It only took a couple minutes of watching Frewer as Holmes to make me stop watching this film. Holmes is supposed to be arrogant of course, but never before have a seen a Holmes that was snide and belittling of Watson. It was too bad, because the production looked well done. But this version of Holmes was too much for me to take, and I turned it off.
The Hound of the Baskervilles
2000
Action / Crime / Drama / Horror / Mystery
The Hound of the Baskervilles
2000
Action / Crime / Drama / Horror / Mystery
Plot summary
The mysterious death of Sir Charles Baskerville is blamed on a longstanding curse that has followed the Baskerville family for two hundred years. Enigmatic sleuth Sherlock Holmes is on the case to uncover the truth about a monstrous, supernatural hound who roams the moors, waiting to attack the latest heir to the Baskerville estate. Written by Echo Bridge Home Entertainment
Uploaded by: FREEMAN
March 24, 2024 at 10:45 PM
Director
Top cast
Movie Reviews
Stopped watching because of characterization of Holmes
Probably the worst filmed version of the book
THE HOUND OF THE BASKERVILLES is another of the dumb Canadian Holmes films starring Matt Frewer. To describe his portrayal of Sherlock Holmes as the worst ever would be a fair statement, I think. He's a gurning buffoon with a laughably dire accent and a kind of fey, foppish personality totally at odds with the calculating character of the Conan Doyle stories. A real dud, in other words.
The only decent performance in this production comes from Kenneth Welsh doing a passable impersonation of Dr Watson. The famous Gothic masterpiece is brought to life in an entirely unconvincing way here, in fact I think this is probably the least realistic of all the filmed versions of the story. The hound itself looks like something out of a cheap B-movie horror flick and the supporting cast give singularly unbelievable performances. What happened to the wonderfully spooky atmosphere of the novel, all of the creepy moments? THE HOUND OF THE BASKERVILLES is Holmes-by-numbers, nothing more.
They Were the Footprints of a DOG!
Not a travesty, this version of Conan-Doyle's most famous and most filmed novella opens in accordance with the printed version, with Matt Frewer as the world's first and only consulting detective, pacing around the room and dramatically throwing off hypotheses about the nature of the recent visitor who has left his walking stick behind. At that, the film limits the number of conclusions drawn by Holmes. (Eg., the breed of DOG that carried the walking stick for its master.)
All of this is attended by Kenneth Welsh as the skeptical Dr. Watson. I hate saying this because I wish all filmic preparations of the canon well. But if there is something tic-y and overripe about Frewer's portrayal of Holmes, there is something impassive and vacant about Welsh's Dr. Watson. He's barely there. Ever.
The movie follows the narrative fairly closely at first, even introducing us to Miss Laura Lyons, typist, whose role is given some importance. She's almost always deleted. The story leaves Conan-Doyle behind at the climax. He may still be struggling in one of those bottomless bogs in the Great Grimpin Mire for all we know. I won't describe it except to say that the hound isn't too terrifying.
The departures from the original narrative do some damage to the film as a whole. Too bad. Grenada TV's version, from the series with Jeremy Britt, is frankly better.