The Hound of the Baskervilles (1959)

(On Cable TV, October 2020) Hammer horror and Peter Cushing take a swing at Sherlock Holmes’ classic story in the 1959 version of The Hound of the Baskervilles… and generally succeeds. Making quite a few updates to the narrative, the film nonetheless lets Cushing realize a long-held dream of playing Holmes, bringing along an impeccable understanding of the character. At his side, André Morell plays Watson as a real, competent character. (And there’s Christopher Lee in a supporting role!) Compared to the Basil Rathbone films, the colour cinematography brings Holmes into a more modern era, with the patina of foggy horror that the Hammer films perfected. The least faithful aspect of the production is its lack of adherence to the original short story, but that’s absolutely not to the film’s detriment—in fact, the added attraction of having a little bit of Hammer Horror thrown into a Holmes story adds considerably to the film’s distinctiveness. It’s all quite watchable, although I would only recommend the result to those who are both Holmes and Hammer fans in order not to get false expectations. It’s a shame that the Holmes Hammer series did not continue beyond this initial instalment—Cushing is good, and the horror-infused take is distinctive.