THE HOUND OF THE BASKERVILLES—-beyond burning Atlanta and loosing musical munchkins fabled 1939 also saw fit to introduce Basil Rathbone and Nigel Bruce to the roles of Sherlock Holmes and Dr. Watson. The first of 14 pairings of the two actors with the legendary characters, it no doubt helped their on-screen chemistry that they were good chums out of costume as well. *

Basil’s aplomb and Holmes zeal are much in need here, as they search across Devonshire’s misty moors in 1884 for who—or what—is committing murders. Evidence points to the “footprints of a gigantic hound.”

Fill your pipe and relax: with the jolly assistance of Watson (Bruce on humor duty), you can bet your kidney pie that history’s most famous cocaine addict will divine answers to crime conundrums that befuddle the average bloke. Possibly helping narrow things down is that the butler is played by John Carradine. Atmospheric, full of ripe ripostes and dry Brit wit, the 80 minutes flit by.

There seems to have been some problem with the directorial end, as Alfred L. Werker finished for Sidney Lanfield, who had taken over William Seiter, who’d stepped in for Irving Cumming. Lanfield got the credit. No style jumpiness is detectable and the production values are handsome. Ernest Pascal’s script was based on Arthur Conan Doyle’s 1902 novel.  Four different composers worked on the scoring (David Buttolph, Cyril Mockridge, David Raksin and Charles Maxwell) and none are credited, so it may be one of those lucky instances where a flurry of disconnects all turned into pixie dust. Then again, there is the clued-in final line “Oh, Watson–the needle!”

With Richard Greene, Wendy Barrie, Lionel Atwill, Beryl Mercer and E.E. Clive. This was popular enough ($1,200,000 gross, 163rd among the 365 feature films released in the States) that 20th immediately rushed Basil & Nigel into The Adventures Of Sherlock Holmes that same year, and that did even better business.

* Case history—Holmes purists would take issue with Bruce’s portrayal of Watson as rather a bumbler, especially in the sequels. Those who are only familiar with the movie versions didn’t bother huffing. Rathbone in his autobio riposted “There was an endearing quality to his performance that to a very large extent, I believe, humanized the relationship between Dr. Watson and Mr. Holmes.”  Yeah, after the ‘purists’ clue you in on why they sniff on Bruce they can use their uptilted noses to tell you why you must get a different vintage wine to serve the next time they come over to prove their pomposity.