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The Hound of the Baskervilles
USA 1972
produced by Stanley Kallis, Richard Irving (executive) for Universal/ABC
directed by Barry Crane
starring Stewart Granger, Bernard Fox, William Shatner, Anthony Zerbe, Sally Ann Howes, Jane Merrow, Ian Ireland, John Williams, Alan Caillou, Brendan Dillon, Arline Anderson, Liam Dunn, Michael St. Clair, Barry Bernard, Constance Cavendish, Arthur Malet, Karen Kondazian, Elaine Church, Jenifer Shaw, Terence Pushman, Eric Brotherson, Anthony Eldridge, Chuck Hicks, Ian Abercrombie
screenplay by Robert E.Thompson, based on the novel by Arthur Conan Doyle
Sherlock Holmes, Hound of the Baskervilles
review by Mike Haberfelner
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Doctor Mortimer (Anthony Zerbe) hires Sherlock Holmes (Stewart Granger)
and Doctor Watson (Bernard Fox) to play bodyguards to Lord Henry (Ian
Ireland), heir to the Baskerville estate, after his uncle had died from
the family curse, the attack of a wild, supposedly mythical dog. Of
course, Holmes isn't one to just guard someone's life, so he soon starts
to do a bit of a snooping around round the moors of Dartmoor, where the
Baskerville estate is located. He seems to already have pieced together a
considerable part of the puzzle - when he's suddenly summoned back to
London, leaving it to Watson to guard Sir Henry. Watson does some
detective work of his own, but instead of finding the killer, the hound of
the Baskervilles or whoever else, he only finds Seldon (Chuck Hicks), an
escaped convict who just happens to be the brother of Baskerville's
housekeeper (Karen Kondazian), and who is eventually killed in a freak dog
attack. Sir Henry meanwhile tries to get romantically involved with his
neighbour Beryl Stapleton (Jane Merrow), but she seems under constant
watch from her brother George (William Shatner). Out of nowhere, Holmes
returns to the scene, and from now on, he exclusively presents evidence
that points to Stapleton as culprit, evidence that is only fortified when
a portrait of one of Baskerville's ancestors is found that looks
remarkably like him, unveiling him as a distant relation to Baskerville
and the ultimate heir to the family fortune should Baskerville ever die.
Oh, and Beryl turns out to be Stapleton's wife rather than his sister. Now
Holmes has his culprit but he still lacks the smoking gun, so he sees to
it that Stapleton accepts an invitation to dinner at the Stapletons, then
walks home through the moor - where he is most certainly attacked by the
mythical Hound of the Baskervilles - but Holmes, Watson and their friend
inspector Lestrade (Alan Caillou) lie in waiting to save Baskerville and
mortally wound the hound, which turns out to be not a mythical beast at
all but a dog trained to wreak havoc and kill the Baskervilles by
Stapleton. The wounded animal though returns to his master and kills him -
though I'm not absolutely sure why ... To cast Stewart Granger
as Sherlock Holmes sounds like a recipe for disaster, simply because his
acting style, including all of his charm and self-irony, are gravely at
odds with what one has learned to expect from Sherlock Holmes. In all
fairness though, Granger does rather well - sure, he is no Sherlock Holmes
and never will be, but he's likeable enough to pull off the role. The
film as a whole isn't much good though, basically it's rather badly
written and gives none of the characters any time to develop, especially
William Shatner as Stapleton gets hardly any screentime before being
revealed as the murderer way too soon in the picture. Add to this rather
low production values and disappointing studio sets standing in for the
moor, plus an utterly uninspired direction, and you're left with rather little.
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