The Hound of the Baskervilles (1959 film)

Infobox Film
name = The Hound of the Baskervilles


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director = Terence Fisher
producer =
writer = A. Conan Doyle (novel)
Peter Bryan
narrator =
starring = Peter Cushing
André Morell
Christopher Lee
John Le Mesurier
music =
cinematography =
editing =
distributor = United Artists
released = 3 July 1959 (U.S.)
runtime = 87 min.
country = U.K.
language = English
budget =
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website =
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imdb_id = 0052905

"The Hound of the Baskervilles" is a 1959 British mystery film produced by Hammer Films and is directed by Terence Fisher.

The film is an adaptation from the Sir Arthur Conan Doyle novel of the same name and stars Peter Cushing as Sherlock Holmes, Christopher Lee as Sir Henry Baskerville and André Morell as Watson. It also starred Marla Landi, Ewen Solon, Francis de Wolff, John Le Mesurier and Miles Malleson.

Production

It was filmed at Bray Studios during 1958. The exterior of Baskerville Hall is recognisable as Dracula's castle in "Dracula", made the previous year. Filming also took place on location at Chobham Common and Frensham Ponds, both in Surrey. The Holmes of Peter Cushing received some criticism at the time, chiefly because he was not Basil Rathbone, who up to that point had been the definitive Sherlock Holmes. But time has been extremely kind to Cushing's interpretation, which for the first time presented the character truly as written by Doyle: prickly, egotistical, capricious, and not always easy to bear. It was Cushing's performance as the master sleuth that paved the way for Jeremy Brett to later become the Holmes of his generation.

Plot

Returning to his family’s manor house on Dartmoor after his uncle dies under mysterious circumstances, Sir Henry Baskerville (Christopher Lee) is confronted with the mystery of the supernatural hound that supposedly takes revenge upon the Baskerville family. The famous detective Sherlock Holmes (Peter Cushing) and his assistant Dr. Watson (André Morell) are brought in to investigate.

Changes from the novel

There are several significant changes in plot details. Among them:

*Sir Henry does not suffer a minor heart condition in the novel, as he does in the film.
*There is nothing involving a ritual sacrifice, a tarantula, or a mine shaft in the novel. Holmes is not thought to have been accidentally trapped in a cave-in in the novel.
*Miss Stapleton is not Stapleton's daughter in the novel, but his wife. She does not hate Sir Henry, as in this film. Not to mention that in the novel, Holmes, Watson, and Lestrade eventually find her bound, gagged, and badly bruised.
*There is no attempt on the life of Sir Henry inside the hotel, as in this film.
*The painting next to the staircase does not go missing in the novel, because its clue is not as obvious as it is in the film; therefore, there is supposedly no danger of anyone ever figuring it out.
*The bishop and Frankland in the novel were two separate characters entirely.
*Barrymore the butler is one beard short; in other words, he's missing a beard.

External links

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