The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes
Critique • Quotes • Text • Sherlock Holmes at the movies
First editionFirst publication
1892
Literature form
Story collection
Genres
Crime, mystery
Writing language
English
Author's country
England
Length
Twelve stories, approx. 94,000 words
Holmes (Richard Roxburgh, right) and Watson (Ian Hart) on the moors in television movie.
Rescued Holmes
The Hound of the Baskervilles (2002): Television movie, 100 minutes; director David Attwood; writer Allan Cubitt; featuring Richard Roxburgh, Ian Hart, Richard E. Grant, Neve McIntosh, John Nettles, Liza Tarbuck, Danny Webb
The 2002 television movie of The Hounds of the Baskervilles, the third made for the BBC, is in parts remarkably faithful to Arthur Conan Doyle's original novel, while in several other noteworthy parts veers away from the usual script.
For one thing, the movie dispenses with the subplot to do with Baskerville's neighbours, the Franklands, and frankly the story benefits from losing the distraction.
The dramatic action also goes several steps further than Doyle's story. In one startling scene a séance is held in the Baskerville mansion, bringing the killer dog to the windows. In another it's found the villain Stapleton has takes more drastic measures against his used and abused wife Beryl. And, near the film's end, Holmes has to be saved by Watson from being killed while sinking in the mire.
The changes as a whole though make for one of the more exciting adaptations of Doyle's famous tale.
The actors are all fine but some viewers may find Holmes somewhat bland in the hands of the handsome Australian actor Richard Roxburgh. Not quite the neurotic bordering on sociopathic sleuth we've come to love in other depictions.
More endearing may be English actor Ian Hart as Watson, who at times shows genuine annoyance at Holmes for his insensitive handling of the case.
The real highlights though are the appearances of the ever-eccentric Richard E. Grant as a nasty but always smiling Stapleton. Over the top maybe. But remember, despite its credentials as a classic mystery, this is really a bloody horror flick about a dog from hell ravaging folks on the moors in the dead of night. Over the top is okay.
— Eric
Critique • Quotes • Text • Sherlock Holmes at the movies
1922, 1929–1933, 1931–1937, 1939–1946, 1954–1955, 1959–1984, 1962–1992, 1965, 1970, 1975–1988, 1976, 1979, 1982, 1984–1994, 2000–2002, 2002, 2002b, 2009–2011, 2010–2017, 2012–2019, 2015
See also:
Buy the book:
The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes
Sherlock Holmes: The Complete Novels and Stories
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