It has been a decade or so since I last saw this, the last Sherlock Holmes movie starring Arthur Wontner. As a result, I saw it with fresh eyes. Given the core story, with one of the most quoted of Holmes' lines, about the dog in the night, it seemed likely to be a minor effort of bygone decades. However, with those fresh eyes, I could see that the screenwriters had filled in the story with a couple of murders, the Baskervilles, and, of course, Professor Moriarty, to bring the movie's length up. We are told and shown the various machinations ahead of Holmes... a mistake to my mind. The cheapness of the production shines through the good print I saw on TCM. Little effort was made to match light levels between stock footage of the racetrack and unadorned sets supposedly in the stands. Blah.
This leaves the question of casting. There are some people who think Arthur Wonter's Holmes is among the best, ranking it slightly below Jeremy Brett's. My first acquaintance with the gentlemen from Baker Street was in the person of Basil Rathbone, abetted by Nigel Bruce. Perhaps my fondness for their performances overwhelms my judgment, but Wontner's Holmes is not just cerebral; he is old and frail, older than seems appropriate, almost as old as Ian McKellan's 90-year-old Holmes of recent vintage.
Tastes vary, and the habits of a lifetime of Sherlock Holmes are hard to overcome. MURDER AT THE BASKERVILLES is a decently produced effort for a Quota Quickie. Attach the name of Sherlock Holmes to it, and suddenly I'm in a different realm of storytelling and movie-making. It doesn't measure up.
This leaves the question of casting. There are some people who think Arthur Wonter's Holmes is among the best, ranking it slightly below Jeremy Brett's. My first acquaintance with the gentlemen from Baker Street was in the person of Basil Rathbone, abetted by Nigel Bruce. Perhaps my fondness for their performances overwhelms my judgment, but Wontner's Holmes is not just cerebral; he is old and frail, older than seems appropriate, almost as old as Ian McKellan's 90-year-old Holmes of recent vintage.
Tastes vary, and the habits of a lifetime of Sherlock Holmes are hard to overcome. MURDER AT THE BASKERVILLES is a decently produced effort for a Quota Quickie. Attach the name of Sherlock Holmes to it, and suddenly I'm in a different realm of storytelling and movie-making. It doesn't measure up.