Saturday 3 March 2012

Unleashed


'The Hound Of The Baskervilles' was the perfect Sherlock Holmes story for Hammer to adapt, the most gothic and bloodthirsty of Arthur Conan-Doyle's tales. Even so, the ante was upped with the introduction of deadly tarantulas, a female villain, lots of gunplay and a webbed hand.

Peter Cushing makes for a brilliant Holmes - waspish, good humoured, bright eyed - but perceptive and ready to act at all times. Andre Morell is a pretty good Doctor Watson, too, quiet, reliable, handy with a pistol. The film is directed by the supremely capable Terence Fisher, and moves along briskly and convincingly, and the story is adapted well and slightly sexed up without the need for a load of bullshit about hallucogenic gas and mind palaces that so marred the recent TV adaptation / reinterpretation.

2 comments:

  1. This is a Hammerized version of "The Hound of the Baskervilles". Hammer film regulars Cushing and Lee aside, there are deadly tarantulas (not in the canonical version of the story) and other decidedly Hammer film touches that give an unique B-movie feel!

    Still, an enjoyable version though...

    Have you seen the Russian adaptation with Vasily Livanov as Sherlock Holmes..

    Cheers!

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  2. I love the original, is the adaptation worth watching? Thanks.

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