The Hound of the Baskervilles
About The Hound of the Baskervilles
This first film of Arthur Conan Doyle's novel does not follow the book. Watson is not in it. There are two figures of Holmes. Stapleton, Holmes's enemy, poses as Holmes and threatens Lord Henry and Lord Henry's fiancée, Laura Lyons. The plot runs through hidden passages, hand bombs, and a motor chase rather than the moor as Doyle wrote it. Alwin Neuß plays Holmes.
Cast & crew
More about The Hound of the Baskervilles
Rudolf Meinert directed. Richard Oswald wrote the adaptation. Jules Greenbaum produced. Werner Brandes and Karl Freund photographed it. The German title is Der Hund von Baskerville. Running time 65 minutes. Friedrich Kühne and Hanni Weisse are in the cast. Released in 1914.
Themes
Background
German studios were already making Holmes films in the mid-1910s. This is the earliest known screen Baskerville story, and it is a free rewrite.
Making
Oswald's script keeps the names Stapleton, Baskerville, and Holmes and then adds passages, bombs, and a double Holmes that are not in the book.
Look
Werner Brandes and Karl Freund photographed it.
Preservation
Once treated as lost. Gosfilmofond holds a print, and the Filmmuseum München holds a 35mm positive. Flicker Alley released it in 2019 with the 1929 adaptation.
Notes
- The first film version of the 1902 novel.
- Silent Era and later archives long listed it as lost. A print is at Gosfilmofond in Russia, and the Filmmuseum München holds a 35mm positive.
- Flicker Alley issued it on home video in 2019, paired with the 1929 version.
- Karl Freund, later the cameraman of the 1920 Golem film, shares the photography.
- Laura Lyons is engaged to Lord Henry in this version. In the novel she is not his fiancée.
Scenes
- Stapleton appears in the role of Holmes and menaces Lord Henry and Laura Lyons.
Influenced by
- The Hound of the Baskervilles (Arthur Conan Doyle novel, 1902)
Also available
- Flicker Alley (2019, with the 1929 version)
