Mystery Mania Blogathon – The Hound of the Baskervilles (1959)

This is the final of three posts dedicated to Mystery Mania Blogathon being held over at Pop Culture Reverie.

Tnx Robin for letting me take part!

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“This, I think, is a two-pipe problem.” – Sherlock Holmes

Number of Times Seen – 1 (26 Mar 2019)

Brief Synopsis – Sherlock Homes must try and solve a case of a wealthy heir of a cursed family who is threatened by mysterious sources.

My Take on it – I have always been a fan of the idea of Sherlock Holmes yet have seen very few adaptations of his stories over the years.

It should be noted that I bought a leather bound copy of the complete works of Sherlock Holmes nearly twenty years ago, yet only open it when I have trouble falling asleep because his writing is so tedious despite the fact that the stories themselves are fascinating.

Loved seeing peter Cushing and Christopher Lee together in this film and they show how great they can be when working together on screen.

Cushing is a great choice as the super sleuth and we plays the character quite believably throughout that we can imagine him as the greatest detective ever.

The way that this film mixes in to the story supernatural elements is done extremely well since it adds a whole new dimension to the way things are viewed.

The added bonus of seeing how a detective like Holmes could deal with a mixture of the natural and supernatural is also great to view.

Love the way that the story itself is presented in a very simple manner yet they are able to show how a simple idea can become more and more complex as things move along and we see the clues slowly revealing what is truly transpiring.

Bottom Line – Cushing is a superb Holmes and makes us believe the methods used by the character in order to try and solve the mystery depicted here. Lee is also superb in this film and he and Cushing work so well together throughout. The mix of the supernatural into the story adds a whole other dimension into things and constantly makes one wonder how such a sleuth could deal with the supernatural as well as the natural. The story itself is presented quite simply, yet they manage to show how things slowly get more and more complex as the clues are revealed along the way. Recommended!

MovieRob’s Favorite Trivia – Sir Christopher Lee readily admitted he had a morbid fear of spiders, and the panic on his face during the scene with the tarantula was not due to acting. (From IMDB)

Rating – Globe Worthy (7/10)