‘This, I think, is a two-pipe problem...’
When watching a film entitled The Hound of the Baskervilles, it seems fair to assume that the titular hound might feature fairly heavily. Alas, in this 1959 adaptation of Arthur Conan Doyle’s famous Sherlock Holmes mystery novel, the hound is heard rather than seen. Instead, director Terence Fisher focuses on posh people talking in rooms instead…
Following the death of wealthy landowner Sir Charles Baskerville on the moors surrounding his vast estate, Mortimer (Francis De Wolff), the Baskerville family doctor, enlists famous detective Sherlock Holmes (Peter Cushing) and his dashing assistant Watson (Andre Morell) to investigate. Are the rumours of a terrible beast brought on by a family curse true? Holmes must find out before the latest Baskerville to take over the property (Christopher Lee) falls foul of the terrible hound.
I’m going to be frank. This is a fairly dull film. Not much happens in terms of action but there is some lovely verbal sparring between Cushing and his co-stars. The latter makes for a sly and cunning Holmes and it is the acting that elevates this adaptation above some of the other iterations.
This Hammer Horror production was the first colourised version of Doyle’s insidious tale and so it has become the most prominent. While it strays from the source material, Fisher and his cast capture the spirit of the book, and it’s mostly just a pleasure to see these wonderfully posh British actors interacting with each other. When you’ve got John Le Mesurier popping up as a butler you know you’re on to a winner.
