The Hound of the Baskervilles (1939 film)
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| The Hound of the Baskervilles | |
|---|---|
 DVD cover |
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| Directed by | Sidney Lanfield |
| Produced by | Gene Markey |
| Written by | Arthur Conan Doyle (novel) Ernest Pascal |
| Starring | Richard Greene Basil Rathbone Nigel Bruce |
| Music by | David Buttolph Charles Maxwell Cyril J. Mockridge David Raksin |
| Cinematography | Peverell Marley |
| Editing by | Robert Simpson |
| Distributed by | Twentieth Century Fox Film Corporation |
| Release date(s) | March 24, 1939 |
| Running time | 80 min. |
| Language | English |
| IMDb profile | |
The Hound of the Baskervilles is a 1939 mystery film based on the novel of the same name by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle and is directed by Sidney Lanfield and produced by 20th Century Fox. It is the most well known cinematic adaptation of the book, and is often regarded as the best as well.
The film stars Basil Rathbone as Sherlock Holmes, Nigel Bruce as Watson and Richard Greene as Henry Baskerville. Because the studio apparently had no idea that the film would be such a hit, and that Rathbone and Bruce would make many more Sherlock Holmes films and be forever linked with Holmes and Watson, top billing went to Richard Greene, who was the film's romantic lead. Rathbone was billed second. Wendy Barrie, who played Beryl Stapleton, the woman with whom Greene falls in love, received third billing, and Nigel Bruce, the film's Dr. Watson, was billed fourth. In all other Holmes films, Rathbone and Bruce would receive first and second billing.
The Hound of the Baskervilles also marks the first of the fourteen Sherlock Holmes movies starring Rathbone and Bruce as the detective duo.
[edit] Plot
On his uncle's death Sir Henry Baskerville returns from abroad and opens up the ancestral hall on the desolate moors of Devonshire. Holmes uncovers a plot to have Sir Henry murdered by a terrible trained hound.
[edit] Quotes
- "Let me hear you reconstruct him — by our usual methods of deduction." (Sherlock Holmes)
- "They were the footprints of a gigantic hound!" (Dr. Mortimer)
- "Oh, Watson, the needle!" (Sherlock Holmes)
- "Murder, my dear Watson — refined, cold-blooded murder." (Sherlock Holmes)
