In the 17th century, the arrogant, cruel Hugo Baskerville (David Oxley) brutalizes a servant and prepares to turn the man's daughter over to his equally depraved companions, but she escapes. When he catches up with the girl in a ruined abbey, he kills her and then is attacked and killed himself by a huge hound that is never seen. The audience then learns that this story is being told in flashback to Sherlock Holmes (Peter Cushing) and Dr. Watson (Andre Morell) by Dr. Richard Mortimer (Francis DeWolff). He was the physician and friend to Authentic Derrick Morgan Jersey the late Sir Charles Baskerville, who recently died apparently of fright on the Devonshire moors near that same ruined abbey. Holmes is very skeptical, but agrees to meet Sir Henry Baskerville (Christopher Lee), who has just arrived in London to claim the estate. Sir Henry is cold and aloof but becomes convinced he's in danger when he's almost bitten by a tarantula. Holmes insists that he not go to Baskerville Hall alone, so Holmes sends Watson to Devonshire with Sir Henry.
In Devonshire, Sir Henry and Watson learn that an escaped convict, Selden, is at large on the moor. Watson meets local Bishop Frankland (Miles Malleson), and later on the moor, Baskerville's neighbors, Stapleton (Ewen Solon) and his daughter, Cecile (Marla Landi). Watson is almost trapped in one of the many bogs that dot the moors, but he escapes. Later, leaving Sir Henry stricken with a mild heart attack at the hall, Watson ventures again onto the moors, and to his surprise, discovers Sherlock Holmes there. Holmes has been hiding and watching for developments. They hear the howl of the hound, and are too late to prevent the huge beast from killing a man they take for Sir Henry. But back at Baskerville Hall, they find Sir Henry alive and well: the dead man was the convict Selden, dressed in some old clothes of Sir Henry's. At the ruined abbey, they find evidence that a strange rite has been performed.
When Holmes visits Frankland for information, he learns that someone has stolen the bishop's tarantula. (He's an amateur naturalist.) Meanwhile, near Baskerville Hall, Sir Henry meets Cecile, and they are attracted to one another. Holmes, Mortimer and Stapleton descend into a disused tin mine in search of evidence, but a cavein almost traps Holmes. That evening, when Sir Henry goes to meet Cecile on the moors, he learns that she actually hates him, and that the hound is now on his trail. Holmes and Watson arrive almost too late to save him, but Holmes kills the hound and reveals it's an ordinary, if large, dog in a mask. The villain is a descendant of Sir Hugo's from "the wrong side of the sheets"; he and his daughter were determined to use the legend of the Hound to kill those standing between them and Baskerville Hall.
No movie version of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's most famous novel follows its source very closely, and this colorful Hammer film is no exception. An extra killer is added, events are compressed, and even the novel's most famous line "they were the tracks of an enormous hound!" is omitted. The film also suffers at times from a budget too low for its ambitions and by extraneous elements aimed at making it more like a Hammer movie, such as the unexplained "rite." However, the movie has a brisk pace and particularly strong characters. Lee, initially icy and arrogant perhaps to remind us of Sir Hugo thaws into a likable person romantic enough to fall in love, atypically for Lee. Andre Morell is one of the most solid and realistic Watsons ever; there's nothing whatever of the harrumphing Nigel Bruce, no comedy elements to the role at all. He's straightforward, heroic in his own right. But the triumph of the film
was the casting of Peter Cushing as Sherlock Holmes. Cushing's Holmes is vivid, dynamic and arrogant; the actor does not even attempt to make Holmes likable, but instead plays the character exactly as Doyle wrote him. It's a performance of steely integrity and terrific skill, one of the greatest Holmes performances ever. Cushing later played Holmes in a television series, and became as identified with the role in England as Basil Rathbone was in the United States. Cushing returned once again to the role late in life, in the TV movie The Masks of Death, as well as writing about Holmes for several books. Bill Warren, RoviThe Hound of the Baskervilles is the preferred version of many Sherlock Holmes aficionados, particularly those who treasure the character as he appears in the works of Arthur Conan Doyle. Peter Cushing gives the detective the same aloof confidence that he has in the novels, subtly sneering as he cracks the case that lesser minds could not. The film has the stylish look common to Hammer Films' best efforts of the late 1950s. Director Terence Fisher has a good feel for what makes the material work, keeping the most cinematic aspects of the original story and creating new elements as required. The film's biggest liability is the unconvincing look of the hound itself, but even that does little to mar Hound's overall qualities. In spite of his friends' warnings, Baskerville pursues her throughout the moor and stabs her to death in the nearby abbey ruins. However, a huge doglike creature suddenly appears and kills Baskerville. From then on, the hound of hell has become known as the Hound of the Baskervilles and, any strange night a Baskerville is alone on the moor, the hound will come and kill him.
Several centuries later, the death of Sir Charles Baskerville is being reported by his best friend Dr. Richard Mortimer (Francis de Wolff) to Sherlock Holmes (Peter Cushing) and Dr. Watson (Andr Morell), who are willing to meet the new owner of Baskerville Hall, Sir Henry (Christopher Lee). After meeting Sir Henry, Holmes remembers that he is going to be away on the day Sir Henry arrives at Baskerville Hall, so he puts Watson in charge of watching over him. A tarantula attacks Sir Henry briefly; Holmes suspects foul play. Before he leaves, Holmes reminds Watson to not let Sir Henry go out onto the moor at dark.
On the way to Baskerville Hall, the coach driver Perkins (Sam Kydd) warns of a convict named Selden (Michael Mulcaster) has escaped from nearby Dartmoor Prison two days ago. Watson recalls Seldon's case about Seldon murdering a number of street women; plus due to some talk of him being insane, he was sentenced Derrick Morgan Jersey to life imprisonment instead of hanging.
While at Baskerville Hall, Watson meets a man named Stapleton (Ewen Solon) and his daughter Cecille (Marla Landi), who save him from sinking into the Grimpen Mire. Cecille seems to act strangely around both Sir Henry and Watson. At night, Watson sees a light shining out upon the moor, and starts to suspect something is going on. He and Sir Henry investigate the mysterious light. While out upon the moor, the Baskerville hound howls, causing Sir Henry to suffer from heart problems. As they leave, a strange man rushes past. The two pursue the man, but he gets away; they go back to Baskerville Hall.
Soon, Watson discovers that the strange man was actually Holmes in disguise; Holmes had arrived hours after Watson did. They find out that the convict, Selden is actually the butler Barrymore's brotherinlaw, was the one signaling with the light the other night, and that Barrymore and his wife were the ones returning the signal. Several events occur, such as Sir Henry being invited to dinner by Cecille and Stapleton, the hound mistakenly killing Selden because Selden is wearing Sir Henry's clothes, and finally Holmes' almost being trapped inside an old mine while investigating.
Cecille takes Sir Henry out to the moor one night. By now, Holmes has solved the case: The Stapletons are actually illegitimate descendants of Sir Hugo, and are next in line to get the Baskerville fortune and mansion if all of the Baskervilles are killed off. Cecile has taken Sir Henry out onto the moor so that he may be killed by the hound an actual, living dog bought by Stapleton, not a ghost as many were led to believe. Holmes and Watson rush out just on time to hear Cecile reveal her intentions to a horrified Sir Henry. Stapleton appears and attacks from behind, but in turn is shot in the side by Watson. The hound of the Baskervilles suddenly appears and attacks the group but desists when shot by Holmes; Stapleton is then mauled to death by the animal. Cecille flees while Holmes kills the beast, revealing it to be a normal dog with a mask on to make it look more terrifying. Cecile accidentally falls into the mire and slowly sinks to her death.
Cushing was an aficionado of Sherlock Holmes and brought Derrick Morgan Titans Jersey his knowledge to the project.[1] It was Cushing's suggestion that the mantle feature Holmes' correspondence stabbed into it with a jackknife as per the original stories.[1]
Changes George Wilson Jersey from the novel
There are several significant changes in plot details. Among them:
Sir Henry arrives from Toronto in the novel, while he arrives from Johannesburg George Wilson Titans Jersey in the film.
Sir Henry does not suffer a minor heart condition in the novel, as he does in the film.
There is nothing involving a ritual sacrifice, a tarantula or a mine shaft in the novel, nor is Holmes thought to have been accidentally trapped in a cavein.
Rather than being Stapleton's daughter, Miss Stapleton is Stapleton's wife in the novel and is playing the part of his sister. In the novel, Holmes, Watson and Lestrade eventually find her bound, gagged and badly bruised after being mistreated by Stapleton. She does not hate Sir Henry, as she does in the film, and is a far more sympathetic character in both the novel and in nearly all the other film versions of the story. (In the 1939 film version she is really Stapleton's sister, but he never mistreats her or forces her to deceive anybody, and she is completely unaware of his criminal actions until Holmes reveals the truth. Miss Stapleton falls in love with and presumably marries Sir Henry in the 1939 film.)
Miss Stapleton survives in the novel, whereas in the film she Authentic George Wilson Jersey drowns in the Grimpen Mire.
In the novel, the hound is made to look "demonic" through the use of phosphorus paint, but in the film the same effect is accomplished with a mask. The hound was played by a brindled Great Dane.