The Hound of the Baskervilles (1939 film) The Hound of the Baskervilles (1939 film) The Hound of the Baskervilles is a 1939 mystery film based on the novel "The Hound of the Baskervilles" by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. It was directed by Sidney Lanfield and released by 20th Century-Fox. It is among the best-known cinematic adaptations of the book, and is often regarded as one of the best. The film stars Basil Rathbone as Sherlock Holmes, Nigel Bruce as Dr. Watson and Richard Greene as Henry Baskerville. Because Fox was unsure that the film would be a success, and that Rathbone and Bruce would appear in more
The Hound of the Baskervilles of the Empty House" that Holmes had faked his own death. He was assisted with the plot by a 30-year-old "Daily Express" journalist named Bertram Fletcher Robinson (1870–1907). His ideas came from the legend of Richard Cabell (d.1677), of Brook Hall, in the parish of Buckfastleigh, Devon, which was the fundamental inspiration for the Baskerville tale of a hellish hound and a cursed country squire. Cabell's tomb survives in the village of Buckfastleigh. Squire Richard Cabell lived for hunting and was what in those days was described as a 'monstrously evil man'. He gained this reputation for, amongst other things,