The Hound of the Baskervilles (1939)

 "For that's where crimes are conceived and where they're solved- in the imagination.

This is the first time, barring out-of-context clips, that I've seen any of the Basil Rathbone Sherlock Holmes films, which I'll be watching every now and then, in order. It's quite arresting to reflect that this film, in 1939, was made less than a decade after Conan Doyle's death and less than forty years after the first serialisation of what would become the novel- many who saw this film in 1939 would have read the story in 1901. The film is set in 1889, precisely thirty years before the film was made. Fifty years is what separates us, in 2021, from the death of Jim Morrison.

Rathbone's performance feels very straightforward to us now, with eight further decades of actors playing Holmes in various ways. But, with those actors preceding Rathbone leaving little mark on posterity, his performance is the template, the benchmark. He is excellent- charismatic and highly convincing. Again, Nigel Bruce's somewhat comical performance as Watson has become something for subsequent performers to rebel against but, judged as the comic role that it is, Bruce's performance is superb.

And so is the film. Unlike other versions, less straightfotwardly shot, this is easy to follow, despite the plot being far from simple, with some nice narrative touches like having the dramatis personae at an inquest scene for Sir Charles at the start, or the faded parchment in the background of the seventeenth century flashback with Sir Hugo. Yet it is the narrative that is simplified without much change to the plot- although having Beryl be Stapleton's sister rather than  his wife has awkwar implications of an incestuous marriage to Sir Henry. 

Moving swiftly on, the whole thing looks suitably atmospheric, with the moor set looking very eerie indeed, and the film has the sense to put storytelling first. A promising start.

It's an interesting ending, though- "Watson, the needle!"