General · EdgepediaOctober 3, 20265 min read

The Hound of the Baskervilles (1959 film)

The Hound of the Baskervilles is a 1959 British Gothic mystery film directed by Terence Fisher and produced by Hammer Film Productions, based on Arthur Conan Doyle's 1902 novel of the same name. It stars Peter Cushing as Sherlock Holmes, André Morell as Dr. Watson, and Christopher Lee as Sir Henry Baskerville, and was the first Sherlock Holmes film to be shot in color.¹^•²

Key fact	Detail
Director / producer	Terence Fisher; produced by Anthony Hinds for Hammer Film Productions, released by United Artists²
Screenplay	Peter Bryan, based on Conan Doyle's 1902 novel²
Principal cast	Peter Cushing (Sherlock Holmes), Andre Morell (Dr. Watson), Christopher Lee (Sir Henry Baskerville), Marla Landi (Cecile), Ewen Solon (Stapleton)²
Color milestone	The first of the Sherlock Holmes films to be shot in Technicolor²
Running time	84 minutes in the American release; 87–88 minutes in Britain²
Production	Filmed 8 September to 11 November 1958 at Bray Studios, with moor exteriors near Frensham Ponds, Surrey³^•⁴
UK release	4 May 1959³
Reception	95% Tomatometer from 20 critics and 73% from audiences on Rotten Tomatoes⁵

Spoilers

Story and deviations from the novel

The film opens with a flashback compressing the Baskerville legend into a ten-minute sequence: the cruel Sir Hugo Baskerville murders a servant girl who has fled his mansion, and is immediately killed on the moors by an immense spectral hound, founding the family curse.⁴ In the present, Dr. Mortimer tells Holmes and Watson that Sir Charles Baskerville has died in the same location, and that the heir, Sir Henry, may fall prey to the same curse; Holmes investigates.⁵

Peter Bryan's screenplay took substantial liberties with the 1902 novel, to the point that the Conan Doyle estate was outraged. Cushing's own adjustments to the dialogue were aimed at keeping his Holmes true to the spirit of the original, and Morell's Watson is a capable partner rather than the blundering sidekick Nigel Bruce had established on screen.⁶ Among the additions absent from the book are a bishop who is an entomologist, webbed hands on some of the Baskervilles, and a tarantula unleashed on Sir Henry.⁷ The film also plays up the sexual element of the Sir Hugo legend more than earlier adaptations.⁸

Production background

Hammer, a small British studio, was at the height of its success when it took on the project, having profited from the trend-setting horror films The Curse of Frankenstein (1957) and Horror of Dracula (1958). Producer Anthony Hinds and director Terence Fisher considered Peter Cushing, who had given definitive performances in both of those films, a natural Sherlock Holmes, and his casting generated considerable excitement in the British press.⁴ Christopher Lee, then known mainly for playing monsters and villains in the same Hammer films, took the sympathetic role of Sir Henry Baskerville and welcomed the chance to play the victim for a change.⁴

Cushing's preparation. Cushing researched the role closely and incorporated Holmes's known morphine addiction into his physical appearance and behavior. He supplied his own costumes matching Sidney Paget's illustrations in The Strand magazine, down to the "mouse-colored" dressing gown, which he charred with cigarettes to reproduce the burns Holmes made during his experiments. He also insisted on the deerstalker while avoiding the oversized pipe and magnifying glass that he felt made Holmes a music-hall joke.⁴

Most of the filming took place on the Bray studio set, with exterior sequences shot near Frensham Ponds, Surrey, standing in for Dartmoor. Animation was first considered for the hound, but cost factors ruled it out and the crew used a real dog.⁴

Style and reception

Production designer Bernard Robinson and cinematographer Jack Asher exploited Technicolor's luster, and the film's Gothic look, from Baskerville Hall to the moors, is frequently singled out by critics as a strength.⁶^•⁹ The Harvard Film Archive notes that Fisher, widely regarded as the most striking of Hammer's directors, made the most of the story's supernatural aspects and the atmospheric moorland setting.¹⁰ On Rotten Tomatoes the film holds a 95% Tomatometer from 20 reviews and a 73% audience score; critics there have called Cushing one of the greatest screen interpreters of Holmes.⁵

Box office. The film was not successful enough at the box office to justify Hammer's plans to continue the series, despite Cushing's portrayal of Holmes. In the United States it was marketed as a creature feature rather than a murder mystery, since the Hammer name was more associated with horror there.⁴ It was also never as popular as Hammer's first horrors.⁶

Legacy

Cushing's performance led directly to further work as Holmes: he replaced Douglas Wilmer in the BBC television series Sherlock Holmes (1964 to 1968), returned to the role in the 1968 television version of the same story, and played Holmes again in The Masks of Death (1984).⁶^•¹¹ Christopher Lee, who played Sir Henry here, later portrayed Holmes himself three times.⁶

The story has been remade repeatedly since: Paul Morrissey directed a 1978 parody starring Dudley Moore and Peter Cook, and Douglas Hickox helmed a 1983 television version with Ian Richardson as Holmes.⁴ Among the many screen versions of the story, the Hammer film is usually ranked below the 1939 Basil Rathbone version and the BBC's 1968 adaptation on lists of favorite Doyle adaptations, though it rates well.¹²

References

Initially written Oct 3, 2026 · Reviewed: Oct 25, 2026 · Edited: Oct 15, 2026; Oct 25, 2026; Nov 1, 2026