The Wonderful World of TCM: Hound of the Baskervilles (1939)

Maybe because of the approaching holiday, or maybe because I figured, "Hey, it's been almost a year since I taped it; maybe I ought to watch it already," I sat down the other day to watch "The Hound of the Baskervilles," which I'm pretty sure was the only Basil Rathbone/Nigel Bruce Sherlock Holmes flick I had never seen.

Some of the Holmes flicks are ubiquitous, but others, like this one, are rarely on the tube anymore, and since Netflix long ago exiled the DVD to its version of the Moors (also known as the dreaded "SAVE" status in my queue), I was thankful TCM aired it as part of its Sherlock festival last Christmastime. Uh...so thankful I waited till Halloween to watch it.

I like this series, but I must say the entries all blur together. For some reason, I forget most of the particulars within hours after watching one, so for me, these atmospheric movies make good late-night viewing. I sort of drift in and out mentally and just kind of take them in rather than fully engaging with them.

"Baskervilles" is considered one of the finest in the series, and I won't argue that, but as a first-time viewer, I must register a slight complaint: Holmes is hardly in the blamed thing! Nothing against our dear Watson, but a little more of the big guy would be nice. Apparently this was the first Rathbone picture, and nobody really knew quite what they had yet.

The other thing that jumped out at me was the final line of dialogue, Holmes telling Watson, "Oh, Watson, the needle!" Now, as I said, these films often put me in a dreamlike state, so I was skeptical I really heard that. But sure enough, that's the line, and no less an authority than Leonard Maltin even cites it in his movie guide and links it to Holmes' cocaine use (though the guide entry inserts the word "quick" for "Oh").

Is this the most notable movie of the classic Hollywood era to end with a blatant drug reference? I don't recall Bogart telling Claude Rains, "I think this is the beginning of a beautiful friendship. Now let's go do a few lines." Nor do I remember Carl Denham asserting at the end of King Kong, "It wasn't the airplanes; it was that speedball concoction that killed the beast."