The Hound of the Baskervilles (1939)
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The Hound of the Baskervilles Movie Review
The Hound of the Baskervilles is a 1939 mystery film directed by Sidney Lanfield and starring Basil Rathbone and Nigel Bruce. It’s an effortlessly effective, charming flick.
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“Oh, Watson… the needle“
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Sherlock Holmes and Dr. Watson investigate the legend of a supernatural hound, a beast that may be stalking a young heir on the fog-shrouded moorland that makes up his estate. The movie is based upon one of the most famous Sherlock Holmes novels that has been adapted many times before and after this one, but this is clearly the finest adaptation of this story as judged by many critics and fans.
First and foremost, I do realize that this flick isn’t for those Sherlock Holmes purists as it’s clearly highly adventurous in its approach with not as many instances of deduction and problem solving. Those are still there and are all quite effective, but admittedly the film needed more detective work in it as it is about a detective after all.
But I simply adored the action/adventure elements here, so I did not mind that approach all that much. The dog attacks are all superbly executed, vicious and actually quite ominous as is the entire atmosphere of the film. The best scenes are undoubtedly those in the moors. That part of the film is so intriguing, very eerie and it benefits highly from stupendous exteriors.
Let’s talk about the actors themselves as well as the characters. This is the first movie in a series of Sherlock Holmes films that consisted of fourteen flicks, so it’s obvious that this particular pairing and formula worked with audiences of the day as they ended up making so many of these pictures. And it’s easy to see why they fell in love with these two as they have retained all of their charms decades after its release.
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Yes, Basil Rathbone portrays one of the greatest Sherlocks ever. His Holmes is quite proactive and competent, but still typically extremely intelligent and manipulative. He’s also very funny with some very clever lines of dialogue interspersed throughout the movie’s brisk runtime. Rathbone looks and acts the part, and he’s an absolute joy that radiates the screen whenever he is on it.
But Nigel Bruce ain’t shabby either. His Watson is bumbling and incompetent, but clearly having a lot of heart and likability. The performance from the actor is great and believable while the two share an impeccable dynamic together. They are so great that I wanted many more scenes with just the two of them.
As for the others, they are less memorable, but still serviceable for this storyline. Richard Green is quite a handsome presence in the role of Sir Henry, Wendy Barrie is not as good, but I liked her Beryl quite a bit. The two share an okay, but rushed romance that was overall unnecessary for this story in my opinion. The villain himself is terrific. I actually loved that the film revealed the villain to us sooner rather than later as it let us into his plan, thus making Sherlock’s actions even more entertaining and memorable.
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The Hound of the Baskervilles has an intricate family history well explored within the plot as well as the solid direction, great dialogue and fantastic humor. The cinematography is brilliant with stark black-and-white photography, stunning moors imagery and some very original touches here and there (the finest example is the flashback scene that was shown with the letters and the book page still intact around it). The film may be lightweight to a fault, but it stood the test of the time as an unabashedly joyous classic.
