Trailrider

After I had seen this film I could well understand why it was banned in Germany for so long after the end of WWII. I recently purchased the DVD of this film and as I watched it I had to marvel as to how successful this film no doubt was in alluring the German people to join the Nazi Party. We who watch this film today watch it having with us the knowlege of the the holocaust the Nazi Party created. We know about the "Final Solution" in which millions of people were murdered. The frightening aspect of this film is imagining ourselves as young people in 1935 Germany, sitting in the theatre and viewing this film. Could we be attracted into the Nazi Party based on watching this charismatic piece of ingenious propaganda? I would have to say easily. The segment of the film that shows the Hitler Youth encampment shows this. I wonder if any of those young people had any idea of the terrible holocaust that was to follow and the part they would play within it? As far as the film itself is concerned based on cinematic art, it is excellent. The photography, sequence of scenes and music combine to make this film a tribute to the talents of director Leni Riefenstahl. Today this film serves as a great lesson as to how easily a nation of people can be swayed into such a thing as Fascism. This film helps serve as a warning that the terrible events that took place in the 1930s are not so far behind in the scope of time and hopefully will not be repeated due to our ability to look back at and study history such as in viewing this film.

Trailrider

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