The Hound Of The Baskervilles (1939)

Starring Richard Greene, Basil Rathbone, Wendy Barrie, Nigel Bruce, Lionel Atwill
Directed by Sidney Lanfield
(actor & director credits courtesy IMDB.com)

Sherlock Holmes is engaged to protect the life of Sir Henry Baskerville, whose estate is said to be haunted by a ghostly hound, blamed for the deaths of his predecessors.

The initial Holmes film that commenced the long partnership of Rathbone and Bruce as Holmes and Watson is a handsomely shot picture with many memorable characterizations.  Rathbone is excellent as Holmes, showcasing the great detective's cool intellect in a classic performance, and Atwill, Morton Lowry, John Carradine, Barlowe Borland, and Nigel de Brulier all make for colorful suspects, especially Borland, whose threats to sue his neighbors makes for an amusing embellishment to Conan Doyle's original story.  Bruce's Watson is yet to evolve into the doddering but lovable character that would inhabit the Universal Holmes series, but despite some overblown histrionics at one point, has some excellent scenes investigating the moors of Baskerville Hall.  Peverell Marley's tightly-focused photography plays to the strength of the cast by letting the actors and their reactions tell the story while adding shadow at key moments.  In an interesting choice, the music underscore all but vanishes when we arrive at Baskerville Hall, allowing the silence on the soundtrack to contribute eerie suspense for the bulk of the film as Holmes, Watson, and Baskerville meander across the moor.  The picture remains to this day my favorite of the Rathbone and Bruce films, and in my opinion, one of the great movie mysteries.