Rating summary

Movie		4.0
Video		3.0
Audio		4.0
Extras		3.5
Overall		4.0

The Hound of the Baskervilles Blu-ray Movie Review

The game's apaw.

Reviewed by Jeffrey Kauffman June 17, 2016

Sherlock Holmes, arguably the most iconic detective character in the entire history of literature, appeared in four novels and some 56 stories, but of all those adventures, the third Holmes novel, The Hound of the Baskervilles, is probably the best known. The tale’s supernatural and downright spooky ambience made it a natural for visual media, and rather remarkably, the first film adaptation of the source novel came as early as 1914. The allure of Arthur Conan Doyle’s story of something approaching karmic retribution continued to draw in not just untold numbers of readers, but viewers as well as further adaptations accrued by the handful over the subsequent decades. It’s probably therefore no accident that Fox chose The Hound of the Baskervilles to launch what ultimately became the Sherlock Holmes franchise that offered Basil Rathbone one of his most defining roles. Twenty years after that film captured the imaginations of the viewing public, Hammer Films rebooted the venerable property with Peter Cushing in the legendary role of Sherlock Holmes. This was the first color version of the creepy saga, and while it departs rather radically from its source material, this particular The Hound of the Baskervilles has mood to spare. Doyle purists will probably find more to fault in it than the casual viewer, but even for those who have memorized the original Holmes canon, this version has an undeniably Holmesian ambience even if it doesn’t hew to Doyle’s proscriptions one hundred percent of the time.

This film overtly details the nefarious activities of Hugo Baskerville (David Oxley) in the 17th century, though rather interestingly (especially for a Hammer film), the whole demonic (i.e., Faustian) element is ignored, or at best merely hinted at by Hugo’s unconscionable behavior. This sequence at least sets up the “reasons” for the supposed curse on the Baskerville clan, as the film segues to the late 19th or early 20th centuries, finding Holmes (Peter Cushing), Dr. Watson (André Morell) and their colleague Dr. Richard Mortimer (Francis de Wolff) discussing the recent demise of another Baskerville, Sir Charles. Mortimer is concerned that something untoward is afflicting all of the Baskervilles, and he’s therefore worried about what might potentially happen to Sir Henry Baskerville (Christopher Lee). When Henry shows up to meet the trio, the sudden appearance of a tarantula crawling up his suit jacket certainly gives credence to Mortimer’s fears.

Without getting into the nuts and bolts (and/or dogs) of the plot so as to not reveal spoilers, what’s kind of interesting about this version is that the venerable Sherlock Holmes is actually kind of shunted off to the sidelines for quite a while, as Watson “guards” Sir Henry. Watson and Sir Henry return to Baskerville Hall, where a spectral canine is supposedly on the hunt for Baskerville descendants. Some of Doyle’s original building blocks are still intact (albeit occasionally in pretty different versions), including an escaped convicted murderer named Selden (Michael Mulcaster), a butler named Barrymore (John Le Mesurier) and a woman named Stapleton (Marla Landi), all of whom have certain secrets they’re hiding, and who of course turn out to have some unexpected connections.

Cushing’s Holmes is a rather different formulation of this character than many Doyle enthusiasts will be used to. He really doesn’t exhibit the almost pathological or at least neurotic impulses that tend to inform the character in some other versions, and as such perhaps comes off as slightly more “normal” than the bulk of Holmes portrayals through the years. This film’s Dr. Watson is also not the bumbling acolyte of the Rathbone films, though that is of course closer to Doyle’s original conception. The film is strong on mood, with an impressively lush production design, though the climax tends to be probably at least a bit unintentionally funny due to some inartful choices in how to handle the “big reveal” with regard to the titular character.

The Hound of the Baskervilles Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

The Hound of the Baskervilles is presented on Blu-ray with an AVC encoded 1080p transfer in 1.66:1. I'm assuming this transfer was culled from the same MGM master that was used to source the British release from Arrow which Svet Atanasov reviewed for us last year. As Svet mentions, the inconsistency of the video presentation is one of this release's biggest stumbling blocks. Sections of the film offer at least decent saturation and densities, with acceptable detail levels, but other moments are blanched and pretty fuzzy looking (see screenshot 7 for one example). The entire palette has faded even in the best looking moments, with flesh tones looking pink or at least ruddy, and those distinctive Hammer reds tending toward the brown side of things. As Svet also mentioned, there are haloing anomalies that certainly look like minor but observable digital sharpening (see screenshots 9 and 15). Elements have their fair share of age related wear and tear, with typical problems like flecks, specks and scratches showing up. All of this said, while this presentation is not optimal, it's never less than watchable, at least when compared to the pretty shoddy looking DVD, and it looks considerably better in motion than at least some of these screenshots might indicate.

The Hound of the Baskervilles Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

Aside from just a couple of brief pops, The Hound of the Baskervilles' lossless DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0 mono track sounds very good, with a nicely full bodied midrange and lower end which helps to support the great score by James Bernard. Dialogue is presented cleanly and clearly and effects (including the haunting howl of a certain doggie) come through with good force. There are no issues with distortion or dropouts.

The Hound of the Baskervilles Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

• Audio Commentaries:

  David Del Valle and Steven Peros

  Paul Scrabo, Lee Pfeiffer, and Hank Reineke

• Isolated Music and Effects Track is presented in DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0.


• Margaret Robinson Talks About The Hound of the Baskervilles (1080p; 14:52) is an interesting interview with the Hound mask maker.


• Actor's Notebook: Christopher Lee (480i; 13:00) is an archival piece with Lee discussing Sherlock Holmes.


• Hound of the Baskervilles Excerpts Read by Christopher Lee are audio supplements that play to various illustrations:

  Mr. Sherlock Holmes (1080i; 14:35)

  The Hound of the Baskervilles (1080i; 6:22)

• Original Theatrical Trailer (1080p; 2:07)


• MGM 90th Anniversary Trailer (1080p; 2:06)

The Hound of the Baskervilles Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

I'm still a sucker for the 1939 version of this story, as well as at least a couple of the more modern reboots, but this 1959 iteration is awfully strong on mood, and it's a rather vibrant if sometimes hokey reworking of Doyle's venerable tale. The video presentation here is spotty, and curious potential consumers should probably spend some time perusing the screenshots. Those with Region B players may also want to look over the supplements included in the British Arrow release (linked above in the video comments), since some of those supplements may appeal more to them than the (excellent) supplements on this release. With those caveats stated, The Hound of the Baskervilles comes Recommended.