Truly Dreadful Film

It's fun, it's light, [but] it has a hard time when its tries to get heavy.

When a movie has you begging for it to end not even half way through it's pure crap. We've all seen this movie and this characters millions of times, nothing new in it. Don't waste your time.

The movie turns out to be a little better than the average. Starting from a romantic formula often seen in the cinema, it ends in the most predictable (and somewhat bland) way.

This 1939 adaptation of the novel "The Hound of the Baskervilles," is the perfect opening film for the definitive Sherlock Holmes - Basil Rathbone. We could debate until doomsday who is the best incarnation of the Baker Street sleuth. I do enjoy the efforts of Jeremy Brett, Peter Cushing, Douglas Wilmer and Robert Stephens in particular but Basil Rathbone is still my favourite. He immediately made the character his own with "The Hound of the Baskervilles." It helps this film that the time and budget were a good deal better than those of the 1940s films from "Universal" studios. Nigel Bruce isn't everyone's favourite Watson and it is true that a few liberties were taken by the scriptwriters. However, Bruce makes for a likable and loyal Watson. It should be noted that quite a few details from the original novel had to be excluded from the film. The rather short running time made this clear. The acting and the direction are brilliant and the whole film has the right look for something that is based in the late 19th century. This was one of several out of the 14 Basil Rathbone Holmes movies that came out on video in the early 1990s. It was about 1984 when I saw some clips of "The Hound of the Baskervilles" from a T.V recording. I enjoyed what I watched. The pace is good and the eerie effects of the Devon Moors serve their purpose very well.

The first Sherlock Holmes movie starring Basil Rathbone and Nigel Bruce is one of the most impressive things ever put on screen. It turns out that this was also the first Sherlock Holmes movie set in the Victorian era, as previous cinematic adaptations - even a series starring Arthur Wontner made a few years before this one - had updated the setting to later eras.The moors are as much of a character as any of the people (or the hound). The eerie, foggy environs are the perfect place for a mystery. I understand that the Sherlock Holmes books helped revolutionize criminology, due to Holmes's methods of solving the cases. I haven't read any of the books, although I've seen "Young Sherlock Holmes" and the recent movies starring Robert Downey Jr. and Jude Law. There's no doubt that "The Hound of the Baskervilles" has held up very well over the years. I hope to see the rest of the Rathbone-Bruce series.So how about regaling us with the violin?

Sidney Lanfield directed this film adaptation of the classic Sir Arthur Conan Doyle novel that stars Basil Rathbone as Sherlock Holmes and Nigel Bruce as Doctor John Watson. Here, the plot involves a murder plot being planned against the heir(played by Richard Greene) of the Baskerville estate, an American hoping to come into his inheritance, but someone else has plans to usurp his title, involving a local legend about a huge hound that has cursed the family for generations. Is the supernatural at work, or is it of human origin? Good cast, especially Basil Rathbone, though muddled story and lack of a music score hurt it. The novel was much superior, but this version is acceptable.

Arthur Conan Doyle's THE HOUND OF THE BASKERVILLES (20th Century-Fox, 1939), directed by Sidney Lanfield, is not the first "Sherlock Holmes" mystery to reach the screen but the one that introduced Basil Rathone as the popular fictional detective, Sherlock Holmes. While there's been many screen adaptations taken from the Doyle character dating back to the silent era, ranging from stage actor William Gillette in 1916 to John Barrymore in 1922, the best known for many being that of Rathbone himself with Nigel Bruce as his assistant, Doctor John H. Watson. For his Holmes introduction, Rathbone, in a role he was born to play, doesn't get feature billing here. Ironically, top-billing goes to the up-and-coming young Fox contract player by the name of Richard Greene.Opening title: "1889 - In all England there is no district more dismal than that vast expanse of primitive wasteland, the moors of Dartmoor in Devonshire." As the camera tacks through the moors before stopping on the secluded Baskerville estate, a man, later identified as Sir Charles Baskerville (Ian MacLaren), chased by a vicious hound, collapses. This is witnessed by a mysterious man (Nigel De Brulier) who looks over the fainted man. Seeing that he's dead, the man runs away into the night. Later at the inquest, Baskerville's best friend, Doctor James Mortimer (Lionel Atwill), rules his death from a heart attack. Knowing that Baskerville was actually murdered, Mortimer hires pipe smoking, master detective, Sherlock Holmes (Basil Rathbone) of 221-B Baker Street, for assistance. Before taking the case, Holmes listens as Mortimer reads through a detailed document (told via flashback) about how all male members of the Baskerville family (starting with Sir Hugo Baskerville (Ralph Forbes)) have died violent deaths. After Mortimer finishes his story, he claims that Sir Henry Baskerville (Richard Greene), the latest heir to the family estate, about to arrive from Canada, will become the next victim. Shortly after Sir Henry's arrival, Holmes and his assistant, Doctor Watson (Nigel Bruce), help prevent the first attempt on the young man's life while returning to the Northumberland Hotel. While remaining in London, Holmes enlists Watson to accompany Sir Henry and remain with him at Baskerville Hall and document every detail through daily letters mailed over to him. During Watson's stay, he encounters the mysterious servants, the Barrymans (John Carradine and Eily Malyon), who hold secrets of their own; Jenifer Mortimer (Beryl Mercer), who holds a séance; and the Stapletons, Beryl (Wendy Barrie) and her brother, John (Morton Lowry). Upon Holmes' long-awaited arrival, it is evident that the only way to prevent Sir Henry from facing death is to place his life in jeopardy.With a fine assortment of British-type performers, many of whom being associated with Universal Pictures, THE HOUND OF THE BASKERVILLES, with all its dark, atmospheric scenery with howling dog sounds echoing at the distance, the film leaves the impression of a Universal horror film. There's even some moments where an avid viewer would be expecting the sudden growling appearance of the Wolf Man at any moment. Instead, there's a mysterious bearded man roaming around the foggy moors where Bela Lugosi's Ygor portrayal from SON OF FRANKENSTEIN (1939) immediately comes to mind. While there's some underscoring, the lack of it during the creepy moor sequences adds to the suspense. Considering the concept of the story, having Rathbone's name placed second under Richard Greene is understandable considering Greene being the central titled character and Holmes absent for close to a half hour. During Holmes's long absence (reason later explained), Watson fills in the void, taking enough control to have this become more of a Doctor Watson story than Sherlock Holmes. While portions of the plot are relatively slow, the film as a whole is never dull. Though reportedly faithful to the novel, THE HOUND OF THE BASKERVILLES benefits greatly by its casting of Rathbone and Bruce as Holmes and Watson and fine character types as E.E. Clive (Cabbie No. 2704); Barlowe Borland (Frankland), and the ever reliable Mary Gordon appearing briefly as Mrs. Hudson, Holmes' landlady, a role she would enact in future film installments throughout the forties. Due to the 1959 color remake starring Peter Cushing and Christopher Lee, the Rathbone version to THE HOUND OF THE BASKERVILLES was taken out of the television markets, making this the least known and forgotten of the Rathbone-Bruce "Sherlock Holmes" collaborations. This and its immediate 20th-Fox sequel, THE ADVENTURES OF SHERLOCK HOLMES (1939), though never became part the "Sherlock Holmes Theater" package on broadcast TV during the sixties and seventies, it did continue to circulate but on other channel networks. Over the years it's been only the up-to-date twelve entries produced by Universal (1942-46) that the public got to know so well. Finally, in December of 1976, New York City television's own WCBS, Channel 2, brought back the Rathbone-Bruce edition of HOUND OF THE BASKERVILLES for the first time since 1959, but regrettably, on the late show rather than prime time weekend. Within a few short years, however, it not only became part of the "Sherlock Holmes" TV package, but available home video, DVD, and broadcast occasionally on some cable TV networks, notably Turner Classic Movies (TCM premiere: December 25, 2009).As much as THE HOUND OF THE BASKERVILLES itself was theatrically made and remade numerous times, with several made-for-television editions included, this 1939 edition is by no means a disappointment and highly recommended viewing. "Watson, the needle!" (***1/2)