We wound up watching this in a funny way: I'm a bit of a Deadhead, and I was listening to the Good Ol' Grateful Dead podcast about the song "Dire Wolf". It seems the Jerry, Hunter and Mountain Girl were up late one night watching The Hound of the Baskervilles (1939). They speculated on what the mysterious beast could be, and MG suggested it was a Dire Wolf. That night, Hunter wrote Dire Wolf, and the rest is recording history. When I heard this, I recalled that we had seen the movie, but maybe slept through it. So I queued it up.
This is a classic Rathbone/Bruce Sherlock Holmes movie. Lionel Atwill calls on the pair with a story of the legend of the Baskervilles - how an ancient ancestor had kidnapped and abused a woman, and when she escaped, he hunted her down. But she was found killed by a great beast, who has haunted the family ever since. Atwill tells this story with such dramatic gusto, I immediately suspect him - or is he just a bit over the top?
Any way, the last Baskerville died on the moors, and the heir, Richard Greene, is coming to take over. Holmes sends Watson up to Baskerville to watch over him, then sneaks up in disguise. There is a love interest for Baskerville (Wendy Barrie, a delightful stage name), a séance, several shifty neighbors and John Carradine as a butler.
It's a fun, campy movie, full of spooky soundstage moors and mires. It even has some action at the end. We enjoyed it a lot and we're glad we stayed awake for it.
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