DER HUND VON BASKERVILLE (Ondra-Lamac Film / Germany / 1937)
Before I dove head-first into the silents, I was very much looking forward to getting this. Now that I have, I wound up enjoying it immensely!
This was the
3rd German adaptation of Doyle's novel, and it seems all 3 had some influence on the famous
1959 Hammer version. The story starts in the past, showing the events of the "legend". But then, like the
1968 BBC version, it focuses on events leading up to Sir Charles' death. It's more than a half hour in before we finally get our first glimpse of Holmes. And what an unsual depiction it is! Holmes wears a turtleneck sweater, a leather jacket & a worker's cap-- as someone said, "Proletariat" instead of "Elite". What struck me as funny the first time I saw this, it seemed he wore the same outfit that Christopher Eccleston did on
DOCTOR WHO-- the one some character joked made him look like a "
u-boat captain".
As in most versions of the story, Holmes sends Watson to Dartmoor, but in this case, he never meets Sir Henry until the film's nearing its climax.
Perhaps the biggest change is the early introduction of Beryl, who admits to being a "distant cousin". She visits Sir Charles before his death, then hangs around and gets very friendly with Sir Henry. Watson, who briefly tries to hide his identity under a false name, eyes her as a suspect, since she might have been in line for the inheritance, until the existence of Henry became known.
In the end, we find out that Beryl and Stapleton are really brother and sister-- JUST like in the Rathbone film
2 years later, except, while she was somehow completely unaware of her heritage in that one, and innocent of the murder plot, here, she was known to be related from the first, but wanted no part of the murder plot once she found out about it.
Watson is shown to be really inteligent in this version, and quite capable of picking up the smallest clues on his own. Holmes works to his own methods, and only contributes key info where really needed. I think having a smart sidekick makes the hero look even smarter, which this film certainly does.
Stapleton, as played by Erich Ponto, is a light-hearted eccentric crank naturalist, who likes to sing to himself, and openly hates women. One reviewer suggested he might be the "best" version of the character ever seen on film!
One extended scene has Watson vising Stapleton (the naturalist) and using his telescope to see someone prowling around on the moors. This is similar to the
1959 film, where they made Frankland the local priest AND the naturalist. In the original story, of course, it was Frankland's telescope, but he was an entirely-different character. I'm reminded of how some years back, I watched a mini-marathon of several version of "
HOUND" back-to-back, and TOOK NOTES to keep track of which characters were in each film.
Two things really make this film stand out for me. One is the dark, visual moodiness of it, which someone suggested totally blew the
1939 Rathbone film out of the water by comparison. The other, which somehow caught me completely by surprise this week, was the dialogue. The 1st time I saw this on Youtube, someone had posted it in German without subtitles. Later, I watched it again, with English subtitles. But this time, watching it on my mid-sized TV, I was suddenly struck by just HOW DAMNED FUNNY so much of the dialogue is. The interactions between so many characters had me laughing out loud in many places. The balance between "spooky" and "funny" has really upped this film in my eyes, even with its oddities.
One scene has Dr. Mortimer describing Sir Henry as a very calm, level-headed person... and then they CUT to Henry throwing a tantrum, angrily throwing something across a room, as he finds out one of his boots has been stolen at his hotel. This kind of quick-cut for contrast I've seen a lot, including the Tom Baker
DOCTOR WHO story "
Image of the Fendahl", where Leela described The Doctor as "gentle" just before we saw Baker KICK a crate in the room he was locked in. Nice comic timing in the editing.
I've seen
3 different versions of this on DVD available.
Koch Media in Germany (2009 / no idea if this has subtitles or not),
Rare Films and More (2016 w/ English subtitles and allegedly "improved image", which I can't confirm without the other discs), and
Sinister Cinema (year unknown, DUBBED into English!). Oddly enough, I saw no point of getting the dubbed version, as I'd rather hear the actors in their own voices, and have no trouble reading subtitles-- although I must admit, a few of them went by WAY too fast, faster than I could read. I wound up scrolling back and using "pause" a few times.
The
Rare Films And More disc is on a DVD-R (the seller made a point of telling me this), which played fine on my regular DVD player. The menu is a bit wonky, but I managed. In addition to optional subtitles, the disc also comes with an extra that would be at home on
The HIstory Channel-- a 20-minute GERMAN newsreel showing the "peaceful" occupation of Denmark & Norway, "
to protect those countries' neutrailty". OH REALLY??? I'm a bit baffled they didn't include the trailer for the film. The only thing that bugs me (but only a bit) is that they have a "
Rare Films & More" logo in the corner of the screen for the entire length of the movie. That I could have done without.
This film gained some noteriety as being one of two that were discovered in Hitler's bunker after he committed suicide.
Bruno Guttner (Holmes) apparently only made 3 films, before entering the German army (he died sometime during the war), while
Fritz Odemar (Watson) went on to quite a long career in German films.
Fritz Rasp, rather spooky as Barrymore, had played Stapleton in the
1929 version!
Barrymore & Beryl
Watson & Stapleton
Bruno Guttner as Holmes
