Sherlock Holmes and dr. Watson (Basil Rathbone, Nigel Bruce) are hired to look into a case where the last of the Baskervilles (Richard Greene) might fall victim to a legendary demonic dog as so many others in his family have. The first of the famous Sherlock Holmes movies with Rathbone and Bruce is also the only straight adaptation of an Arthur Conan Doyle tale in the series. Not the first cinematic version though, the film stays close to the original and becomes less compelling when Holmes is absent. The two stars are the main attraction, creating a template for how we’ve come to view the sleuth and the befuddled doctor. On the whole, the film has its atmospheric moments out in the moors.
1939-U.S. 80 min. B/W. Produced by Darryl F. Zanuck. Directed by Sidney Lanfield. Screenplay: Ernest Pascal. Novel: Arthur Conan Doyle. Cast: Basil Rathbone (Sherlock Holmes), Nigel Bruce (John Watson), Richard Greene (Henry Baskerville), Wendy Barrie, Lionel Atwill, John Carradine.
Trivia: Followed by another 13 films with the two leads as Holmes and Watson, starting with The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes (1939).
Last word: “Had I made but the one Holmes picture, my first, ‘The Hound of the Baskervilles’, I should probably not be as well known as I am today. But within myself, as an artist, I should have been well content. Of all the ‘adventures’ ‘The Hound’ is my favorite story, and it was in this picture that I had the stimulating experience of creating, within my own limited framework, a character that has intrigued me as much as any I have ever played.” (Rathbone, “In and Out of Character”)
