In 2011, I announced I was trying to see every film released in 1939. This new series chronicles films released in 1939 as I watch them. As we start out this blog feature, this section may become more concrete as I search for a common thread that runs throughout each film of the year. Right now, that’s difficult.
1939 film: The Hound of the Baskervilles (1939)
Release date: March 24, 1939
Cast: Basil Rathbone, Nigel Bruce, Richard Greene, Wendy Barrie, Lionel Atwill, John Carradine, Barlowe Borland, Barlowe Borland, Morton Lowry, Ralph Forbes, E. E. Clive, Mary Gordon, Eily Malyon
Studio: 20th Century Fox
Director: Sidney Lanfield
Plot:
Legend has it that most heirs of the Baskerville estate die as a result of a demon hound. When Sir Charles Baskerville is found dead on the moor potentially due to a hound, his friend Dr. Mortimer (Atwill) seeks out the help of Sherlock Holmes (Rathbone) to get to the bottom of Sir Charles’s death. Holmes also is protecting Sir Charles’s nephew, Sir Henry Baskerville (Greene), who is arriving from Canada to claim the estate and may be in danger.