Laikals The greatest movie ever made..!

MamaGravity good back-story, and good acting

FirstWitch A movie that not only functions as a solid scarefest but a razor-sharp satire.

Ginger Very good movie overall, highly recommended. Most of the negative reviews don't have any merit and are all pollitically based. Give this movie a chance at least, and it might give you a different perspective.

JohnHowardReid This initial entry in the Rathbone-Bruce series is often considered the best Holmes film ever made. For the first time in movie history, the Holmes narrative is not only kept correctly in period, but follows Doyle's original novel meticulously. Admittedly, there are minor changes and condensations, but some of these might well be considered improvements (such as the inclusion of a séance in order to introduce further suspects. As séance after all was a pretty popular pastime in the early 20th century, while Doyle himself dedicated the best part of his life to promoting Spiritism). We experts can spot some of the sets as miniatures, but the English period atmosphere is superbly judged and created all the same. Peverell Marley's absolutely brilliant cinematography (why wasn't he nominated for a prestigious Hollywood award?) is a major asset-as are the sets, costumes, special effects and music score.Best of all, of course, are the players. Basil Rathbone glides through his lines with wonderful celerity and is able to surprise us all with one of his delicious impersonations. As we might expect, he is truly more animated and fresh in this first study of what would become his most memorable role. Yes, oddly enough, Nigel Bruce has more footage than Rathbone and is in fact the real star of the movie. He makes the most of his opportunities too!With the exception of hero, Richard Greene, the subsidiary cast also rates as a total delight. Greene is a bit wet, but Wendy Barrie, Lionel Atwill, John Carradine and company lend Rathbone and Bruce some lively, appealing support. It's not usually remarked, but Mary Gordon repeated her deftly endearing characterization of Mrs Hudson (Holmes' landlady at 221B Baker Street) in all subsequent entries in the Rathbone series in which the good woman appeared. In short, this Hound of the Baskervilles is a triumph that loses nothing in atmosphere and dramatic intensity no matter how many times it is seen. Available on an excellent double DVD from Optimum with The Voice of Terror.

classicsoncall When the picture opened with that great, spooky, fog enshrouded scene, it immediately brought to mind the 1941 film "The Wolf Man". As I was thinking about that, who should appear out of the darkness but a man who rather resembled a wolf man who we later find out is an escapee from Nottingham Prison. I had a pretty good chuckle over that one.Watching these old Rathbone/Bruce team-ups well out of chronological order, I never gave a thought to the idea that the Dr. Watson character was anything more than a somewhat bumbling sidekick. In this first film of the franchise however, still at Fox studios, Nigel Bruce's Watson is considerably more reserved and professional in his manner with the legendary detective. It was an interesting take on the character, though the comedic approach seemed to work as well in the later stories to relieve some of the tension of Holmes' cases.With a minimal number of characters, the mystery behind the murder on the moor, (say, that would have been a cool title, too) is given away a bit too handily and the viewer winds up knowing who it is even before Holmes, though it will take his logical explanation in the final scene to explain Stapleton's (Morton Lowry) motive. The build up to the finale is made more intriguing with the presence of Lionel Atwill's Dr. Mortimer, a dabbler in the occult, and his wife (Beryl Mercer) who has the psychic abilities of a medium and actually conducts a séance in the story.Without ever mentioning it, the strange rock formations on the moor where some of the action takes place have a strong resemblance to Stonehenge, and just the name 'Great Grimpen Mire' heralds a formidably dangerous mystery about to unfold. Indeed, the picture treads ominously close to a horror story whenever Dr. Frankland (Barlowe Borland) expounds on his theories about John Stapleton, who has no reservation about claiming the man is a body snatcher.

ma-cortes This is the best version that still can be called a classic filmed in 1939 by Sidney Landfield with all-star-cast such as Basil Rathbone , Nigel Bruce , John Carradine and Richard Greene ; in which Holmes and Watson are called to save Sir Baskerville from a curse that has plagued his family for centuries . The first of fourteen films based on Arthur Conan Doyle's fictional consulting detective Sherlock Holmes starring Basil Rathbone as Sherlock Holmes and Nigel Bruce as Doctor Watson .Correct rendition of the most famous mystery novel written by Arthur Conan Doyle with an awesome Basil Rathbone as Sherlock and fairly faithful to the source material . Basil Rathbone as Holmes plays in a clever , broody and impetuous manner .Nigel Bruce plays as Watson with humor, goofy and joy , he's the perfect counterpoint to Holmes. 1889 , in all England there is no district more dismal than that vast expense of primitive wasteland , the moor of Dartmoor in Devonshire . Holmes (Basil Rathbone)and Watson(Nigel Bruce) are contracted by Doctor Mortimer (Lionel Atwill , later played Professor Moriarty) for the investigation of killing Sr. Baskerville who is now inherited by his niece Sir Henry . Mortimer asks Sherlock Holmes to help protect Sir Henry Baskerville (Richard Greene), who has returned to England to take his place at the family seat following the death of his uncle, Sir Charles Baskerville. As Sherlock Holmes and Dr Watson investigate the legend of a supernatural , devilish hound, a beast that may be stalking a young heir on the fog-shrouded moorland that makes up his estate . Sir Charles died of cardiac exhaustion and Dr. Mortimer believes he was frightened to death . There appears to be a curse on the family dating back nearly 200 years to when Sir Hugo Baskerville was supposedly killed on the moor by a huge hound. Holmes dismisses the supernatural elements of the case but there are a sufficient number of odd events to pique his interest. As Holmes investigates the mystery of a supernatural hound threatening the life of a Dartmoor baronet. Holmes soon realizes that someone is making sure the legend becomes real . Watson goes to the mansion ,there are the servants(John Carradine) and he meets Stapleton and his sister (Wendy Barrie). Meanwhile an inmate has escaped and on the haunted moor sound the barking of a savage , vicious beast.This is an excellent and thrilling film with dark elements in classic style based on the splendid novel by Arthur Conan Doyle . It's a genuine ripping yarn with much suspense and moody intrigue . It's distinguished by its cast with Basil's Sherlock and Nigel's Watson ably playing off each other . The film gets mystery , tension , thrills , detective action and packs an exciting deal of outstanding surprises with great lots of fun despite to be a known story . Basil Rathbone's magnificent interpretation , he plays as Holmes as an intelligent, obstinate , broody, pipesmoking sleuth . Basil takes on the character emphasizing the role's cynical humor as well as his sometimes insufferable intelligence . His acting is the best and similarly to Jeremy Brett for TV or Nicol Williamson (Seven-per-cent-solution) or Christopher Plummer (Murder by decree) . Rathbone ably backs him up as Sherlock in this version closely follows the Conan Doyle story . While not entirely passive, Watson's original role was mostly as an observer of Holmes and the chronicler of his cases. With this film a new tradition began where Watson enjoyed equal billing with Holmes , in Nigel Bruce's hands the character became a comedic foil and a bit of a bumbler . After being out of circulation for many years, partly because of the 1959 Hammer remake in Technicolor starring Peter Cushing, this film was restored and re-released to theaters in 1975 with great fanfare, to the point of having the national evening news do a story on it. The movie has a creepy atmosphere specially when is developed on the moors where lives the fearful giant beast ; besides the 221 Baker Street's house is well designed . Dark and murky cinematography full of shades and lights by Peverel Marley . Thrilling and intriguing musical score by Mockridge and David Buttolph . This atmospheric motion picture was well directed by Sidney Landfield . Other versions about this story are the following : ¨Hammer House of Horror¨ rendition (1959) by the great Terence Fisher with Peter Cushing , Andre Morell and Christopher Lee ; 1977 spoof adaptation by Paul Morrissey with Dudley Moore , Peter Cooke and Denholm Elliott ; 1983 recounting by Douglas Hickox with Ian Richardson , Donald Churchill and Martin Shaw ; 2000 unpteeth rendition by Rodney Gibbons with Matt Frewer , Kenneth Welsh and Jason London , English adaptation (1983) by Douglas Hickox with Ian Richardson as Holmes and Donald Churchill as Watson and TV rendition with Jeremy Brett and Edward Hardwicke directed by Peter Hammond and BBC take on with Peter Cushing and Nigel Stock .

jonfrum2000 I'm a huge Holmes fan, having read all the stories decades ago, seen this movie, watched the Jeremey Brett series multiple times and listened to every radio episode available, whether part of the canon or pastiche. It's been years since i watched this version, and i looked forward to it when I saw it available on youtube. Unfotunately, I was quite disappointed.I'm actually in favor of dramatizations being changed somewhat from their literary sources, but in this case I can't think of a single change that was neutral, much less an improvement. The change of the Barrymores to Barryman was silly - the most famous story from probably the English speaking world's most famous character is already locked in our minds. To change a character's name - for any reason - just serves to take us out of the suspension of disbelief. The role of the Barrymores to Selden is a fundamental part of the story - minimizing it took away from the drama.Apparently, Hollywood didn't think audiences could deal with Beryl Stapleton having any part whatsoever in the plot, so she's no longer the wife. And Sir Henry asking her to marry him after we've seen them meet just once again follows an unfortunate Hollywood convention and destroys the suspension of disbelief.And of course how it was that Stapleton lived in the district all his life and no one knew he was related to the Baskervilles is one of those jarring puzzles that Hollywood would typically drop on people just before the film ended and the lights went on. It works until they get outside and start thinking about it.Nigel Bruce certainly wasn't the bumbling clown he later played in this series, but he's no Watson if you've read the stories. As likable as he was in this role, he was never asked to play Watson and he never did. Bruce was more Jimmie Chan than Dr Watson.At least this was better than the later Hammer version, which went even further re-writing the story. It was a failure at the box office, with good reason.