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The Hound of the Baskervilles (1939)

Director(s) Sidney Lanfield
Producer(s) Darryl F. Zanuck (uncredited), Gene Markey
Top Genres Crime, Drama, Film Adaptation, Horror, Mystery, Thriller/Suspense
Top Topics Animals, Book-Based, Detectives, England
More Films Directed by Sidney Lanfield More Films Produced by Gene Markey More Films from 1939 More Films from the 1930s Top Classic Movies of the 1930s Top Animals Films

The Hound of the Baskervilles Overview:

The Hound of the Baskervilles (1939) was a Crime - Drama Film directed by Sidney Lanfield and produced by Darryl F. Zanuck and Gene Markey.

The Hound of the Baskervilles BlogHub Articles:

DARK AND DEEP: THE GOTHIC HORROR BLOGATHON: The Hound of the Baskervilles, novel and 1939 film

on Oct 29, 2019 From Caftan Woman

Pale Writer Gabriela is giving us a Hallowe'en treat with Dark and Deep: The Gothic Horror Blogathon. Click HERE for your autumn chills. Arthur Conan Doyle's The Hound of the Baskervilles with illustrations by Sidney Paget was serialized in The Strand Magazine in 1901/1902 and published as a no... Read full article

Watching 1939: The Hound of the Baskervilles (1939)

on Apr 25, 2019 From Comet Over Hollywood

In 2011, I announced I was trying to see every film released in 1939. This new series chronicles films released in 1939 as I watch them. As we start out this blog feature, this section may become more concrete as I search for a common thread that runs throughout each film of the year. Right now, th... Read full article

The Hound of the Baskervilles (1939) with Basil Rathbone

By Greg Orypeck on Sep 5, 2015 From Classic Film Freak

Share This! “Mr. Holmes, they were the footprints of a gigantic hound!”—— Dr. Mortimer (Lionel Atwill) to Sherlock Holmes (Basil Rathbone) Now, with the 2015 release of Mr. Holmes and a new, if older Sherlock Holmes in Ian McKellen, it seems appropriate to look back seventy-five years, to an... Read full article

The Hound of the Baskervilles

By Barry P. on Mar 16, 2014 From Cinematic Catharsis

(1959) Directed by Terence Fisher; Written by: Peter Bryan; Based on the Novel by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle; Starring: Peter Cushing, André Morell, Christopher Lee, Marla Landi and Francis De Wolff. Available on DVD. Rating: *** ½ “I don’t know how he did it, short of b... Read full article

The Hound of the Baskervilles

By Barry P. on Mar 16, 2014 From Cinematic Catharsis

(1959) Directed by Terence Fisher; Written by: Peter Bryan; Based on the Novel by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle; Starring: Peter Cushing, André Morell, Christopher Lee, Marla Landi and Francis De Wolff. Available on DVD. Rating: *** ½ “I don’t know how he did it, short of b... Read full article

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The Hound of the Baskervilles Quotes:

Dr. Watson: It's a pity you didn't think about bringing that infernal violin of yours - to regale me with some of your music!
Sherlock Holmes: I DID, my dear Watson! Anything to oblige!
[he whips out the violin and begins to play]
Sherlock Holmes: The only way to nab our man is to catch him in the act - catch him so that there's no escape, no alibi. And that means gambling with Sir Henry's life.
Dr. Watson: [horrified] But...
Sherlock Holmes: Gambling to save his life. But we've got to take that chance.
Sherlock Holmes: [a portrait that he has just seen fascinates him] You must - you must dine with us before you sail.
Sir Henry Baskerville: Well, there's the old boy himself - Sir Hugo, the Beast of the Baskervilles.
Dr. Watson: Done by Ransome, one of the minor painters.
Sir Henry Baskerville: I don't imagine it's very valuable.
Sherlock Holmes: I can't quite agree with you, Sir Henry.
[ominously]
Sherlock Holmes: One day, it might prove to be of the greatest value.
Sherlock Holmes: There are still some gaps to be filled, but all in all, things are becoming a little clearer.
Dr. Watson: Not to me, I assure you; it's all a hopeless jumble. Stapleton, Franklin, the Barrymans - put it all together and what have you got?
Sherlock Holmes: Murder, my dear Watson. Refined, cold-blooded murder.
Dr. Watson: Murder?
Sherlock Holmes: There's no doubt of it in my mind. Or perhaps I should say, my imagination. For that's where crimes are conceived and they're solved - in the imagination.
[last lines]
Sherlock Holmes: Oh, Watson - the needle!
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The Hound of the Baskervilles Facts
While not entirely passive, Watson's original role was mostly as an observer of Holmes and the chronicler of his cases. With this film a new tradition began where Watson enjoyed equal billing with Holmes. In Nigel Bruce's hands the character became a comedic foil and a bit of a bumbler. Later interpretations would vary, but the character remained greater than literature's original enigma.
The original title "The Hound of the Baskervilles" refers to a dog that terrorizes a family called "Baskerville". The German title "Der Hund Von Baskerville", a mistranslation, refers to a hound, which just lives in "Baskerville", a town, that does not play a role in the story.
The first of fourteen films based on Arthur Conan Doyle's fictional consulting detective Sherlock Holmes starring Basil Rathbone as Sherlock Holmes and Nigel Bruce as Doctor Watson.
After being out of circulation for many years, partly because of the 1959 Hammer remake in Technicolor starring Peter Cushing, this film was restored and re-released to theaters in 1975 with great fanfare, to the point of having the national evening news do a story on it. The film was shown at its full 80-minute length, and newspaper and magazine articles commented on the fact that the line "Oh, Watson, the needle!", referring to Holmes' cocaine habit (and usually misquoted as "Quick, Watson, the needle!") was put back in after having been cut by the censors. As an added attraction, the studio added a rare sound film featurette which showed Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, author of the Sherlock Holmes books, talking about his creation.
This was such a hit that Basil Rathbone and Nigel Bruce were hired to play Holmes and Watson on the radio series "The New Adventures of Sherlock Holmes." This radio series consisted of new Sherlock Holmes stories written by Anthony Boucher and Denis Green.
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