More Detectives And Demon Hounds

Last night we finished the Hound of the Baskerville a-thon with the Jeremy Brett version (which seemed familiar) and a version with Matt Frewer as Holmes. That last one felt oddly rushed, and as a result, Holmes was less of an active presence. It's for the best because Frewer was seriously hamming it up. Or chewing the scenery, if you prefer.

It's interesting that none of the versions are quite the same. In the Brett version, every home we see (except for Laura Lyons') is a large estate, whereas the Cushing version showed the Stapletons living in a more modest cottage. In the Brett version, watson is tipped to Holmes' hiding place by the litiguous Mr. Franklin, who spies on people from the roof of his home. In the Frewer version, Franklin is again the key, but he's spying from a hill in the moor. And Watson visits the location alone, rather than with Dr. Mortimer, as in the Brett version.

The Frewer version erred by showing the Hound entirely too often. Sir Henry actually sees the thing outside his window one night, and we see it in all its red-eyed glory as well. Less is more people, especially when you don't have the budget to make a truly terrifying looking Hound. The Frewer version's Sir Henry is more of a cowboy than the others (the one in the Cushing version was what my dad described as the British vision of a Canadian), which made his lack of a proper firearm when he was attacked by the Hound all the more disappointing. Brett's Sir Henry carried a gun, but it was a measly derringer, best used by gamblers to shoot someone across a table. Hardly sufficient for a large, crazed dog. I figured a cowboy, who said he'd run across bears before, who be carrying a decent weapon, but no. Putz.

In most of the versions, Sir Henry meets Ms./Mrs. Stapleton, and they fall for each other, but her brother catches them at it and unloads on Sir Henry. The cathc, of course, is they aren't brother and sister, but husband and wife. Mr. Stapleton later comes to his senses and apologizes profusely to Sir Henry, which I always perceived as him realizing his jealousy had caused him to initially miss a perfect way to get Sir Henry where he could be eliminated. The Frewer version makes it plain that Stapleton's encouraged his wife to meet clandestinely with Sir Henry, because it gets him out in the open. At which point stapleton immediately releases the Hound.

I suppose it makes sense that he would want the Hound locked up so he could unleash it whenever he chose, without fear that it might be on the wrong side of the moor, drowned in the moor, or perhaps gone from the area entirely. Still, it didn't seem too bright to keep a mad, ravenous hound locked up behind your house. You'd think sooner or later a visitor would notice the chilling howls were awful close to the Stapleton house.