While ANY Sherlock Holmes movie WITHOUT Jeremy Brett can only be second-rate in my opinion (he is the best Holmes by far),this is still worth watching. Is it a perfect recreation of the book--certainly not, but at least it is more like the original than the Basil Rathbone versions (they were entertaining but bore very little semblance to the original stories). Peter Cushing is fine as Holmes, though it would have been nice if he'd done MORE Holmes movies to see how he would have developed the characterization.

For a movie from Hammer Films, the production values are good--special effects and location shooting was very good. I guess my only complaints were too much emphasis on the silly and needless romance between Christopher Lee and the psycho lady. It was way too unbelievable and histrionic and detracted, somewhat, from the story.

This adaptation was really good, on par with the Basil Rathbone and Jeremy Brett adaptations and marginally better than the Ian Richardson version, though that was decent. It doesn't have the slow pacing of the Jeremy Brett version though, or the rushed ending of the Basil Rathbone film and that is a good thing. Whatever minor flaws this film has, I felt the beginning wasn't quite as atmospheric as the rest of the adaptation, this is still a wonderful film with a great atmosphere and cast.

It looks good, the sets are detailed, the cinematography is innovative and the costumes are great, painting a sort of romantic atmosphere in a dark way, while the hound is quite scary. The score is also suitably eerie, the story doesn't meander, the direction from Terence Fisher is excellent and the script is well written. And the acting is wonderful. Personally I thought Basil Rathbone and Jeremy Brett are better in the role, but Peter Cushing gives one of his finer performances regardless, and he is well supported by Andre Morell who is earnest and likable as Watson and the great Christopher Lee is on top form as Sir Henry.

Overall, definitely one of the better adaptations of the book, if not THE best. 9/10 Bethany Cox

Peter Cushing and Christopher Lee took a break from their usual horror cycle at Hammer Films to do the most famous of the Arthur Conan Doyle Sherlock Holmes series, The Hound Of The Baskervilles. It's not as big a leap as one might think because an integral part of the plot has Sherlock Holmes investigating a legendary hound from hell that has cursed the Baskerville family for many generations.

Which brings us to the last of the Baskervilles, a rakish sort of fellow named Henry Baskerville played in the best lord of the manor style by Christopher Lee. He's not the usual Lee like villain, but he is a man to the manor born and conscious of all the privileges attached therein.

Peter Cushing and Andre Morrell play Holmes and Watson who are brought in to the case after some mysterious deaths that show signs of a brutal animal attack. The legend of the Hound Of The Baskervilles would dampen normal investigations, but we're dealing with Sherlock Holmes and Sherlock Holmes only deals in facts.

I'm surprised Cushing did not do more Sherlock Holmes films, he fit quite comfortably in the part and Andre Morrell was not reduced to comic relief the way Nigel Bruce was earlier on as Doctor Watson. It took him 25 years, but Cushing did get a second crack at Holmes in a TV film, The Masks of Death, his next to last film.

There's a good performance by Marla Landi as Cecile, the half gypsy woman who gets Christopher Lee's mojo going. She's part of what constitutes the Baskerville Estate and he's exercising his prerogatives with her.

Cushing and Morrell fit in nicely the roles that Basil Rathbone and Nigel Bruce are so identified with and Lee is far more of what Conan Doyle had in mind than nice guy Richard Greene was in the RAthbone/Bruce version.

That's elementary.