The Hound of the Baskervilles

Year:  1959

Director:  Terence Fisher

Screenplay:  Peter Bryan, based on the novel The Hound of the Baskervilles by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle

Starring:  Peter Cushing, André Morell, Christopher Lee, Marla Landi, David Oxley

Running Time:  87 minutes

Genre:  Mystery, thriller

According to legend, since the 1700s when notorious squire Hugo Baskerville (Oxley) met a gruesome end, the Baskerville family of Dartmoor have been cursed by a ghastly Hell Hound.  When Sir Charles Baskerville dies under mysterious circumstances, his best friend Dr. Richard Mortimer (Francis de Wolff) consults the famous detective Sherlock Holmes (Cushing) and Dr. Watson (Morell).  To make matters more urgent, the last surviving Baskerville, Sir Henry (Lee), intends to return to the ancestral seat of Baskerville Hall on Dartmoor.  Legend or no legend, Holmes is convinced that Sir Henry's life is in serious danger.

First serialised in the Strand magazine from 1901 to 1902, The Hound of the Baskervilles is probably the single best known of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's evergreen Sherlock Holmes stories, and with it's plot revolving around old family curses and iconic imagery of the huge, ghostly Hound on the mist shrouded moors a perfect choice for Britain's Hammer Films, and their signature "Hammer Horror" style.  The film sticks more or less to the plot of the original story, and the narrative moves along at a brisk pace.  Peter Cushing, who was a fan of the original Sherlock Holmes stories, makes for an energetic Holmes with a nice line in acidic retorts.  André Morell anchors the film with his charismatic, heroic Watson.  Christopher Lee is good as ever as the stern, sceptical Sir Henry Baskerville, except the scenes where he is being threatened never really seem that convincing, one of Lee's glares would be enough to send even the most fearsome Hound of Hell scampering back to it's kennel.  Marla Landi plays the mysterious Spanish born daughter of a local farmer who falls for Sir Henry's grim charms.  The film has plenty of gothic atmosphere, with plenty of mist shrouded ruins and strange lights.  The hound never really looks as fearsome as it should, however.  It's an enjoyable slice of vintage mystery with some impressive performances, and also one of the more faithful Holmes adaptations.

 Peter Cushing and Christopher Lee in The Hound of the Baskervilles