The Hound of the Baskervilles
Finally beginning to delve into the films of England’s Hammer production studio has been one of the great additions to my annual horror movie watching experience. I’ve only added four films from the studio’s storied filmmography to my personal collection, but those four films are in regular rotation every October. It’s probably a coincidence that all four were directed by Terence Fisher, but it’s not a coincidence that all four star Christopher Lee and Peter Cushing, who were the studio’s biggest names in those days.
Perhaps the film that best exemplifies the chemistry and talents of those actors is “The Hound of the Baskervilles,” an adaptation of the most famous Sherlock Holmes novel written by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. In their other two Hammer collaborations I greatly admire, Lee was cast as the titular monster, with Cushing as the main human lead. Here, they are on the same footing in that they both play flesh and blood characters rather than Lee playing a supernatural entity. Dear friends in real life, Fisher uses the bond between the actors to his advantage to tell the story of a man haunted by the sins of his anscestors, and the brilliant detective he seeks to help him with the mystery.
Lee plays Sir Henry of the family Baskerville, a family who, legend has it, was cursed with terrible death when Sir Hugo Baskerville (David Oxley), killed a peasant girl. The legend is that of an evil creature from the depths of Hell. An old folk tale, it seems, but when Sir Henry’s father dies mysteriously one night, leaving only Sir Henry to carry on the family name. A mutual friend of Sir Henry’s calls upon the greatest detective of the age, Sherlock Holmes (Cushing), and his trusted ally, Dr. Watson (Andre Morell), to investigate, and protect Sir Henry. Will they be able to solve the mystery? Must one even ask such a silly question?
What the Hammer Films lack in narrative originality, they more than make up for in superb production design and performances. In the case of “Hound of the Baskervilles,” it helps that they have a rich piece of storytelling in Doyle’s classic text, allowing screenwriter Peter Bryan to hand his cast a script of intelligent dialogue and literate characters to play, making the film feel more gripping than some of Hammer’s other productions. At the heart of it all is direction by Fisher that creates a wonderful, theatrical universe on-screen, and performances by Cushing (far away from the calculating evil of Grand Moff Tarkin in “Star Wars” as the dashing Holmes), Morell, and Lee that put some emotional muscle of the bones of Doyle’s story. Of course Holmes will solve the mystery, but Hammer makes sure that it’s a genuine pleasure figuring out the answers by assembling a top-notch production.
