I have watched a few of the old Sherlock Holmes movies starring Basil Rathbone and Nigel Bruce. Mostly they were the Universal movies set in the 1940s. They were okay mysteries, but I was annoyed with Watson being portrayed as dumb, old, and blustery. I had always assumed that the 20th Century Fox movies would be in the same vein. But recently I finally watched the 1939 Hound of the Baskervilles, actually set in Victorian times. I was pleasantly surprised that Watson is smarter here and more competent.
Though Holmes does tease Watson about his deductions being wrong, he still trusts Watson to go to Scotland Yard and bring the hansom cab driver for questioning. In Dartmoor, Watson figures out that Barryman is signalling with the candle in the window. After Selden tries to kill them, Watson sensibly says they shouldn't follow him and should return home. When Holmes appears in disguise as a peddler, Watson is suspicious, and he notices that his limp changes legs. So I appreciated these glimpses of a stronger, intelligent Watson.
However the movie changes several things from the book. The most trivial is changing Barrymore to Barryman. Beryl is made Jack Stapleton's stepsister, with no knowledge of his villainous plot, nor his secret Baskerville lineage. She's also blonde and English, clearly not the former Beryl Garcia from Costa Rica. The movie cuts the whole subplot about Laura Lyons too, and avoids any hints of adultery, unjust marriages, or Frankland being cruel to his daughter. Meanwhile, Dr Mortimer's wife is a medium who conducts a seance. The hound is suitably scary, but with no glowing phosphorus, and the dog's attack on Sir Henry lasts a long time before he is rescued. In the end, Stapleton escapes, running out of Baskerville Hall, and Holmes shrugs it off, saying he's got police waiting for him. We can only guess if he'll be arrested or die in the Grimpen Mire, like he should. Also the movie ends on an abrupt and crazy note, as Holmes says "Quick Watson, the needle!" and Watson grabs his medical bag to follow him, as if he fully approves of giving Holmes cocaine. Like, what the hell? So it's an imperfect HOUN adaptation, but better than I was expecting.
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Meanwhile I've been listening to my BBC Radio boxset again, and I finally got to their version of The Valley of Fear. Bert Coules alternates the Vermissa Valley story with the Holmes & Watson plot to force you to not skip the Scowrers in America. We will later find out that the Narrator is reading John Douglas's manuscript story.
Holmes and Watson spend a lot of time on deciphering Porlock's cipher, but when Inspector Macdonald arrives and tells them of John Douglas's death, Holmes does not waste time lecturing him on Moriarty and Moran. They instead all rush to Birlstone to investigate. That's a good cut, though they do mention Moriarty again later. Interestingly, Mr. Mac has heard Holmes discourse on Moriarty before, but Watson hasn't heard of him (and presumably forgets him again by FINA). They investigate the body, but this time they claim that the missing ring is Douglas's wedding ring from his 1st wife, not from his 2nd wife. How does Ivy Douglas feel about her husband still wearing a ring from his 1st marriage, and not from his current marriage? That's super suspicious and not good. The investigation goes on as normal, but Holmes and Watson both witness Cecil Barker and Ivy Douglas laughing in secret. It's not just Watson alone, and the couple do not try to ask Watson about whether they should tell Holmes a secret. Then Holmes sends Watson to get rooms at an inn for them, and he asks to borrow Watson's umbrella.
However, Coules then cuts the whispering scene from Chapter 6. The scene where Holmes wakes him up at night and asks if Watson's afraid to sleep near a madman. The story just skips to the next day. I wonder if Coules cut it just for time, to keep the surprise of the dumbbell in the moat, or if he deliberately wanted to suppress the slashy scene. Boo on that. Anyway, Holmes just tells the police about the historical pamphlet on Birlstone Manor and says they should abandon the case. They get mad at him but he tells them to send the note about draining the moat and to meet him later that night, so they grudgingly go along with it. Holmes mentions Moriarty again during their vigil, then they catch Barker fishing the wet bundle out of the moat. They all rush in to catch him, and again there's no explanation about why the drawbridge is down. Did Holmes somehow convince Ames to leave the drawbridge down and not tell anyone in the house about it?
Anyway, they all confront Barker about the bundle containing the clothes of the American Hargrave who had the bicycle. He doesn't have a good explanation, but is trying to bluff when Ivy Douglas comes in, saying he's done enough for them. Holmes agrees that she should explain the truth and asks her "which room" they should go to, hinting that Douglas is not in the study after all. They go to the dining room, and that's where Douglas has been hiding in the priest hole from medieval times. That certainly makes more sense that he was able to be undiscovered there, instead of at the crime scene where the police and everybody would have been watching closely. Also, if Douglas had been there in the study, he would have seen Holmes fish the bundle out last night and could have warned Barker and Mrs. Douglas about the trap. So this is a good change.
John Douglas gives Watson the papers he's been writing for two days. He tells the police that he faked his death, and it was Ted Baldwin who got killed. He explains about switching clothes with Baldwin, and says he didn't want to give Baldwin his wedding ring from Ettie Shafter. Like, again, why are you blatantly disrespecting your current wife Ivy? After the case ends, Holmes and Watson return to Baker Street. Watson writes the story up but says that he gave Douglas his own manuscript back as a historical document. Holmes himself reads in the newspaper that Douglas got killed for real, and no, Barker doesn't come to tell them. Instead, Holmes rightfully points out that he messed up the clever fake death, and that Moriarty then killed Douglas to protect his reputation of successful crimes. Holmes feels guilty about it, and Watson has to comfort him. He's also the one to ask if they can do anything to bring Moriarty to justice. Holmes says "you must give me time." But the story is not over. Instead we get a scene of someone (Porlock or someone else) reporting to Moriarty that Moran accomplished the assassination. Moran also found a manuscript on Douglas and thought Moriarty might like to read it. So Moriarty reads the story of the Scowrers. He was the narrator all along. But Bert Coules does not explain why Moriarty would care about this, nor why Moran thought he would care about this.
So lots of unexplained things, with some innovative improvements. I guess it's the best that Coules could do to adapt the story without anyone skipping the American part. But I am mad that he cut the whispering scene.
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