The Hound of the Baskervilles

Enjoyable mystery that moves along at a good pace featuring lots of witty banter. Rathbone portrays a youthful and energetic Holmes, pulling off his know-it-all routine without appearing smug, his late 'reentrance' is quite well done too. The sets are rather unconvincing, not really helping instill the moors with menace, but this mystery is still a lot of fun.

My first Rathbone from a new boxset. It loses steam near the end (once the marriage talks begin) but I appreciate the jolliness of the characters. I like seeing Bruce's Watson as a loud hero though he relies on his gun too much. I thought there were going to be eye holes in the painting like Scooby-Doo, the way Rathbone kept looking at it. The ending is quite abrupt and we don't get the satisfaction of seeing the bad guy apprehended. Fav scene: the reveal in the cave.

The bullet-proof source material ensures this works well enough, but Lanfield's direction leaves it surprisingly atmosphere-free when it really shouldn't be. Foggy moors, creaky mansions, seances, bloodthirsty hounds... yet it all comes across as inexplicably mundane. The mystery is well-constructed, though, with a satisfying number of red herrings to throw first-time viewers off the scent.

Suffers from some typical Sherlock problems of incomplete information and odd leaps of logic, but otherwise it's a very well constructed story full of tension and mystery. Rathbone is a great Holmes and the supporting cast does fine with their roles as well.

Sets the mood right with the atmosphere of the set design, yet all the characters seem like hollow, foreign versions of the actual text. Holmes is less spectacular in his investigative abilities and nearly completely lacks the deductive (inductive) reasoning, flaws, and quirks that make the character one of the greatest to grace paper and film. On top of that Watson is pretty much completely useless and his inquisitive nature is essentially absent.

Practically defines the iconic characters on film, but does not quite nail the tone needed for the quasi-Gothic mystery tale. So it never quite reaches its fullest promise - which is fine, because it launched 13 more films to be safe. "Watson - the needle!"

I haven't been crazy about the Holmes movies, but this one was pretty good. I'd forgotten most of the plot so it was nice to experience this without knowing what was coming. I'd rather read the stories again than watch the movies again, but this is pleasant as a quick diversion.

The first film in the Basil Rathbone/Nigel Bruce Sherlock Holmes series is also the best, as they adapt what's probably the best known Holmes novel with Lionel Atwill and John Carradine along for the ride. It's not the best mystery in the series since a lot of the solution is telescoped in the first 20 minutes, but it's the most opulent and atmospheric in the series, and Rathbone and Bruce are already fully inhabiting the roles.

Maybe it was because I had seen Hammer's later adaptation of the same story, but I found this pretty uninteresting for the most part. The acting and the dialogue are rather hammy, the characters flat and the studio sets not very impressive. Rathbone is a decent Holmes, though, and there are some good moments, especially the dog attack scene at the end.

"If we go beyond facts, use our imagination as the criminal does, imagine what might have happened, act upon it - as I’ve been trying to do in this case - we usually find ourselves justified.” Mr Holmes, in explaining his approach, very clearly articulates the method of science as inquiry, in particular abduction as the logical manifestation of imagination (with deduction and induction serving different but equally important roles and with beliefs determining actions). Delightfully Peircean!

I love the Universal Horror feel of this one. The characters are a hell of a lot of fun - a great set of character actors who can hold their own with the flawless Rathbone. It takes time for the little moments and has a lot of fun along the way, so it doesn't even matter that the mystery's solution is so well-known now. It's also probably the most effective dog attack I've ever seen. They keep the hound mostly off-screen and it never feels like a frolicking animal dubbed with growls.

Rathbone embodies the role as much as Nigel defined his. The atmosphere is fog drenched beyond even that Hammer incarnation. There's only one problem, which is inevitable with any adaptation of this source material: Holmes is missing from the entirety of the second act. This story is handicapped by a clever ploy of Conan which is carried on for far too long; robbing the audience of the one thing they came to 221B for in the first place.

Holds up surprisingly well. The mystery transfers well to screen and Rathbone is excellent as Holmes.

If you like Basil Rathbone's version of Holmes this is one you'll love. A faithful representation of the book although Watson may be too bumbling for the real officionados. Excellent character acting effects are dated but very good for it's date.

Basil Rathbone and Nigel Bruce are good as Holmes and Watson, but I wasn't particularly impressed by this film. I didn't dislike it, but I probably wouldn't watch it again.

The first and one of the best of 14 Sherlock Holmes mysteries starring Rathbone and Bruce, this one is based on Doyle's most famous story. A strong cast and flavorful photography and settings make this one of Hollywood's best treatments of the Holmes mystique, and it's still the best of the many versions of _Hound_. The controversial final line, "Watson, the needle!" kept this out of circulation for years.

Basil Rathbone is more excited to play Sherlock Holmes in disguise than any other actor has been to just play Sherlock in general, and we're all the victors for it.

Good film.

The most thrilling of the Sherlock Holmes tales is not surprisingly, one of the best outings for Rathbone & Bruce as Holmes & Watson. A demonic hound stalks the male members of the Baskerville family. The heir to the estate calls Holmes in to investigate. Trivia: The heir's boots get stolen and since he was Canadian, they were manufactured in Toronto. For this reason, the Toronto branch of the Holmes' Fan Clubs is known as "The Order Of The Boot."

it lacks a moody spookiness that it should absolutely have. there's almost no suspense to it. not being a huge fan of bruce's bumbling, nearly half-witted portrayal of watson (which here in the first film is thankfully not as goofy as others i've seen) the film really drags for me when holmes is not around. that said, the rest of the cast performs well, and rathbone as always shines when he's on screen and keeps things moving.

As a fan of Sherlock Holmes, I was going to love this! The first one with Basil Rathbone. Superb cast and wonderful Victorian sets at the Fox lot for the first American version of The Hound of the Baskervilles. The only thing missing was the atmospheric music making this film too quiet in the sound department to truly capture the suspense. But this leaves a lot of room for great acting, especially from Rathbone & Bruce cementing their characters to perfection.

Liked it! Moved along as a good who-dunnit murder mystery should.

Poor Watson. Sherlock is a real dick to him.