Search - Sherlock Holmes - The Hound of the Baskervilles on DVD

A great plot, a more humane Sherlock Holmes, and Grimpen Mir

C. O. DeRiemer | San Antonio, Texas, USA | 08/15/2006

(4 out of 5 stars)

"The tale of The Hound of the Baskervilles has such sturdy bones that it's probably the most filmed of the Great Detective's cases. Let's see...I've watched at one time or another Richard Roxburgh, Peter Cushing, Basil Rathbone, Jeremy Brett, Peter Cook, Matt Frewer and Ian Richardson play Holmes as he pursues the solution to this monstrous plot. One or two I've enjoyed less than the others. One was really grim; an attempt at comedy that had many things but humor, unless you find uproarious a chihuahua with the bladder the size of a bull mastiff's urinating on a person's foot.

With this version, Ian Richardson plays Holmes, Donald Churchill plays Watson, Martin Shaw plays Sir Henry Baskerville and Denholm Elliot plays Dr. Mortimer. Grimpen Mire continues to play Grimpen Mire, and that dark, fog-swept Dartmoor bog is not a place you'd want to venture into, even if a slavering hound weren't bounding after you.

Just to restate the plot: Sherlock Holmes and his friend Dr. John Watson are visited in their rooms at 221B Baker street by Dr. Mortimer. Mortimer tells Holmes the story of the Baskervilles and the curse that was laid upon them. Mortimer's best friend, Sir Charles Baskerville, has died under suspicious circumstances. Now the heir, Henry Baskerville, is arriving from Canada. Mortimer believes Sir Henry is at risk and pleads for Holmes to intervene. Holmes says he cannot leave London for a few days, but agrees to meet Sir Henry. Homes then agrees there are unusual aspects to the case and has Watson accompany Sir Henry to Baskerville Hall. Watson is to report back by mail until Holmes can arrive. And now we enter the world of swirling fog, of nights without moonlight, of swamps that can suck an unwary man under, of servants who seem too silent, and of neighbors...a brother and sister who live near by. Then there is the unnerving howling of a great beast to be heard late at night.

Richardson gives us a Holmes who smiles a little more than we're used to. He's just as analytic and perceptive, but seems more understanding of human foibles that, say, Rathbone's or Brett's versions. Because the story is so inherently dramatic, however, as long as the actors are accomplished the issue of who's a better Holmes isn't all that important. It's not a zero-sum game, where if you prefer Rathbone, for instance, then automatically Brett must be diminished. While I might prefer one over the other, I think Richardson, Brett, Rathbone and Cushing all give satisfying performances and I enjoy each of them.

This version, like the others, has first-rate production values and solid acting. The one thing that bothers me is that Donald Churchill as Watson comes perilously close to the Nigel Bruce School of Acting. Churchill doesn't make Watson the elderly buffoon that Bruce turned Watson into, but he makes Watson far more obtuse than necessary to help the story.

Since there was a rapacious Baskerville ancestor, since there were suspicious deaths, since there was a great hound, and since there was an unscrupulous murderer, I don't think I'm giving anything away by quoting Dr. Watson's last line in the movie. "The curse of the Baskervilles," he says to Holmes, with a shake of his head, "...a figment of the imagination." Or Holmes' last line. "Without the imagination," he says with a smile to Watson, "there would be no horror."

The DVD looks fine. There are no extras."