Stay Off the Moor at Night: The Hound of the Baskervilles (1959)

I remember in 7th grade my English teacher talking about how nearly all novels have many unanswered questions in the end (in retrospect, I really don't know what that means because of course they do, but maybe he meant mystery novels). However, he said that The Hound of the Baskervilles has only one. This sent me straight to the book to find out what that was (this was probably better than assigning the book to read because I never really got into the habit of reading for my classes as I like to read for pleasure whereas reading for classes feels like a race against the clock). I still don't know what that remaining question is, though I'm certain I had more than one when I finished it. That also marks the last time I spent any time with The Hound of the Baskervilles... until now.



I feel as though it's hard to screw up a Sherlock Holmes story as long as one sticks fairly close to the source material. There's something far more satisfying to watching Holmes work as opposed to anyone on CSI or something like that. Perhaps it's the fact that Holmes doesn't have to use high tech machinery and crazy forensic analysis. He goes by his wits and his gut and we feel as though we can figure the mystery out if we pay close enough attention without having to wait for results to get back from the lab. And Hammer does a damn fine job here. Sadly, audiences weren't ready for non-monster Hammer films and the planned series of Peter Cushing starring Sherlock Holmes movies was abandoned.

Cushing strikes me as the perfect Holmes. He basically plays the know-it-all authority in every movie he's in for Hammer. He's a master of exposition only here the exposition is more interesting because it's how he solved a case instead of the history of Dracula (which he's given at least five times) or something similar. I particularly like portrayals of Holmes where he's a bit of a prickly pear. He doesn't have time for nonsense and doesn't put up with foolishness. Holmes is even a jerk to his host, Sir Henry Baskerville (Christopher Lee), when he knows it will benefit in the long run. It's very enjoyable and more than a little amusing. Cushing also does a masterful job of looking like he's always observing. His eyes wander and his head darts around to everything. One gets the sense that this is a man who can't help but obsess over minutiae.

I like to think that the Hammer Holmes series would have featured Cushing and Lee in every film with Lee playing a different character all the time. It's nice to watch a movie where he's not a bad guy and is actually normal. Due to his most famous role as Dracula, he always carries a sinister air about him, but he does a pretty good job a keeping it to a minimum. I can definitely see why he wanted to avoid being pigeonholed as Dracula.

There are a few red herrings floating around, but I don't think there's any real surprise as to who the guilty party is even if you haven't read the book. There's also some silliness with a Tarantula that is explained away fairly reasonably, but remains silly nonetheless. Sherlock is absent for most of the first act, as well, which is a little disappointing. But it's Sherlock Holmes! In color! By Hammer! Fun times are had by all.

Now, if I can just get someone to write a mash-up of The Hound of the Baskervilles and An American Werewolf in London. American Werewolf of the Baskervilles... I like that.

The Pursuit of Painless Surgery: Corridors of Blood

When I hear the title Corridors of Blood, I think this:


You know... it's really not even that drastic. But I feel like there should be some blood. Maybe sprayed on the walls of a few corridors. Because someone's throat got cut or a limb got hacked off. Something like that. Something that in some way features blood and corridors intersecting somehow. What I don't expect is the tale of a man seeking a way to perform painless surgery who tests his concoctions on himself and becomes addicted to the newfound drugs with a side story that kind of, sort of intersects with his about a small collective who kill drunken revelers to sell their bodies to science. There's hardly a corridor to be seen and certainly none of blood.

Once I got passed the idea that Corridors of Blood was going to be a bit more cerebral than its name suggests, I found it to be a pretty cool little movie. I've seen Boris Karloff in many movies (most of which he's covered in makeup) and I've heard him narrate How the Grinch Stole Christmas, but I feel like I've never seen him give the type of performance he gives here. He's solid through and through and riveting to watch. I'm trying not to sound like I'm denigrating his other roles and performances, but it's a little unusual to see someone who is known for one or two iconic roles in a performance so different from what made him famous. I definitely need to check out more of his work (though did he always speak with a lisp?).

Dr. Thomas Bolton's (Karloff) effort to anesthetize his patience is met with skepticism, derision, and even laughter. If this is truly the case that people used to mock the forward thinking so openly, it's a wonder anything ever got done (and I've no doubt we're still doing it). I can't fathom why people wouldn't support his efforts to make surgery less painful. All they've got now is performing surgery as fast as possible.

Bolton's spiral into addiction is well done, though I wish the filmmakers had done something to show his fever dreams while high. To be fair, I believe the film was using his exploits with Black Ben (Francis de Wolff) and his cadre to be the dreams Bolton thought he was having. If I have any complaints about Corridors of Blood, it's that the who subplot dealing with Black Ben is poorly developed. At no point does Bolton ever need them and they really only stand as plot devices to make certain things happen. With how abruptly the wraps up, it feels like more time could have been spent developing that plot and interweaving it with Bolton's decent a bit better. Still, it's always cool to see Christopher Lee pop up and his character has an awesome name: Resurrection Joe. Also, there's an incredibly busty maid who keeps interrupting the seedy business and it seems like she's going to have something to do with their downfall, but apparently she listens well to instructions and keeps quiet about the goings on. Must have been the girlfriend of one of the cast...

It's interesting to think what it must have been like living in the time before painkillers. Doubly so if scientists really did experiment on themselves as freely as Bolton. I loved the scene when Karloff and his daughter-in-law celebrate an enormous gash on his hand he obtained while high because he didn't feel a thing. It's not really scary, which is probably why the Black Ben stuff is in there at all, but it's classy and the cinematography is amazing.

And here's the Trailers from Hell take: