I’ll be honest, I had never seen one of Basil Rathbone’s Sherlock Holmes before. So I figured why not go back to the beginning and check out his first film, and perhaps explore more of his turn as Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s iconic character – he did fourteen films.

And joining him as Watson, who is not only an observer, but a bit of comedy relief, is Nigel Bruce. The pair sound find themselves in the classic tale, adapted for the silver screen, of The Hound of the Baskervilles.

When Sir Hugo Baskerville (Ralph Forbes) is murdered on the Moors, steps from his estate, his heir, Canadian, Sir Henry Baskerville (Richard Greene), returns to his family home. Only to find threats and danger along the way, not to mention the legend of a devil dog that prowls the Moors looking for victims.

Happily, Sherlock Holmes of 221B Baker Street has been engaged to help discover the truth. And so the adventure begins.

I know the whole thing is shot on sets, even the outdoor locations, but I love the look of the film, it feels like a black and white sketch brought to life. The kind of sketch you would find in an illustrated version of Doyle’s tales. It’s pretty wild that it was all shot on stages in Los Angeles. Not all of the accents are solid, but the look of the film, and it’s pacing, narrative, and character beats are nicely executed.

Rathbone’s Holmes has a ruthless charm, he also quite likes needling Watson, which is delightful. There’s a wonderful repartee between the pair, and it explains why they did so many films together as the iconic duo.

The story is obviously adapted to fit the needs of the screen and the time. There’s a little bit of a love story between Sir Henry and Beryl (Wendy Barrie). I guess that kind of thing was/is expected, but it felt a little extraneous, and I would rather have spent more time with Holmes and Watson.

It’s a crisp, sharp-looking film that very much makes Holmes Rathbone’s. He is definitely one of those actors that was made for the role he plays. I do hope that we get more banter between Holmes and Watson in the future installments.

At this point I’m pretty sure I want to track them down, and enjoy them in order.

We all have our favorite Holmes, and I know Rathbone is the very definition of the character for some. We’ll see what I think after I dig through some more.

A very enjoyable adaptation. Lets see what I think of The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes.