Film Review
No one who worked on the 1939 version of
The Hound of the Baskervilles -
least of all its producer and instigator Darryl F. Zanuck - could have
imagined how successful it would be. The film was such a hit that
the company which made it, Twentieth Century Fox, immediately
commissioned a sequel,
The
Adventures of Sherlock Holmes (1939). After that,
Universal Pictures took up the baton and made another twelve films in
the series, beginning with
Sherlock
Holmes and the Voice of Terror (1942) and ending with
Dressed to Kill (1946). In
all fourteen films, Basil Rathbone played Arthur Conan Doyle's elegant
English detective, looking as if the character had been
especially created for him, with Nigel Bruce lending moral and comedic
support as a bumbling, yet very effective, Dr Watson.
The Hound of the Baskervilles
is the most frequently adapted of Conan Doyle's Sherlock Holmes
stories. To date, there have been around a dozen film versions
alone, and too many stage, television and radio adaptations to
mention. This is probably the best of the bunch, despite some
obvious departures from the original story (we miss out on the grisly
demise of the villain). The atmospheric photography and realistic
shadowy sets give an authentic recreation of Holmes' Victorian England,
with mist-shrouded exteriors and sinister gas-lit interiors, cold dark
menace lurking in every shadow. Rathbone and Bruce make an
instantly likeable Holmes and Watson, with both actors settled in their
roles and clearly enjoying every moment. Over the next six years
they would form one of cinema's most enduring double acts, in a series
of superlative Sherlock Holmes films that continue to impress and
entertain.
© James Travers 2009
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Film Synopsis
On the bleak, misty Devonshire moors, a man is running for his
life. The next day, he is found dead. The man is Sir
Charles Baskerville, the wealthy owner of Baskerville Hall.
Refusing to accept this his friend died of natural causes, Dr Mortimer
travels up to London to consult the renowned sleuth Mr Sherlock
Holmes. Mortimer explains that for hundreds of years the
Baskervilles have been haunted by the ghost of a fierce hound, and he
is convinced that this has something to do with Sir Charles'
death. He fears that the same fate may befall Sir Charles' young
heir, Sir Henry Baskerville, who is due to arrive in England to claim
his estate within a few hours. Intrigued, Holmes asks his friend
and colleague Dr Watson to accompany Sir Henry to his Devonshire
mansion and to watch over him. If Holmes is right, Sir Henry is
in the greatest of danger...
© James Travers
The above content is owned by filmsdefrance.com and must not be copied.