Director: Terence Fisher
Year: 1959
Rating: 7.5
This is such well-trod ground for me after having
read the story a number of times and seen a few versions of it on film and
likely having seen this film at some point in my murky memory that I expected
it to be a bit of a trudge through the moors. But it was very enjoyable I
thought with the wonderful imprint of Hammer and Terence Fisher all over
it. Beautifully photographed, well acted and enough changes in the script
to make it feel rather fresh. Hammer was just a few years into their glory
days with the horror films of Frankenstein, Dracula and The Mummy making
them a name in the business. It seems almost odd that they would tackle a
classic Sherlock Holmes tale - I don't believe they ever did again - but
they do their best to crawl up to the edge of traditional horror with the
fog and the howling in the distance.
And what else would you expect with Fisher at the helm with his plethora
of Hammer horror classics and of course with Peter Cushing and Christopher
Lee in the cast. These two friends were together in so many films over the
years. They make every role no matter how outlandish or how bad the film
seem sensible and plausible. Together they coat a film with pure class. Cushing
draws the high card and gets the role of Holmes while Lee plays Henry Baskerville.
No need to feel bad - Lee got to play Holmes in a few films in the future
- one directed by Fisher (Sherlock Holmes and the Deadly Necklace) - and
even got to play Mycroft in The Private Life of Sherlock Holmes. But in this
one Cushing gets the good scenes and plays Holmes in near manic rude fashion.
But Lee gets to kiss the girl.
The film begins with a lovely preamble in the 1700's with a scene of the
original psychotic Baskerville being killed by a giant hound after murdering
a lass on the moors. If you have never crossed the moors, it can be a scary
place as I found out years ago. I was hitchhiking around Great Britain from
Colchester to Skye up in Scotland and back. In the Moors while walking I
decided to take a shortcut across the land to the road I could see winding
way ahead. I walked into a bog and started to sink - was able to pull myself
out sans shoes and it was terrifying. So warnings about the moors are very
real. A Baskerville has just died in mysterious circumstances and Holmes
and his colleague - a competent Watson for a change (André Morell)
are asked to protect the latest Baskerville (Lee).
Everything in the film is just done so well - the other actors are terrific,
the music from James Bernard (behind the music of many other Hammer films)
is excellent, the direction keeps it going to get in under 90 minutes and
I loved the look of the Moors and of Baskerville Mansion. So nice to see
these two actors - so often enemies in the film - be on the same side and
there are a few near invisible smiles exchanged between them that cut to
my heart.
