- Title: The Hound of the Baskervilles
- IMDb: link
Sherlock Saturday takes us back to the first (and what is widely regarded as the best) of 14 films starring Basil Rathbone and Nigel Bruce as Sherlock Holmes and Dr. Watson. The most adapted of any Holmes story, The Hound of the Baskervilles takes place mostly on the moors of Devonshire which has seen the death of Sir Charles Baskerville (Ian Maclaren) and may soon see a similar fate to his heir Sir Henry Baskerville (Richard Greene). Set during the Victorian Era, the film is notable for the look and tone of the foggy moors which provide the backdrop for the dastardly plan of murder.
Dr. Mortimer (Lionel Atwill) hires Holmes to prevent Sir Henry from meeting the same fate as his friend Sir Charles, which he believes to be tied to the legendary demonic hound prowling the moors. Showing minimal concern, Holmes sends Watson ahead to draw prying eyes to his activities. Holmes works undercover for much of the story, disguised as a tramp, to observe the isolated community and discover the method and manner of murder.
While it might seem odd today, at the time 20th Century Fox was unsure whether a Sherlock Holmes film could succeed at the box office, which was one of the reasons Richard Greene rather than Rathbone was given top billing. They need not have worried. Not only did the film kick off a series of more than a dozen films for Rathbone and Bruce but also spawned the long run for the pair on radio in The New Adventures of Sherlock Holmes.
The film has aged fairly well, especially if you can find the restored version. The flashback sequences involving the curse of the Baskervilles is a bit awkward, featuring the worst acting of the film, but the rest holds up with Rathbone providing some gravitas to the proceedings in his first of many outings as the world’s greatest detective and Bruce hasn’t yet devolved his Watson into a bumbling dolt (although we do see the beginnings of that trend). More modern tellings of the story have used CGI or makeup effects to make the hound more gruesome, but what we get here is still strong enough to carry the tale especially with the dog often hidden in fog.
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