Sherlock Holmes and the Murder at the Baskervilles (1937)
Director - Thomas Bentley
The Plot
After 20 years, an old friend (and client) summons Sherlock Holmes and Watson back to the scene of the crime of The Hound of the Baskervilles. This time it's horses rather than dogs that are at the center of the mystery.
A stable hand is murdered and a prized race horse is kidnapped. A young jockey is presumed to be behind the crimes, but Holmes deduces that it's actually his old arch-enemy Professor Moriarity that is responsible.
Film Notes
The Mystery of the Title
This entry onto the long list of Sherlock Holmes films is actually based on Arthur Conan Doyle's The Silver Blaze. The change in title was most likely an effort to capitalize on the more popular The Hound of the Baskervilles.
Like so many of the Holmes films of the 30s and 40s it is set in modern times, though in this outing the modern setting adds no value. It also has the feel of a filmed stage-play, as editing is minimal and montage almost non-existent. A car crash and a horse race bring much needed relief to the static style.
Still, it is Sherlock Holmes, and it of course contains the deductive details that always make for some degree of entertainment.
Off to Hollywood
Murder at the Baskervilles was the last of the English produced Sherlock Holmes series before the American produced Basil Rathbone entered for a long run. Though not a great film, as a historical curiosity, it deserves a look.
Arthur Wontner
Mr Wontner portrayed Sherlock Holmes in five films. His career as an actor began in 1897 on the stage. His first film appearance as Holmes came in 1923.
Compared to Rathbone's rather excitable Sherlock, Mr Wontner's Holmes is somewhat underplayed. Wontner later appeared in Michael Powell's controversial (and wonderful) The Life and Death of Colonel Blimp, which had to wait 40 years to be seen in the U.S. in its original form.
-- Ed Schneider
Cast & Production Credits
| Arthur Wontner | Sherlock Holmes |
| Gordon Mitchell | Pluto |
| Bella Cortez | Etna |
| Roger Browne | Mars |
| Annie Gorassini | Venus |
| Thomas Bentley | Director |
| Julius Hagen | Producer |
| Arthur Conan Doyle | Story Author |
| Arthur Macrae | Screenwriter |
| H. Fowler Mear | Screenwriter |
| Sydney Blythe | Cinematographer |
| William Luff | Cinematographer |
| Alan Smith | Editor |
