? Stapleton going and giving the poison to Sir Henry? Holmes stopping everything just in time - with Dr Watson knocked flat on the steps of the mansion?
10. The popularity of detective stories - and Sherlock Holmes as the archetypal detective? (The final line, which is surprising for 1939, when Holmes asks Dr Watson to bring the needle for his drug injection.)
