Customer Reviews

Sherlock Holmes: The Hound Of The Baskervilles

5 star:		(1)
4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

This particular DVD is a very close adaptation to the novella by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle (the closest being the Tom Baker version, which had an unfortunate cast and terrible production values, yet stuck to nearly every word). Peter Cushing is razor sharp as Holmes. Nigel Stock's performance in this particular story is akin to Nigel Bruce's. Early on in this series, Douglas Wilmer was cast as Sherlock Holmes. It seems to me that both Wilmer and Stock with trying to emulate Rathbone and Bruce. With Cushing, we get a fresh take on Holmes: sprightly, energetic, and somewhat egoistical. Stock has not yet found his Watson, though by Blue Carbuncle, he ends up creating a character that is entirely his own, and grounded in reality.

I was surprised with how much I truly enjoyed this version. The production values were high for the time, though I admit it did take some getting used to (long shots, sweeping shots, melodramatic music; ah, sixties television!). I suppose if I were to compare production values with another show, it would be Dark Shadows.

All in all, I cannot recommend this adaptation enough, for Holmes purists and for the fan of the detective story.

I just viewed the 3 disc set from the BBC containing this disc of classic Sherlock Holmes stories and was generally surprised by the quality of the video and the performances (my expectations were low for a series this old) except for this disc. Having seen Cushing previously only in Dracula and Frankenstein-type horror roles (people today probably know him best from his role in Star Wars), I liked his restrained but authentic portrayal of Holmes in this series. Less quirky and exhuberant than Jeremy Brett's benchmark performances, he conveyed the idiosyncratic detective's character well. These films were made 30 years prior to the BBC series starring Brett, on a very apparent low budget, and the interiors are what we have seen in the past from TV series from the BBC at this time period - a bit stagey, theatrical and just slightly unrealistic, although there is some nice exterior work for some scenes. While the other two discs in the series had generally good quality of the video source and digital transfer - sharp images with bright vibrant colors that looked like a modern filming of the older BBC play of the week on tape style - this disc with the Hound of the Baskervilles is the poorest quality-wise with many scenes with motion-artifacts typical of poor digital transfers, particularly in scenes with jerky movement like carriage or train scenes, and in darker segments. Perhaps this is partly due to this being the first story in the series that was filmed - the tape source looked worse than the others. This is a two-part story so there is enough time to cover all the basic elements of Doyle's story. The story and characters are close to Doyle's work, although the finale of the film seemed truncated with no epilogue. If the digital transfer had been better this film would have received more stars as it is quite an interesting version considering the dozen or so different filmed versions of the Hound available. Watson in this series is a bit of a disappointment however, with much more of the Nigel Bruce style in him than the Edward Hardwicke. The best film in this series is the Blue Carbuncle. Recommended for Holmes fans, an interesting comparison to other Hound versions, and entertaining.