THE HOUND OF THE BASKERVILLES [1939 / 2016] [Blu-ray] [UK Release]
Sherlock Holmes Most Terrifying Adventure!
Basil Rathbone stars as the inimitable Detective Sherlock Holmes in the thrilling mystery of ‘THE HOUND OF THE BASKERVILLES.’ Sir Charles Baskerville has been found dead in mysterious circumstances, the locals ascribe the demise to the ancient family curse – a paranormal hellhound, said to roam the moors searching for its prey. With the trusty aid of Doctor Watson [Nigel Bruce], Sherlock Holmes sets out to uncover the truth and solve the mystery of the terrifying hound – before another Baskerville falls victim to the family curse.
FILM FACT: The butler was named Barrymore in the novel, but because of the existence of the real-life John Barrymore of the Barrymore family theatrical dynasty, his name was changed to Barryman in the film.
Cast: Richard Greene, Basil Rathbone, Wendy Barrie, Nigel Bruce, Lionel Atwill, John Carradine, Barlowe Borland, Beryl Mercer, Morton Lowry, Ralph Forbes, E.E. Clive, Eily Malyon, Lionel Pape, Nigel de Brulier, Mary Gordon, Ian Maclaren, Leonard Carey (uncredited), Jack Egger (uncredited), Kenneth Hunter (uncredited), Vesey O'Davoren (uncredited), Rita Page (uncredited), John Graham Spacey (uncredited), Ruth Terry (uncredited), David Thursby (uncredited), Peter Willes (uncredited) and Mary Young (uncredited)
Director: Sidney Lanfield
Producers: Gene Markey and Darryl F. Zanuck (uncredited)
Screenplay: Ernest Pascal (screenplay) and Sir Arthur Conan Doyle (novel)
Composers: Charles Maxwell (uncredited), Cyril J. Mockridge (uncredited), David Buttolph (uncredited) and David Raksin (uncredited)
Cinematography: Peverell Marley (Director of Phtography)
Image Resolution: 1080p (Black-and-White)
Aspect Ratio: 1.37:1
Audio: English: 2.0 LPCM Mono Audio
English: 2.0 LPCM Stereo Audio
Subtitles: English SDH
Running Time: 79 minutes
Region: Region B/2
Number of discs: 1
Studio: 20th Century Fox / STUDIOCANAL
Andrew’s Blu-ray Review: ‘THE HOUND OF THE BASKERVILLES’ [1939] is presented for the first time on Blu-Ray, as part of STUDIOCANAL’s THE DEFINITIVE SHERLOCK HOLMES collection. This 1939 classic version of one of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s most famous and entertainingly macabre Sherlock Holmes stories ‘THE HOUND OF THE BASKERVILLES’ that stars Basil Rathbone as Sherlock Holmes and Nigel Bruce as his trusted sidekick Dr. Watson.
Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's immortal detective Sherlock Holmes is easily one of the most widely known of all fictional characters, and of the many dozens of film incarnations that the intrepid sleuth has enjoyed, the 1939 version of THE HOUND OF THE BASKERVILLES’ is no doubt the best known. The 20th Century Fox production was an enormous hit with audiences, primarily because of the casting of the leading roles; even 70 years on, and it is difficult for many cult film fans to picture an actor better suited for the part of Sherlock Holmes than Basil Rathbone, and Nigel Bruce as a somewhat befuddled Dr. Watson seemed the perfect counterpoint to Basil Rathbone's angular look and imposing manner.
Sherlock Holmes has proved an enduring favourite with audiences since Conan Doyle’s first story featuring the Baker Street detective was published in 1887. More recently, interest has been revived with the hugely popular BBC series Sherlock, starring Benedict Cumberbatch, as well as the big screen hits starring Robert Downey Jr; but the series of films starring Basil Rathbone are regarded by many to be the most faithful, and entertaining, of all the Holmes adaptations, and ‘THE HOUND OF THE BASKERVILLES’ film is considered one of the very best.
‘THE HOUND OF THE BASKERVILLES’ is about a hellhound beast plaguing an aristocratic family, marked Basil Rathbone’s debut as Sherlock Holmes. Arguably the greatest screen incarnation of the detective, he would go on to star in thirteen more Sherlock Holmes films and became world famous for the part, smoking a pipe and wearing his trademark deerstalker hat and cape. Alongside him, Nigel Bruce made a memorably bumbling Dr. Watson, providing comic relief to Holmes’s sleuthing. The success of this film paved the way for an unlikely but formidable cinematic pairing.
In supporting roles the film features such legendary actors as John Carradine [‘The Grapes Of Wrath’], Wendy Barrie [‘The Private Life of Henry VIII’] and Lionel Atwill, who would go on to play Sherlock Holmes’s nemesis Moriarty in the 1942 film ‘Sherlock Holmes And The Secret Weapon,’ also starring Basil Rathbone. Despite the English setting, the film was made in California, and Rathbone and Bruce returned to the roles the same year in ‘The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes,’ released a mere six months later.
With its highly evocative, eerie set pieces on said “dismal” moors, this adaptation holds particular appeal to fans of the pre-war American horror pictures, being visually reminiscent of the fabulous 1930’s studio-bound Universal genre films. The connection is reinforced by the presence of familiar genre actors such as E. E. Clive, John Carradine, Lionel Atwill and Basil Rathbone himself. Indeed, both Basil Rathbone and Lionel Atwill co-starred the same year in one of Universal Pictures finest and most underrated horror film, ‘SON OF FRANKENSTEIN.’
It’s an absorbing, sprightly paced picture peopled with lively character parts and a splendidly dry and witty double act between Basil Rathbone and Nigel Bruce that’s highlighted by the comic set piece in which Sherlock Holmes outwits Dr. Watson via a cunning, somewhat bizarre disguise. What’s more, the film’s once-censored final-line “Watson, the needle!” and alluding to Sherlock Holmes’ drug habit, remains one of the most astonishing throwaway bits of business in vintage Hollywood cinema history.
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Blu-ray Image Quality – 20th Century Fox and STUDIOCANAL presents you this Blu-ray transfer that is really excellent 1080p and the film is full of deeply crushed monochromatic blacks which stand up remarkable well, making this a real visual treat. Peverell Marley’s superb cinematography is not wasted one ounce here. Presented in its original aspect ratio of 1.37:1 and you also get a brilliant 1080p encoded image. Generally speaking, depth and clarity are very pleasing. The majority of the close-ups, in particular, look very good. During the outdoor footage, which was mostly filmed on the Hollywood film set, shadow definition is also very convincing. Contrast levels are stable, but there are areas of the film where minor inherited scratches are visible. Light grain is present throughout the entire film, but it is slightly toned down. There are no traces of problematic sharpening corrections and serious transition or stability issues to report. To sum it all up, STUDIOCANAL have done a stunning restoration of ‘THE HOUND OF THE BASKERVILLES’ that will please fans of this cult film and especially of both of the brilliant actors Basil Rathbone and Nigel Bruce. STUDIOCANAL have provided optional English SDH subtitles for the main feature. Please Note: Playback Region B/2: This will not play on most Blu-ray players sold in North America, Central America, South America, Japan, North Korea, South Korea, Taiwan, Hong Kong and Southeast Asia. Learn more about Blu-ray region specifications.
Blu-ray Audio Quality – 20th Century Fox and STUDIOCANAL brings you this Blu-ray with only one standard audio track on this Blu-ray release for the main film and that is in the form of a 2.0 LPCM Mono Audio, but with the special features the audio presentation is in 2.0 LPCM Stereo Audio. For the record, the sound is very crisp and clear, plus there are no sudden spikes or drops in dynamic activity. Rather predictably, however, dynamic intensity is quite limited. All the clicks, pops, crackle, and background hiss have been removed as best as possible and the dialogue is stable and exceptionally easy to follow, but now and again you do hear a slight hiss now and again, but despite this slight anomaly, it is all in all a good effort on the part of STUDIOCANAL especially.
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Blu-ray Special Features and Extras:
Special Feature: Interview with Sir Christopher Frayling [2015] [1080p] [1.78:1] [49:08] Writer and presenter of BBC documentary series Nightmare: The Birth of Victorian Horror. Sir Christopher Frayling is a man that is incredibly knowledgeable on popular culture. Here we find Sir Christopher Frayling sitting in a private cinema talking about the first time he read the novel “The Hound of the Baskerviles” and the exploits of Sherlock Holmes in the original THE STRAND MAGAZINE, that was a monthly magazine founded by George Newnes, composed of short fiction and general interest articles. It was published in the United Kingdom from January 1891 to March 1950, running to 711 issues. But Sidney Paget is best known as the creator of the popular image of Sherlock Holmes from the original publication of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's stories in The Strand Magazine, was inadvertently hired to illustrate “The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes.” Sir Christopher Frayling was seven-years-old when he read the Sherlock Holmes stories at a boarding school in the wilds of Sussex and he informs us that on the wall of the library was a painting depicting a reproduction of a Victorian painting by Sir Edwin Henry Landseer in 1839 entitled “Dignity and Impudence” which depicted a bloodhound and a terrier inside a kennel and was Queen Victoria’s favourite artist and in Sir Christopher Frayling’s mind’s eye, Sherlock Holmes was the bloodhound and Dr. Watson was the terrier. But when Sir Christopher Frayling these mystery stories, he imagined the characters were like the illustrations in the magazine, but when he finally viewed the films, he felt the characters did not match up to how they should be. With all the Sherlock Holmes stories, all the characters are young, whereas in the films the characters are much older. Sir Arthur Conan Doyle wanted to kill off the Sherlock Holmes character, as he wanted to pursue other careers like historical novels and go into politics, but because a play in New York opened with a new Sherlock Holmes story it was a massive hit, so with this great success in mind Sir Arthur Conan Doyle after eight years decides to bring out more Sherlock Holmes stories. In 1899 it was a very bad year for Sir Arthur Conan Doyle and with so many bad things happening in his life, decides to get away from it all and book himself into a hotel in Cromer in North Norfolk, accompanied by the journalist Bertram Fletcher Robinson, who informed him about the legend of the hound “Black Shuck” is the name given to a ghostly black dog which is said to roam the coastline and countryside of East Anglia, that was derived from the Old English word scucca meaning "demon," and they say if you witness this “demon” you’ve had it and of course Sir Arthur Conan Doyle was very much taken by this story and of course this would bring back Sherlock Holmes. Then Sir Arthur Conan Doyle is again accompanied by the journalist Bertram Fletcher Robinson, and goes on a three day walkabout on Dartmoor, to get the flavour for his famous novel, but before he could start the novel, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle hears of another legend of an evil person named Squire Richard Cabell, a seventeenth-century squire from West Buckfastleigh, who is buried in Buckfastleigh Church in Devon and his coffin is secured beneath a heavy solid altar tomb and enclosed it behind a sturdy iron bars to prevent his escape. Other stories pertaining to Squire Richard Cabell are that he rides in a coach led by headless horses driven by a headless coachman. Sir Arthur Conan Doyle also hears another legend about an evil black hound in Wales that was associated with the Baskerville Family and so Sir Arthur Conan Doyle decides to combine three legend stories into the one famous novel in 1902, but before that was originally serialised in The Strand Magazine from August 1901 to April 1902, and when first published the public went wild, as they queued round the block to purchase the first episode in The Strand Magazine and had to be reprinted seven times to keep up with the public’s enthusiasm. We also hear about how Sir Arthur Conan Doyle got heavily into Modern Spiritualism and went on grand tours all over Great Britain, Australia, and South Africa and were a massive success and all the halls were always packed out, all because he was a great showman. We hear when the first Sherlock Holmes films first appear in Denmark in 1909 entitled ‘The Grey Lady’ which only lasted 14 minutes, then in Germany between 1914 to 1929 Sherlock Holmes films were a huge cult success, and the most successful ‘Der Hund von Baskerville’ [1929] which was also found to be in Hitler’s private collection. The first American film depicting Sherlock Holmes was in 1916 entitled ‘The William Gillette Play’ and they have just found a rare film copy. The first English sound version of Sherlock Holmes was in 1932 by the Gainsborough Pictures. But the first cult film of ‘The Hound of the Baskervilles’ was in 1939 with Basil Rathbone and Sir Christopher Frayling feels this is the definitive film version and close to the original novel describing the bleak Dartmoor landscape. Sir Christopher Frayling informs us about the massive cult following and totally obsessed of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle and especially Sherlock Holmes with “The Baker Street Irregulars” and has been elected into this society, which they all love all the novels that have been published, all the films that have been released and especially love all the Television programmes that have been released over the years. Sir Christopher Frayling admits he is also himself unashamedly a massive fan of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle and especially Sherlock Holmes. So ends a totally fascinating insight of the Sherlock Holmes genre and especially hearing Sir Christopher Frayling into his personal insight into Sherlock Holmes genre.
Special Feature: Interview with Basil Rathbone biographer Michael B. Druxman [2015] [1080p] [1.78:1] [17:10] Michael B. Druxman is the author of “Basil Rathbone: His Life and His Films” and here we see Michael B. Druxman being interviews in his lounge. What get is a very insightful information about the life and times of Basil Rathbone. Michael informs us that Basil Rathbone was born Philip St. John Basil Rathbone [13 June 1892 – 21 July 1967] in Johannesburg, South Africa and was a South African Republic-born British actor. His father was Edgar Philip Rathbone [1856 – 1924] and was a mining engineer, and his mother, Anna Barbara Rathbone, a violinist. Basil Rathbone was the eldest of three children that included his younger sister Beatrice and a younger brother John. In 1895 his family had to flee to escape the Boers because Rathbone's father was accused of being a British spy. In his autobiography Rathbone admits that he didn't know whether or not his father really was a spy and Basil had never asked his father if this was true! After escaping South Africa the family landed in England and over time Basil Rathbone went to all the good schools and was secretly interested in the theatre, but his father persuaded him to agree to work for one year at an insurance company, but after obligatory year, Basil Rathbone visited his cousin Frank Benson, an accomplished actor and manager of his own Shakespeare Company in Stratford on Avon, where he gave him a job acting in several parts in the Shakespeare plays. The next phase of Basil Rathbone's career began in 1923, when he came to New York City to perform in “The Swan.” In November of that year, Basil Rathbone met Ouida Bergere, a scriptwriter; they fell in love and made plans to marry. Before that could happen, however, Basil Rathbone needed to get a divorce from Marion Foreman. Eventually “The Swan” was adapted for the screen in the 1950s, but Basil Rathbone did not get a part in the film. Basil Rathbone made eight films during the 1920s, and in Hollywood made the film ‘The Last of Mrs. Cheyney’ and starred Norma Shearer and was a great success in 1929 and made film producers sit up and take notice of Basil Rathbone and was in big demand for several years. Although the film studios wanted him to sign a contract, but was advised that he should go independent as he would get more varied parts in films. As time went by Basil Rathbone appeared in several films that were box office success, which included ‘David Copperfield,’ ‘A Tales of Two Cities,’ ‘Anna Karenna,’ ‘The Adventures of Robin Hood,’ ‘Romeo and Juliet,’ ‘If I Were King,’ ‘Captain Blood,’ ‘Mark of Zorro,’ ‘The Dawn Patrol’ and ‘The Tower of London.’ One night Basil Rathbone was at a Hollywood party and Darryl F. Zanuck was there talking about making ‘The Hound of the Baskervilles’ and everyone thought who could play the part of Sherlock Holmes, and suddenly they all said Basil Rathbone, as they all felt he was ideal for the part and also looked like the illustrations of the detective were in all the publications. When the films became a success, when Basil Rathbone went out walking, children would shout out “Sherlock Holmes” and would get very angry about this situation. When these Sherlock Holmes films became very successful, his sidekick Nigel Bruce became good friends, but were always playing practical jokes on each other, that sometimes caused total embarrassment to Nigel Bruce. What really surprised Michael B. Druxman is that near the end of the film ‘The Hound of the Baskervilles’ when they have solved the case, Basil Rathbone as he walks out of the room, turns to Nigel Bruce and says, “Watson, the needle,” and especially as the film was made at the height of the Motion Picture Code in America and wondered how this statement was allowed to stay in the film. Another friendship Basil Rathbone he had was with fellow actor Errol Flynn, who would get roughly $2,000 a week for a five week shoot, but when Errol Flynn heard that Basil Rathbone would get roughly $5,000 a week for a five week shoot, Errol Flynn got slightly jealous. Despite working in Hollywood in the Second World War, he never forgot his roots in England that gave his whole family sanctuary, that he would do charity work in the form of “Bundles For Britain” and other well worthy causes for different charities. Because he wanted a steady income decided to sign up for five year contract with M-G-M, but was hired out to Universal Pictures for Sherlock Holmes film franchise, but after a while realised he made a mistake and was eventually fed up with the Sherlock Holmes films. The final straw that broke the camel’s back was a film Basil Rathbone had to appear in entitled ‘Bathing Beauty’ that starred Ester Williams and Red Skelton that was a total embarrassment. But after that work started to dry up, so the Basil Rathbone, his wife and children moved back to New York and only got bit parts. But one big success in New York was his appearance in the stage play “The Heiress,” and won a Tony. But over time he did get parts in films, like ‘The Court Jester’ [1956] with Danny Kaye], also the ‘Last Hurrah’ [1958] with Spencer tracy. Near the end of his career he started to appear in Horror films like ‘The Black Sleep’ [1956] and also appeared in some Roger Corman films. But his last two films were ‘The Ghost in the Invisible Bikini’ [1966] and finally in the film ‘Hillbillys in a Haunted House [1967]. At the height of his acting career, especially in Hollywood he was earning around $5,000 or more for each week of filming, but his wife would put on lavish parties and was causing Basil Rathbone lots of financial problems and when he eventually past away, his house was only worth $10,000 and that was in the 1960s. Despite this special feature being quite short, it is packed with loads of fascinating information about the life and time of Basil Rathbone and Michael B. Druxman is a very engaging and interesting person to listen to and is well worth a look.
Finally, although ‘THE HOUND OF THE BASKERVILLES’ is mainly Hollywood set-bound, it still manages to generate a nice creepy atmosphere which is due mostly to its insistence on depicting Dartmoor as a gloomy, perpetually mist-shrouded domain of escaped prisoners, scruffy hawkers and, of course, a ferocious hound with a habit of howling at the moon. But it’s also the familiarity of Basil Rathbone and Nigel Bruce in the roles which largely defined their careers that gives classic film buffs an extra buzz whenever they view this film. They bring Sir Arthur Donan Coyle’s characters to life in a very real way that no other actors have come close to rivalling, so that each seem to harbour a genuine fondness for the other — even though Dr. Watson is prone to bluff and bluster when shown by Sherlock Holmes how far off the mark he invariably was. The duo supported here by a typically polished cast who lend an effortless air of class under the dependable direction of Sidney Lanfield. Particularly effective is Barlowe Borland in the semi-comical role of the curmudgeonly Frankland and was one of those Hollywood foot soldiers who only occasionally made it on to the credits, but he clearly wasn’t prepared to let this opportunity to pass him by. The atmosphere photography and the realistic shadowy sets give and give an authentic recreation of Sherlock Holmes Victorian England, with mist-shrouded exteriors and sinister gas-lit interiors, cold dark menace lurking in every shadow. Basil Rathbone and Nigel Bruce make an instantly likeable Sherlock Holmes and Dr. Watson, with both actors settled in their roles and clearly enjoying every moment. Over the period when Basil Rathbone and Nigel Bruce were performing together, they would form one of cinemas most enduring double acts, in a series of superlative Sherlock Holmes films that continue to impress and entertain. Highly Recommended!
Andrew C. Miller – Your Ultimate No.1 Film Aficionado
Le Cinema Paradiso
United Kingdom
