The definitive 'Hound'?

Greetings!'

i just joined the group (after lurking for some while) and thought i'd open with a question... which do you consider to be the best film version of the Hound of the Baskervilles?

i ask this now because my wife and i just spent the past 10 days or so going through five of the six we have on tape, and the comparisons were inevitable.

i myself consider Jeremy Brett to be the King of the Canon (and Edward Hardwicke the greatest Watson ever!) , but his Hound was somewhat lacking. and yet it's hard to find a better one.
in fact i believe i remember an interview in which Brett said he would like to remake that particular episode.

the 1959 Hammer version with Peter Cushing had the proper 'gothic' feel (that IS what they do best, after all), but Cushing himself was just a bit harsh, imo.

Rathbone's 1939 version has always been my favorite of his depictions and in general, but after this last marathon i can see too many unnecessary departures from the novel, so i'm beginning to rethink my stand on that one.

Ian Richardson (1983) did a good job, but was just a bit too congenial, i think. it did have Brian Blessed as a redeeming quality, although the role (as Lyons) was rather superfluous.

and the Tom Baker performance (1982) was adequate, but the entire production was a bit stiff for my taste. all in all a better Dr. Who than The Great Detective.

i will only mention the buffoonish Matt Frewer version (2000) for the sake of completion.
'Sherlock Headroom', indeed!

these are the only one's i have seen, but if there are more i would love to know, as well as any other opinions regarding which is best.

and now, if you will forgive me, i am off to violin-land, where all is sweetness, and delicacy, and harmony...

I'm probably somewhat biased on this issue, because when I picture Sherlock Holmes before me I always see Basil Rathbone. He IS Holmes for me, and since the 1939 film is a reasonably good adaption, it's always gonna my favourite.

I completely agree with you eileen82. Rathbone has to be the definitive Holmes and the film version that you mention is excellent.My only quibble is Nigel Bruce as Watson. He is just too bumbling to be a really good foil for the great Sherlock.

I enjoy Brett a lot. He brought out a side of Holmes that's in the tales. But I think the definitive film version of "Hound" is Rathbone's. They got that one right.

I may be engaging in heresy here, and it has nothing to do with the best hound -- but I have always enjoyed Christopher Plummer and James Mason as Holmes and Watson in the film MURDER BY DECREE. Of course it's not canonical, but I still love the scene where Plummer squashes Mason's pea.

For me Jeremy Brett will always be the quintessential Holmes -- and I'm deeply annoyed that he went and died before every story could be translated into film. The nerve of these actor-types! I feel the same way about Joan Hickson, who I think was the perfect Miss Marple, too. Sheesh. Where's their sense orf responsibility to their fans, I ask you?

Rachel, i've always loved that scene from 'Murder By Decree' too...
"I like to feel it pop." LOL!

*"For me Jeremy Brett will always be the quintessential Holmes --"*
Amen!

I agree with the other Jeremy Brett fans. And his "Hound", although there were some departures from the original story, I think captured the depth and feel of the original better than the Cushing, Rathbone or Frewer versions. And I have to admit I liked the ending of the Brett version better than the ending of Doyle's original story. Yes, it's traumatic to be attacked by a dog, but a man who had survived the wilds of Canada should not have needed a year's convalesence(sp) to recover.

And yes, it was difficult to watch the Frewer version without constantly visualizing Max Headroom!

man, i tell ya... Frewer wasn't just the worst Holmes ever, he may be the worst actor ever!
i haven't seen his 'The Royal Scandal' yet, and i'm dreading doing so. but i must have it, just for the collection. still, i'd hate to think that my actions in this matter might encourage someone to think that another Frewer Holmes episode is needed.

eeeesh!

Aww, I think you're being a little hard on Frewer. I wonder how much of the problem with him as Holmes is due to viewers typecasting him as the futuristic reporter and computer being, Max Headroom, roles for which he was cast perfectly. And in which I really enjoyed his acting.

well, since i boycotted MTV for the first 6 or 7 years of its existence, i never saw him as Max Headroom. typecasting was certainly not a problem for me.
what WAS a problem was his hammy 'acting', bufoonish exuberance, and absolute inability to realise the context of his part (never mind his role!). he played Holmes flat during the exciting bits, and totally over-the-top during normal conversation.

no, i'm sorry but i stand by my opinion of Mr. Frewer's skills.
i would rather see William Shatner as Holmes than let ol' Max Headroom trample all over the canon again.

Shatner as Holmes?? I doubt it, but just maybe you have the germ of a great plan - how about Shatner as Watson to Leonard Nimoy's Holmes?

A hound, Jim, but not as we know it.

LOL!

well it's not too far from reality actually. didn't Shatner play Stapleton in the version with Lorne Greene as Holmes? i haven't seen that one in decades, but i remember it being not very memorable.

#11 that is very funny.

# 12 Lorne Greene as Holmes? I didn't know there was such a version. But now that you mention it, I have a vague recall of seeing Shatner as Stapleton, but I don't recall when, or who else was in it. In fact, I may have only seen a snippet of the Shatner/Stapleton role in some collage of Holmes films, without ever seeing the entire film that it was taken from.

I don't know anything about Lorne Greene in a Hound of the Baskervilles, but a quick look on imdb did find one with Shatner as Stapleton.
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0068719/

my mistake. i think it was Stewart Granger who played Holmes, not Lorne Greene.

eta;
oh, okay, i see that benmartin79 has already posted the link to that version.

eeeesh, i think i need more sleep!