The Hound of the Baskervilles (1937)

How sad is this?

Although it has its amusing moments, in eneral the plot does not convince.

The story, direction, characters, and writing/dialogue is akin to taking a tranquilizer shot to the neck, but everything else was so well done.

The story, direction, characters, and writing/dialogue is akin to taking a tranquilizer shot to the neck, but everything else was so well done.

Der Hund von Baskerville (1937) *** (out of 4)Sherlock Holmes (Bruno Guttner) and Dr. Watson (Fritz Odemar) have to investigate the murder of Lord Baskerville and the fact that it might have been done by a large beast.DER HUND VON BASKERVILLE is an early sound adaptation of the Arthur Conan Doyle novel and while it's certainly not as good as the Hollywood version that was made with Basil Rathbone, it's still quite good on its own terms and if you're a fan of the story then you'll want to check it out. Of course, it's place in history will always be due to the fact that a print of it was found in the bunker where Adolf Hitler killed himself.The print I watched was in German without any English subtitles but if you're familiar with the story then it's not too hard to follow. What makes this version so good was the visual look of it. I was really impressed with how the film looked and I really enjoyed the darkness to it. The film was shot very dark but it looks beautiful as the B&W cinematography really jumps off the screen. Director Karel Lamac has no problem building up a nice atmosphere and this certainly helps.Another plus is the fact that both Guttner and Odemar are so good in the roles. In my opinion no one will ever beat the Basil Rathbone- Nigel Bruce teaming but this duo were quite good as were the supporting players. The ending packs a nice punch and at just 75- minutes the film moves extremely well. Without subtitles I was obviously unable to follow the dialogue but the story itself pretty much follows the story as you'd expect.

Taking a look around a DVD sellers page,I was surprised to discover that he had recently tracked down a German version of Sherlock Holmes,which was one of only 2 films found in Hitler's bunker!,that led to me getting ready to meet the hounds of the Baskervilles.The plot:Finding out that his wife has been having an affair,Lord Baskerville kills the man that his wife has been going with.As he murders the man,a Baskerville runs across the hall and brutally kills his wife,which leads to a curse being put on the mansion,where the dogs and blood-curdling screams of the women can be heard across the moors.200 years later:On the same night that a man escapes from prison, Lord Charles Baskerville notices a strange figure standing in the moors.Pushing aside the loud howls that could be heard outside,Charles goes to investigate.As the howls from outside grow louder,the mansion staff go to investigate,and are shocked to discover that Charles has died from a sudden heart attack.Attending the reading of the will,Charles family and his staff are caught by complete surprise,when the will reveals that Charles has left everything to an unknown cousin: Lord Henry Baskerville. As he tries to settle in at a hotel,Henry receives a mysterious letter,which says that if he wants to stay alive,then he must give the family mansion away.Suspecting that there may be a human face behind the infamous "Baskerville hounds" detectives Sherlock Holmes & John Watson are hired to finally put a stop to the howling hounds.View on the film:Withholding Holmes and Watson for the first 30 minutes,director Carl Lamac and cinematographer Willy Winterstein build a chilling Gothic Noir atmosphere brick by brick,with the Baskerville mansion being surrounded by decaying tress and merciless moors,which close the mansion off from the outside world.Along with the haunting backdrop,Lamac covers the mansion in stark shadows,which along with allowing for the Supernatural Horror mood to light up,also reveals the doubt that Holmes and Watson have over Baskerville and the other residences of the household keeping things hidden in the dark corners of the mansion.Although the ending ties things up far too quickly, Carla von Stackelberg's adaptation of Arthur Conan Doyle book superbly mixes intelligently written police protocol with restrained Horror barks and chilling Film Noir loners.Keeping the Baskerville family at the front of the title, Stackelberg hangs the supernatural myth over the household,as Henry Baskerville (played by an amazing,unsteady Peter Voß) finds himself suffering with a deep sense of mistrust,which femme fatale Beryl Vendeleure (played by an alluring Alice Brandt) subtly takes advantage of.Gaining a reputation over the following decades of being a bumbling fool, Stackelberg pulls Watson back to his roots,thanks to Watson showing a real zest for spotting the smallest clue,and also perfectly complimenting the quick-witted aspects of Holmes.For the first Germen sound version of Baskerville, (after 2 Germen Silent versions had been made) Bruno Güttner gives a terrific performance as Holmes,with Güttner really bringing out the calculating side of Holmes,as he pushes aside all of the deadly howls.Closely following Holmes, Fritz Odemar gives a great performance as Watson,who Odermar brilliantly makes the focus of the title,thanks to Odermar giving Watson a gripping energy over following each clue to its solution,as Holmes & Watson put down the hound of the Baskerville.

I watched this in German with out subtitles so some of this was tough going.Actually the film isn't bad, the problem is that its a 75 minute film where Holmes and Watson don't show up for 26 minutes. This isn't bad, but if you're watching this and not understanding the language the fact that most of the first half hour is simply people talking in a room makes it very very difficult to follow whats going on. Just before Holmes arrives you get out of the room and its more than people talking so you can begin to be able to follow the plot, assuming you do know the story.This is a good version of the story, one that I plan on trying again another time, starting 25 minutes in, I don't want my experience tainted by the long talk.If you get a chance to see it, preferably with subtitles, by all means do watch it. Even with out subtitles its worth a shot, just zip through the first 25 minutes on scan.

During the 30ies, Czech director Carl Lamac directed a number of mystery-thrillers in Germany; most of them being adaptations of the works of Edgar Wallace - like "Der Zinker" or "Der Hexer" - and most of them featuring the great Fritz Rasp among the villains. Unlike Fritz Rasp, who had a big comeback after the war in Germany's successful Edgar-Wallace-murder-mysteries of the 60ies, Carl Lamac never received the appreciation he deserved."Der Hund von Baskerville" is one of his best films. It takes a lot of liberty with the original story; and it is not set at the end of the Victorian era, but in contemporary present. Actually, this is very usual for any Holmes-adaption of that period or before - ask Roy William Neill about that.Yet, to be honest, Bruno Güttner as Holmes IS a problem. And I respect the many good reasons why most of the real Holmes-Fans will not be able to accept him as the "real" Holmes whom they know and love. To make it short, Güttner's Holmes is anything but "canonical". Pretty much like Margaret Rutherford's interpretation of Agatha Christie's "Miss Marple", he has absolutely nothing in common with the character presented in the books. Well, all three are creative thinkers, and that's the way how they solve the crime - as it should be. But: like Mrs. Rutherford, Bruno Güttner portrays a PROLETARIAN character. He does not "deduct", he "kombiniert"; a much less sophisticated and much more common (German) expression pretty well fitting the character Güttner portrays: he wears a sailor's overall instead of the Inverness-cape, and instead of the deerstalker a workers cap which actually was a very common peace of cloth in Berlin during the period. Obviously, the Germans did not get the message: the "real", canonical Holmes as described by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, is neither common nor proletarian. He'd never wear a common cap, if not for disguise.Anyway, this was the way the Germans saw or wanted to see the character. Hans Albers' Wannabe-Holmes from the great comedy-masterpiece "Der Mann der Sherlock Holmes war" looks almost the same. It is the way Holmes was portrayed in a series of German pulp-fiction-novels "Aus den Geheimakten des Weltdetektivs" written before the 1st World War and reissued some time after it. (You can see many of those during the opening credits of "Der Mann der Sherlock Holmes war".) Few Germans could have told you the difference between German Pulp-Holmes and Conan Doyle's.But, taken as a mystery-thriller with creepy atmosphere and some inventive and effective studio-shots, it is a good movie nevertheless. Like Fritz Lang's "Das Testament des Dr. Mabuse", it is a thriller in the best tradition of the German silent-movie-expressionism, which has influenced about every important American Horror-movie of the 30ies, 40ies and 50ies, containing its typical effects of light, fog and shadow - and, taken just as a thriller, the Bruce-Rathbone-version does not compete with it.Erich Ponto from Carol Reed's "The Third Man" remains in my mind as the best Stapleton I have ever seen (despite of William Shatner J), and Fritz Rasp gives a real creepy performance as the servant Barrymore.(In the German version of 1929, the last silent "Baskerville" ever made, Fritz Rasp had played Stapleton instead. By the way, I don't understand, how that 1929 version got a 2-star-rating, or any rating at all. Actually, it is still reported to be lost, so, pray tell me, WHERE THE HELL IS THE SENSE OF RATING A MOVIE THAT DOES NOT EXIST? And how can you possibly rate a movie, that does not exist any more except you had gone to hell and watched it there? Well, why don't you just stay and save yourself the long way back there?)