cinema history class: the hound of the baskervilles

In coming up with themes for the sessions of the cinematic history class, Keith has often taken suggestions from those of us in the class. Which makes sense, since he's -- at least to a degree - catering to us.


This past week we started a session of Sherlock Holmes movies -- it was Ethan's suggestion -- with Hammer Films' 1959 production of The Hound of the Baskervilles.

Starring Peter Cushing, Christopher Lee and Andre Morel, this should have been better than it was. Ethan tweeted that he enjoyed it, but it was still his least favorite Hammer film (which, I suppose, is a tribute to how good Hammer was). I noted -- and the others agreed -- that this was more of a live action Scooby Doo than horror film. Still and all, Cushing and Lee were good enough that we generally gave this film high grades.


The shameful admission for me is that this is -- I think -- the first time I've seen a Sherlock Holmes film. And I've never read a Sherlock Holmes book. I have seen all those annoying episodes of Star Trek: The Next Generation where Data recreates Holmes in the holodeck. So I've got that going for me, which is nice.