Review of The Hound of the Baskervilles (1939) by Dennis B — 22 Jan 2016
Directed by Sidney Lanfield, (You'll Never Get Rich (1941) and The Lemon Drop Kid (1951)), and based on the 1902 novel by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, this adaptation marked the first of 14 Sherlock Holmes films that would star Basil Rathbone as Holmes and Nigel Bruce as Dr.
Watson. It's a good adaptation, done with a good cast, but the film ends too abruptly compared to other adaptations. It begins when Doctor Mortimer (Lionel Atwill) comes to London to see Sherlock Holmes (Rathbone) regarding a case about the Baskerville family, and a curse that's hung over the family, including that of a demonic hound which has prowled the moors near the family home.
Holmes sends Watson (Bruce) out to the Baskerville family estate to investigate. The last Baskerville heir, Sir Henry Baskerville (Richard Greene) has just arrived in England to claim his right to the estate and fortune.
Holmes notices that nothing is what it seems with the family, and that they all have secrets to hide. Then Holmes turns up, and someone seems to want to have Holmes killed. It was made in Hollywood at a time when a load of films set in England were made in America, but this one is done convincingly, to a point.
Rathbone makes a good Holmes, and the story is well made, but the following films were done as B movies, and don't reach the quality this film achieved.
This review of The Hound of the Baskervilles (1939) was written by Dennis B on 22 Jan 2016.
The Hound of the Baskervilles has generally received very positive reviews.
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