Tag: 1914

Der Hund von Baskerville (1914)

Directed by Rudolf Meinert [Other horror films: N/A]

Being the first adaptation of the only Sherlock Holmes story really considered horror, this early German production has been a film I’ve long wanted to see, and luckily it came out as a special feature on Blu-Ray on the 1929 Der Hund von Baskerville disc set, so now I’ve finally seen it.

And it’s not too shabby. Oh, it’s not great – this is far from the finest version of the story out there (which I suspect is the 1959 version, but I need to revisit that first before committing to that) – and this version is focused far more on the suspense (the mystery aspect isn’t really relevant here, oddly enough) than on the horrors of the hound, but given that this came out 1914, I doubt anyone could find that deeply surprising.

Certainly there’s plenty of amusing things in the film to keep your interest, especially since the audience is pretty much told who the culprit behind the attacks is, along with why, pretty early on in the film. From a scene in which a character blows up a mailbox to prevent a letter from being sent to the ludicrous-yet-fun central focus of the movie, much of this German silent is a hoot.

Afraid for his life due to the curse of the Hound of the Baskervilles, Henry Baskerville (Erwin Fichtner) sends for the famous Sherlock Holmes (Alwin Neuß), but due to the mailbox being blown up by a sinister character (Friedrich Kühne), the letter doesn’t get there. Instead, the sinister character impersonates Holmes in order to get close to Baskerville and kill him. Once the real Holmes finds this out, he eventually impersonates the other guy, and the FakeHolmes and RealHolmes meeting toward the end just cracks me up.

Another quality sequence is RealHolmes’ first action sequence, in which he notes that a bomb has been placed within the castle, and alerts Baskerville. While the fuse is getting closer to the explosive, a calm Holmes, unperturbed that in twenty seconds he, along with the castle, will be blown up, asks for a light. Baskerville looks at him like he’s insane, and the woman he’s courting (Hanni Weisse) has long since fainted. Undaunted by this, Holmes just shoots the lit fuse, and upon picking it up, uses that to calmly light his cigarette.

By no means is this version of the story fantastic, but as I said, it is decently fun, and I personally found the ending satisfying, especially for Barrymore (Andreas Van Horn), a character who was given the short stick for much of the film. Alwin Neuß makes for a fine Holmes, one that’s certainly confident and, showcased when he just fucks with the other guy and impersonates him, has a bit of a trolly nature to him. Friedrich Kühne makes for a solid antagonist, and he and Neuß work well together.

I do wish we saw more of the hound – even an attack that I was hoping for (set up beautifully, with a character and the hound in silhouette in preparation) was instead foiled by the reaction of the horses to the hound – but again, this is 1914, and the “fiery hound” as this film describes it, will have other chances to strike terror in the hearts of men.

As it was, Der Hund von Baskerville made for a pleasurable viewing experience, and I for one am just ecstatic that it’s been found and put back together so beautifully (the score and tinting are masterfully done), so even if it lacks the thrills you’d hope, it’s still the earliest rendition of the story possible, and a fine silent film to watch.

7.5/10

The Avenging Conscience: or, ‘Thou Shalt Not Kill’ (1914)

Avenging

Directed by D.W. Griffith [Other horror films: One Exciting Night (1922)]

One of the earliest full-length horror films, and one of the USA’s first of note, this D.W. Griffith feature, while enjoyable, is a mixed bag.

The main problem is that this is a moderately meandering, melodramatic morality tale (alliteration FTW!). Murder is bad, and thou shalt not kill, and all that rot, but it doesn’t make for an amazing story. Still, for the most part, things worked out okay.

The first 55 minutes were all solid, with a few seemingly-less necessary portions, but after a certain point, things felt as they were dragging. It picked up again at the end, with a twist of sorts (though really, it makes sense in the context of the story), and I rather enjoyed the conclusion.

Henry B. Walthall did a good job as a young man on the edge of sanity – you could tell that toward the end, his character was drenched in uncertainness. Walthall, overall, did quite well here. His uncle, played by Spottiswoode Aitken, was memorable also, though I wish we saw a bit more of him. While no one else stood out to me, everyone played their roles fine.

Making many references to Edgar Allan Poe (constantly quoting ‘Annabel Lee’, and alluding to both The Cask of Amontillado and The Tell-Tale Heart), portions of The Avenging Conscience do come across as perhaps darker than you would think. The score, at times jovial, at times almost frantic, really helped to make some scenes more suspenseful.

The Avenging Conscience: or, ‘Thou Shalt Not Kill’ may not come across to many as a real horror movie, despite both murder and revenge from beyond the grave, because of the amount of romantic drama, but I’d urge any fan of horror to still give it a shot. It’s far from perfect, and not even close to the best silent horror flick, but it’s still solid despite the flaws, and is definitely a piece of horror history.

7.5/10