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Priklyuchenia Sherloka Kholmsa i Doktora Vatsona: Sobaka Baskerviley
The Hound of the Baskervilles
USSR 1979
produced by
Lenfilm
directed by Igor Maslennikov
starring Vasili Livanov, Vitali Solomin, Irina Kupchenko, Nikita Mikhalkov, Alla Demidova, Svetlana Kryuchkova, Aleksandr Adabashyan, Borislav Brondukov, Sergei Martinson, Yevgeni Steblov, Oleg Yankovsky, Rina Zelysonaya, Oleg Belov, Dmitri Bessonov, Oleg Palmov, A. Khudeyev, R. Chirov
screenplay by Igor Maslennikov, Yuri Veksler, based on the novel by Arthur Conan Doyle, music by Vladimir Dashkevich
Sherlock Holmes, Hound of the Baskervilles
review by
Mike Haberfelner
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Sherlock Holmes (Vasili Livanov) and Doctor Watson (Vitali Solomin) are
hired to guard the life of Sir Henry (Nikita Mikhalkov), last of the
Baskervilles and heir to the estate, whose uncle, Sir Charles, has just
been frightened to death by what is believed to be the legendary Hound
of the Baskervilles. But even before they travel to the Baskerville
estate in Dartmoor, Sherlock Holmes
finds an excuse to stay behind and only sends Watson along with
Baskerville.
In Baskerville Manor's neighbourhood (and indeed among the manor's
staff itself) Watson finds all sorts of suspects who might wish to do Sir
Henry harm and who might have killed Sir Charles, including dancer Laura
Lyons (Alla Demidova), who has lured Sir Charles to the place of his
death, entymologist and botanist Stapleton (Oleg Yankovsky) and his sister
Beryl (Irina Kupchenko) - who will eventually turn out to be Stapleton's
wife and whom Sir Henry will eventually fall in love with -, and even
Baskerville Manor's servant Barrymore (Aleksandr Adabashyan) and his wife
(Svetlana Kryuchkova), who seem to feed a convict who hides out in the
moor - who will eventually turn out to be Mrs Barrymore's brother. And
then at night, one can hear the howling of a hound over the moor. Anyways
after much investigations, the convict is killed by a dog, presumably in
Sir Henry's stead, Sherlock Holmes is found having hidden in the moor
during most of Watson's investigations, Stapleton is found as the only
logical suspect (he is a distant relative of the Baskervilles who wanted
to get his hands on the family fortune), and in the end, Sir Henry is
really attacked by a hound (which is shot dead though before it can do any
real harm), and Stapleton is found (almost) red-handed ... but when he
makes his escape, he ultimately drowns in the moor ... Faithful
but rather dull adaptation of the famous story, mainly for one reason:
It's way too long. It runs about 2 and a half hours, but the audience
could easily have done with half the length. Many scenes that might work
in the book (especially lengthy dialogues) just don't come across equally
well on screen and just ad to the boredom rather than anything else. Plus,
the director seems to refuse to give the film the proper, creepy
atmosphere, so the menace of the hound and the brooding mood of the swamp
just simply cannot be felt. And the double climax (the attack/shooting of
the hound and the death of Stapleton in the moor) is filmed with so little
regard to action and suspense it can only be called underwhelming. And
even after Stapleton - who by the way is revealed as the killer way too
soon (about half an hour before the ending) - has gotten his just
desserts, the film runs for another ten minutes, mainly consisting of
Sherlock Holmes explaining the case once more in great detail, without
shedding any new light on questions left open ... Rather disappointing,
really ...
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