Der Hund von Baskerville

Der Hund von Baskerville
Directed by Rudolf Meinert
Produced by Josef Greenbaum
Written by Richard Oswald
Based on novel The Hound of the Baskervilles 
by Arthur Conan Doyle
Starring Alwin Neuß
Music by Joachim Bärenz
Cinematography Werner Brandes
Karl Freund
Release dates
  • 12 June 1914
Running time
Five reels[1]
Country Germany
Language Silent
German intertitles

Der Hund von Baskerville is a 1914 German silent film adaptation of Arthur Conan Doyle's The Hound of the Baskervilles. This was the first film adaptation of the famed Conan Doyle novel.[2] According to the website silentera.com, the film was considered lost, but has been rediscovered; the Russian Gosfilmofond film archive possesses a print, while the Filmmuseum München has a 35mm positive print.[1]

History

In 1907, Richard Oswald mounted a version of The Hound of the Baskervilles in Praterstraße based on Der Hund von Baskerville: Schauspiel in vier Aufzugen aus dem Schottischen Hochland. Frei nach motiven aus Poes und Doyles Novellen[2] (The Hound of the Baskervilles: a play in four acts set in the Scottish Highlands. Freely adapted from the stories of Poe and Doyle) which was written by Ferdinand Bonn.[2]

By 1914, Oswald was working as a script supervisor at Union-Vitascope studios in the Berlin-Weißensee.[2] Films based on mystery novels were very successful in German cinema at the time[2] so Oswald found himself in the position to pen a film script based on The Hound of the Baskervilles.

Production

Richard Oswald penned the tale which blended Doyle's original story and Der Hund von Baskerville[2] and Rudolf Meinert was tasked with the direction.[2][3]

Alwin Neuß was cast to portray Sherlock Holmes in Der Hund von Baskerville. Neuß had previously played the role in 1910's Das Milliontestament.[2]

Der Hund von Baskerville was so successful, it spawned five more films: Das einsame Haus, Das unheimliche Zimmer, Die Sage vom Hund von Baskerville, Dr. MacDonalds Sanatorium, and Das Haus ohne Fenster.[3] Neuß played Holmes in the first three sequels, but was replaced in the last two by Erich Kaiser-Titz.[4]

Cast

References

  1. 1.0 1.1 "Presumed Lost". silentera.com. Retrieved 2014-05-31.
  2. 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 2.4 2.5 2.6 2.7 Alan Barnes (2002). Sherlock Holmes on Screen. Reynolds & Hearn Ltd. p. 75. ISBN 1-903111-04-8.
  3. 3.0 3.1 Matthew E. Bunson (1997). Encyclopedia Sherlockiana. Macmillan. p. 130. ISBN 0-02-861679-0.
  4. Alan Barnes (2002). Sherlock Holmes on Screen. Reynolds & Hearn Ltd. pp. 74–75. ISBN 1-903111-04-8.

See also

External links