Le chien des Baskerville

Before I bought the DVD of this version of the "Hound of the Baskervilles" with Matt Frewer playing Holmes, I read the other user comments listed on the IMDB and I have to agree that the script was not very good and in fact, I found it to be somewhat poor in many respects. I also must mention that Jason London's performance as Sir Henry Baskerville was in my opinion dismal. He played the role as if the casting company went out in the street and asked the first guy they came across to please step in and take the role. I would think that Joe Namath could have done better but on the other hand maybe that is what London was trying to do. Maybe London was trying to put into the role such realism as a simple man pulled into a situation as an inheritor to a vast English estate that he played the role with a deadpan delivery of his lines. I wonder.

On the other hand I was delighted with Matt Frewer's Sherlock Holmes. His physical appearance fit the role well and his particular charactaristics in stage presentation I think added an interesting twist to the Holmes character. As a Sherlockian, I like to see the differences that various actors give to the character. I would have liked to seen more of Frewer's Holmes in this film but the dismal script distorted and shortened the story so that the Holmes character is only seen in the first quarter of the film and then near the end of the film.

In agreement with most of the other comments made on this version, If you are a film buff and a Sherlockian as I am, than this DVD is worth adding to your collection. If you are simply a fan of mystery films perhaps it is better for you to wait for this version to be rerun on TV or if you find it in your video rental store, the film is certainly worth the rental fee.

Trailrider

The bad news is, Matt Frewer (whom I have admired in other roles) is APPALLING as Sherlock Holmes -- a mugging, snickering, snide clown who defeats any belief in his intellectual prowess. The good news (well, sort of good) is that he is not on screen much in this way-too-corrupted version of the classic story. This version changed a vicious murderer into an innocent bystander, gave Watson a trendy but unwarranted (according to the literature) aversion to smoke, and skipped over the most telling scene of the book, Watson's confrontation with Holmes in his hidden lair on the moor.

Kenneth Welsh, however, was excellent as Watson within the range allowed him by the script. Jason London was able to overcome the cutesy cowboy role he was stuck with at the beginning to become believable as the Baskerville lord.

As a Sherlock Holmes AND a Matt Frewer fan, I had high expectations for this film, and was badly disappointed.

When i saw the promo for this i knew i had to see it. I've always liked Matt Frewer but i could not conceive of him as Sherlock Holmes. Matt Frewer as Sherlock Holmes? Come on! Maybe as inspector LeStrade but not Holmes. But, being a fan of the actor i thought i'd give it a try and i sat down eagerly to watch. Man, i was disappointed. My first thought was he had dealt a serious blow to his career or maybe he had lost it as an actor. His performance was abysmal. It reminded me of Richard Dreyfus's portrayal of Richard III in "Goodbye Girl". It was that bad. His Holmes was an effeminate smug superior clown. I am at a loss to see that they actually made more of these. I'll have to check them out to see if they improve.

Now, i admit that I am a HUGE fan of the Jeremy Brett Holmes, so take that into account.

On the positive side, the portrayal of Watson by Kenneth Walsh was fantastic. Very much in the new tradition established by David Burke and Edward Hardwicke in the Grenada version. It is nice to see Watson portrayed as a thoughtful, intelligent professional man, as a competent doctor and of strong character.

Visually the movie is decent and if i had to toll it up i'd say it was worth watching but only just.

By the way, having seen Matt Frewer in "Taken" i was reassured to see he is still the earnest and entertaining actor i believed he was.

One minor disappointment - I cringed to see the deerstalker hat make an appearance. (i don't think Brett wears one once in the Grenada versions) Why is Holmes always pictured wearing one? I don't recall that he ever wears one in the stories.

Jeremy Brett rules!

I cannot agree with most of the comments here. Any film version of a Holmes story is going to be a problem - why pick on this one? After all, something of the rather pointed (sometimes uncomfortable) sarcasm of the literary Holmes comes through. No performance is seriously bad in this film; Frewer comes over well, so do the rest. I sometimes wonder if affection for certain film portrayals rather overrides the accuracy of the story - this one was not the worst by a long shot. Utter accuracy is not probable in the film world, so we should, I think, not be all too picky. Even so, the flavour of the stories is one which no director has ever captured, I admit. This film goes some way towards rectifying the matter.

The Canadian TV film 'Hound of the Baskervilles' is by no means all that great of a movie. It is pretty much on par with most other TV movies, but for different reasons. Usually the way to tell a movie made for television apart from those that received theatrical releases lies with the production values. Not so in this case. The production values, especially the atmospheric direction and good performances by Jason London, Matt Frewer and Kenneth Welsh warrant a viewing all on their own, the problems here are with the weak script. It allows little character development and the pacing is all wrong. It doesn't get around to the action until the end, and by then a good portion of the audience would have lost interest in the movie.

Good photography, good music, good acting, bad script. Not a great film, but it's worth watching once, especially if you're a fan of the character of Sherlock Holmes, or any of the actors