| The Hound of the Baskervilles | |
|---|---|
| Directed by | Douglas Hickox |
| Produced by | Otto Plaschkes |
| Written by | Novel: Arthur Conan Doyle Screenplay: Charles Edward Pogue |
| Starring | Ian Richardson Donald Churchill |
| Music by | Michael J. Lewis |
| Cinematography | Ronnie Taylor |
| Release date(s) | 1983 |
| Running time | 101 minutes |
| Language | English |
The Hound of the Baskervilles (1983) is a British television film directed by Douglas Hickox and starring Ian Richardson as Sherlock Holmes and Donald Churchill as Dr. John H. Watson. The movie is based on Arthur Conan Doyle's The Hound of the Baskervilles.
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In 1982, American producer Sy Weintraub partnered with English producer Otto Plaschkes to make six television films of Sherlock Holmes stories.[1] Charles Edward Pogue was enlisted to pen the screenplays[1] but only The Sign of the Four and The Hound of the Baskervilles were ultimately filmed as Granada Television's Sherlock Holmes series premiered in 1984.[1]
In an interview with Scarlet Street, Ian Richardson explained:
"That was the fly in our ointment. Initially, an unseen fly. You see, when Sy Weintraub was planning the films, he was unaware that the copyright on the Holmes stories was about to expire in England and he had to go through a great deal of legal negotiations with the Conan Doyle estate in order to gain permission to use them. However, he was totally ignorant of Granada's plans to film a series with Jeremy Brett...Weintraub was furious, because he'd paid a lot of money to get permission from the estate and here was Granada saying, 'Thank you - but we're going to do it.' So Weintraub took them to court. He had a very good case, apparently; but eventually there was an out of court settlement for an extraordinary sum of money - something like two million pounds - which was enough for Weintraub to cover his costs on both The Sign of Four and The Hound of the Baskervilles, and make a profit, too. And so he wrapped the project up."[1]
In the original novel, Brian Blessed's character Geoffrey Lyons never appears.[2] In the film version, Lyons is presented as an imposing suspect who is at one point falsely imprisoned for strangling his wife.[2] Holmes' solution to the case ultimately frees him.[2]