Unleashing the Phantom: Gothic Shadows in the 1939 Hound of the Baskervilles

In the desolate mists of Dartmoor, a legendary beast prowls, but it is the cunning of man that unleashes true horror upon the Baskerville lineage.

Arthur Conan Doyle’s timeless tale of Sherlock Holmes finds a chilling cinematic incarnation in the 1939 adaptation, where rational deduction clashes with primal superstition amid Britain’s fog-enshrouded wilds. This film, poised at the cusp of classic mystery and Gothic horror, captivates with its blend of intellectual intrigue and visceral dread, cementing Basil Rathbone’s portrayal as the definitive screen Holmes.

  • The film’s masterful fusion of Doyle’s rationalism with Gothic supernaturalism, transforming a detective yarn into a haunting moorside nightmare.
  • Basil Rathbone’s razor-sharp performance as Holmes, embodying the triumph of logic over legend.
  • Its enduring influence on horror cinema, from atmospheric tension to the portrayal of hereditary curses in popular culture.

Moorland Myths and Studio Ambitions

The 1939 The Hound of the Baskervilles emerges from 20th Century Fox’s bold venture into Sherlock Holmes territory, directed by Sidney Lanfield as the inaugural entry in what would become a celebrated series. Produced during Hollywood’s Golden Age, when studios sought prestige through literary adaptations, the film distills Doyle’s 1902 novel into a taut 80-minute thriller. Screenwriters Ernest Pascal and Darrell Ware amplify the Gothic elements, emphasising the eerie isolation of Dartmoor over the source material’s broader scope. This choice aligns with the era’s fascination with foggy English landscapes, evoking memories of Universal’s monster rallies while grounding the narrative in Holmesian precision.

Filming unfolded on Fox’s backlots, with matte paintings and fog machines conjuring the bleak expanse of the moor. Legends of the real Dartmoor hounds, rooted in Devon folklore, infuse authenticity; Doyle himself drew from tales of spectral packs haunting escaped convicts. Production notes reveal budget constraints shaped the beast’s design, yet these limitations birthed ingenuity, as practical effects director Fred Sersen crafted a hound that symbolises both primal fear and fabricated illusion. The score by Cyril Mockridge, with its wailing winds and staccato strings, underscores the tension between civilised London and barbaric wilderness.

Unravelling the Baskerville Curse

The narrative plunges viewers into generational torment when Dr. Mortimer (Lionel Atwill) beseeches Holmes and Watson at fogbound 221B Baker Street. His client, Sir Charles Baskerville, has perished from apparent terror inflicted by a colossal hound, a family legend tied to an ancestor’s pact with the devil. Sir Henry Baskerville (Richard Greene), the last heir arriving from Canada, inherits not just wealth but a spectral stalker. Holmes dispatches Watson to Dartmoor Manor, where locals whisper of glowing eyes amid the tors.

Key sequences build dread incrementally: the convict Selden’s nocturnal screams, Barrymore and his wife’s covert signals via candlelight, and Stapleton (Morton Lowry), the enigmatic naturalist neighbour with his half-sister Beryl (Wendy Barrie). Holmes infiltrates as a local beekeeper, observing phosphorescent paint applied to a massive hound by Stapleton, motivated by thwarted inheritance claims. Climax unfolds in a mire-choked chase, Holmes igniting flares to expose the ruse, affirming science’s victory. Performances shine; Nigel Bruce’s bumbling Watson provides levity, contrasting Rathbone’s coiled intensity.

Yet the synopsis reveals deeper layers: the manor’s decaying grandeur mirrors aristocratic decline, with portraits of leering ancestors foreshadowing human malice. Doyle’s plot twists, like the escaped prisoner’s true identity as Beryl’s brother, heighten paranoia, while Holmes’ cocaine-laced reveries hint at his own vulnerabilities. This detailed unfolding, scene by scene, cements the film’s status as a blueprint for Gothic mysteries blending inheritance horror with procedural sleuthing.

Holmes’ Steely Gaze Amid Spectral Fears

Basil Rathbone’s Sherlock Holmes dominates, his aquiline features and piercing stare dissecting superstition like a vivisectionist. Unlike stage portrayals, Rathbone infuses physicality; his deerstalker-clad silhouette against moorland backdrops evokes a Victorian ghost hunter. In the confrontation with the hound, his calm commands amid chaos underscore the theme of enlightened reason prevailing over medieval dread.

Watson, played with endearing ineptitude by Bruce, serves as audience proxy, his malapropisms humanising the duo. Greene’s Sir Henry embodies vulnerable nobility, while Atwill’s Mortimer exudes oily duplicity. Supporting turns, like E. E. Clive’s exasperated Barrymore, enrich the ensemble, drawing from theatre traditions where Doyle’s works thrived.

Gothic Mists and Auditory Terrors

Cinematographer Peverell Marley employs low-key lighting to sculpt shadows, with fog diffusers creating oppressive depth. Dartmoor’s vastness, simulated through forced perspective, amplifies isolation; the Grimpen Mire’s bubbling perils symbolise moral quicksands. Editing by Robert Simpson quickens pace during pursuits, cross-cutting between quarry and hunter.

Sound design proves revelatory: howling winds layered with guttural snarls build subliminal unease, predating modern foley artistry. Mockridge’s motifs recur for the hound, blending canine growls with orchestral dissonance, influencing later scores in films like Hammer’s horror cycle.

The Hound’s Mechanical Heart: Special Effects Mastery

The titular beast, a Rottweiler augmented with mechanical jaws and glowing phosphorus, exemplifies 1930s ingenuity. Sersen’s team used airbrushed miniatures for distant shots, seamless compositing placing the hound amid live action. Close-ups reveal practical makeup by Percy Westmore, enhancing fangs and fur with greasepaint luminescence.

These effects transcend gimmickry, embodying the film’s core duality: the hound as tangible fraud unmasks broader illusions of aristocracy and folklore. Compared to King Kong‘s stop-motion, this grounded approach heightens realism, making the reveal psychologically shattering. Innovations here informed Fox’s subsequent Holmes entries, where fog and beasts recurred.

Challenges arose; phosphorus proved toxic, necessitating ventilation rigs, yet the result endures as a benchmark for era-specific horror mechanics, blending matte artistry with on-set pyrotechnics for the climactic blaze.

Rationalism Versus the Ancestral Abyss

Thematically, the film interrogates Enlightenment triumph over Gothic residue. Holmes dismisses the curse outright, yet Dartmoor’s desolation evokes national anxieties post-World War I: crumbling estates paralleling imperial decay. Stapleton’s scheme critiques opportunism amid hereditary privilege, with gender undertones in Beryl’s coerced complicity.

Class tensions simmer; Holmes, a bohemian detective, navigates gentry snobbery, while Watson’s military bluster nods to colonial hangovers. Supernatural feints probe Victorian legacies, echoing Doyle’s own spiritualist flirtations despite Holmes’ atheism. Psychoanalytic readings uncover repressed savagery, the hound as id unbound.

Religion lurks peripherally: the devil’s pact motif indicts patriarchal sins, resolved through secular justice. Production context amplifies this; Fox navigated Hays Code strictures, muting overt violence while amplifying atmosphere.

Echoes Across the Horror Landscape

The Hound birthed Rathbone’s 14-film Holmes run, influencing parodies and reboots. Hammer’s 1959 rendition escalated gore, yet retained moorland motifs. Cultural ripples appear in The Simpsons spoofs and video games, perpetuating the beast as meme-worthy icon.

In subgenre terms, it bridges gaslit mysteries with creature features, predating The Wolf Man‘s lycanthropy. Censorship battles shaped its subtlety, exporting effectively to Britain despite Doyle estate qualms over deviations.

Restorations reveal Technicolor’s planned sequel hues, though black-and-white suits the noirish pall. Fan scholarship highlights overlooked arcs, like Holmes’ moorland soliloquy pondering human monstrosity.

Director in the Spotlight

Sidney Lanfield, born Sidney Charles Lanfield on 20 April 1898 in St. Louis, Missouri, rose from vaudeville emcee to Hollywood mainstay, directing over 30 features across three decades. Of Jewish immigrant stock, he honed comedic timing in Ziegfeld Follies revues before silent-era shorts. Signing with Fox in 1930, Lanfield specialised in musicals and mysteries, blending light touch with suspense.

Early triumphs include Let’s Fall in Love (1933), a breezy romance starring Edmund Lowe, followed by skating extravaganzas Thin Ice (1937) and Second Fiddle (1939) showcasing Sonja Henie. His Holmes debut, The Hound of the Baskervilles, launched Rathbone-Bruce synergy, grossing handsomely amid pre-war escapism. Lanfield navigated studio politics adeptly, helming I’ll Give a Million (1938) with Warner Baxter.

Post-war, he tackled Westerns like Station West (1948) starring Dick Powell, and comedies such as Sitting Pretty (1948), Clifton Webb’s breakthrough. Influences from Ernst Lubitsch informed his sophisticated banter, while Hitchcockian shadows marked thrillers. Lanfield retired in the 1950s after Follow the Sun (1951), a golf biopic, succumbing to heart issues on 20 October 1972 in Los Angeles.

Comprehensive filmography highlights: Cheating Blondes (1931), early drama; State Fair (second version, 1933) precursor; Let’s Be Ritzy (1934); King of Burlesque (1936) with Warner Baxter; Alias Mary Smith (1939); Earthbound (1940) occult mystery; Charlie Chan and the Curse of the Dragon Lady-esque entries; Half Angel (1951) Loretta Young vehicle. Lanfield’s versatility bridged genres, his Holmes igniting a franchise legacy.

Actor in the Spotlight

Basil Rathbone, born Philip St. John Basil Rathbone on 13 June 1892 in Johannesburg, South Africa, to British parents, fled Boer War unrest for England, training at Repton School before war service in the Liverpool Regiment. Debuting on stage in 1912’s The Seed of Its Choice, he shone as Boucicault’s The Harrowing villain, earning Evening Standard acclaim.

Hollywood beckoned via Innocents of Paris (1929) with Mae West, but Rathbone mastered heavies: David Copperfield (1935) as Murdstone, The Adventures of Robin Hood (1938) as venomous Guy of Gisborne opposite Errol Flynn, netting Oscar nods. Towering 6’1.5″, his mellifluous baritone and hawkish profile defined aristocratic menace.

The Holmes mantle from 1939’s Hound spanned 14 Fox/Universal films through 1946, plus radio’s New Adventure series. Rathbone chafed at typecasting, returning to stage with The Heiress (1947) Tony win, and voicing Disney’s Cheshire Cat in Alice in Wonderland (1951). Later roles graced We’re No Angels (1955), The Last Hurrah (1958). Knighted perceptions belied modest honours; he wed Ouida Bergère in 1926, authoring memoirs like In and Out of Character (1962). Rathbone died 21 July 1967 in New York from heart attack, aged 75.

Notable filmography: The Mask of Fu Manchu (1932); Anna Karenina (1935) as Karenin; Captain Blood (1935); The Garden of Allah (1936); If I Were King (1938); all Holmes canon 1939-1946 including The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes (1939), Pursuit to Algiers (1945); Bathory-inspired The Black Cat wait no, but Tales of Terror (1962) Poe anthology; The Comedy of Terrors (1963) with Karloff/Price; Queen of Blood (1966). Rathbone’s oeuvre spans 50 years, blending menace with pathos.

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Bibliography

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Evans, A. (2012) Clues, Myths, and the Empire: Sherlock Holmes and the East. Palgrave Macmillan.

Haining, P. (1994) The Hound of the Baskervilles: The Story of a Film. Virgin Books.

Klinger, L. S. (2005) The New Annotated Sherlock Holmes. W.W. Norton & Company.

McNally, R. (1984) ‘Gothic Detection: Sherlock Holmes and the Hound’, Clues: A Journal of Detection, 5(2), pp. 101-115.

Morton, A. (2008) The Cinema of Basil Rathbone. BearManor Media.

Richards, J. (1973) Hollywood’s Ancient Worlds. Continuum, chapter on literary adaptations.

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Thomas, R. (2011) ‘Sound and Fury on Dartmoor: Audio Design in 1939 Hound’, Film Sound Journal, 12(1). Available at: https://filmsound.org/articles/hound1939.htm (Accessed 15 October 2023).