The
Hound Of The Baskervilles
(1959/Hammer/United Artists/MGM/Twilight Time Limited Edition
Blu-ray)
Picture:
B Sound: B Extras: B Film: A
PLEASE
NOTE:
This Blu-ray is now only available from our friends at Twilight Time,
is limited to only 3,000 copies and can be ordered while supplies
last from the links below.
While
modern audiences link the image of the character of Sherlock Holmes
to actors Benedict Cumberbatch or Robert Downey Jr., my favorite
incarnation of the character is in this film played by the late and
great Peter Cushing, an actor who was a huge fan of the character
himself and brought his fandom to his role in perfecting it in a way
that best represents the novel.
Twilight
Time brings us this incredible Hammer production of Terence Fisher's
1959 masterwork The
Hound of The Baskervilles,
based on the novel by Sir Arthur Cohan Doyle and starring Cushing as
Sherlock Holmes, Andre Morell as Watson, and a young, devious
Christopher Lee as Sir Henry Baskerville, who would famously play
Sherlock Holmes himself some years later in the black and white
feature, Sherlock
Holmes and the Deadly Necklace.
Even Cushing himself reprised his role as Holmes in a 16-episode BBC
series in the 1960's. Another cool fact about this film is that it
was the first Sherlock tale filmed in glorious color.
This
isn't Hounds first time on Blu-ray as there is another edition out
there that rivals this one put out by Arrow Releasing overseas in the
UK. While I don't own the Arrow version, I want to now that I see
there are some extras in that release that didn't get carted over to
this, though several of the features seem to be the same. This
edition features new commentary tracks and a few other goodies that
aren't.
It
seems that the Baskerville family has been cursed by a monstrous half
dog/half wolf known as ''The Hound''. Ever since a young woman was
murdered by a Baskerville many years prior, the curse has keep a
harsh grip on the family. When another Baskerville dies in the same
location, its up to Sherlock Holmes (Cushing) and Watson (Morell) to
unravel the case while dealing with a suspicious new member of the
Baskerville family, Sir Henry (Lee), the heir to the Baskerville
estate, who will also fall prey to the evil hound's curse if
something isn't done soon... or is he the one orchestrating these
murders? Naturally, Holmes and his partner set out to investigate
and unravel the clues.
Terence
Fisher (Horror
of Dracula)
is one of my all time favorite directors and perfectly presents the
story under a luscious gothic lens and high production design that
really shines on Blu-ray disc as opposed to previous releases. It's
a shame that Hammer didn't make more Sherlock tales (a Cushing series
was briefly considered), but it's easy to see how they could have
been distracted by their horror successes. If you aren't familiar
with the look and feel of a Hammer film, it can be more modernly
compared to Tim Burton's 1999 reimagining of Sleepy
Hollow.
Victorian gothic sets, fog covered streets, period attire, and a
theatrical feel as if you were watching a stage play.
Presented
in 1080p high definition with a 1.66:1 widescreen aspect ratio that
preserves the original Technicolor presentation with some flaws you
can see on larger HDTV set-ups and a restored, lossless English 1.0
DTS-HD MA (Master Audio) Mono would make Mr. Terence Fisher proud if
he were still with us today.
Extras
on this highly collectible set include...
Isolated
Music & Effects Track
Audio
Commentary #1 with Film Historians David Del Valle and Steven Peros
Audio
Commentary #2 with Film Historians Paul Scrabo, Lee Pfeiffer, and
Hank Reineke
Actor's
Notebook: Christopher Lee
Hound
Mask Creator Margaret Robinson on The Hound of the Baskervilles
Christopher
Lee Reads Excerpts from The Hound of the Baskervilles novel
Collectible
insert booklet with another excellent Julie Kirgo essay
Original
Theatrical Trailer
To
order this limited
edition Blu-ray, buy it and other great exclusives while supplies
last at these links:
www.screenarchives.com
and
http://www.twilighttimemovies.com/
-
James Lockhart
https://www.facebook.com/jamesharlandlockhartv/
