Film #085 - The Hound of the Baskervilles (1978)
The Hound of the Baskervilles is perhaps the oddest Sherlock Holmes film that is actually based on a work by Arthur Conan Doyle. It starts with the fact that Holmes is played by Peter Cook and Dr. Watson by Dudley Moore. Now, they were both fine actors when they tried and could have proved to be solid in those roles if done straight. But, of course, it wasn’t done straight at all. This is Doyle filtered directly through Cook and Moore (as they wrote the script) and the incogruity shows throughout the film.
There are plenty of jokes that show that Cook and Moore had a basic grasp of the nature of Holmes stories, as they poke fun at many conventions, such as Holmes’ odd relationship with women and Watson’s inability to operate on his own. But just as often, they get sidetracked with bits like a dog that pees on absolutely everything nonstop.
You certainly can’t fault the cast. Besides Cook and Moore, there’s Kenneth Williams as Sir Henry Baskerville, Denholm Elliott and Joan Greenwood as a mysterious brother and sister, Terry-Thomas as Dr. Mortimer (one of his last roles), Roy Kinnear, Penelope Keith, Prunella Scales, Spike Milligan, the list goes on. Plenty of talented people and, for the most part, well cast for a comedy.
It’s just that The Hound of the Baskervilles never quite settles on whether it wants to be a Sherlock Holmes comedy or a Sherlock Holmes parody. Holmes himself personifies the problem, as he is alternatively as smart as ever and utterly thick. (Watson is always thick.) Cook and Moore even work in many of their old jokes and routines (most notably the one-legged Mr. Spiggot), further blurring the line between a movie unto itself and just an extended sketch.
Still, this is Peter Cook and Duley Moore, so there’s plenty of good stuff here. This is their last major work together and they prove to still have the same chemistry they always did. The film works best when they are together, whether Moore is playing Watson, Spiggot or Holmes’ mother. It’s worth a watch for that stuff alone. And Moore provides a wacky, yet stirring, score for the film, entirely on piano. It’s very odd, but works in some weird way that I can’t quite define.
For Holmes fans, this version of The Hound of the Baskervilles is probably best left skipped unless they can suspend their basic understanding of the characters and allow them to cut loose. For fans of Cook and Moore, it’s definitely worth watching at least once. They mayfind, as I have, that it grows on you.