Hounds Of Baskervilles

Compare and Contrast The Hound of the Baskervilles Movie and Book

The Hound of the Baskervilles written by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle and the movie The Hound of the Baskervilles directed by Jeremy Bret are two works of art that are mainly telling the same story. There are, however, many differences about the book and the movie. Those differences don’t affect the outcome of the story, but they give less impact to the story. Along with the differences there are many similarities, and those similarities give you confidence that it is the same story.

One major difference in the movie that was not in the book was the starting scene of the movie was set in the moor with Sir Charles being attacked by the Hound. In the book the starting scene was when Watson and Holmes had just found a walking stick that had the initials C.C.H. on it. I think that the movie starting scene was more informative because it let you know about what was happening and it also gave some more suspense to the film.

In the movie Holmes, in the beginning, was much more prideful and rude to Watson and people in general, but later on, Holmes was a lot nicer and somewhat humble at least compared to the book. This difference made the viewer feel less liking of the character of Holmes and it almost seemed that the director tried to save Holmes’s character by making him nicer at the ending. The difference had a big impact on the feeling of the movie because it felt that he was so stuck up he was rather unapproachable.

A difference that was very noticeable was that in the book they had a pretty large scene that included Sir Henry’s follower in a cab when in the movie it was replaced with a set of a hotel type restaurant building. The chase was taken place inside of a building in the movie and in the book it took place outside on the street and the follower of Sir Henry just took off in a cab.

A minor difference between the movie and the book was concerning the scene about Sir Henry going to the moor. In the book he was pretty upset that people were trying to keep him from going there, but in the movie he showed the least bit of emotion. This was not a major impact on the story but it definitely added character to Sir Henry. In the movie Sir Henry was somewhat timid and in the book that scene showed he was not afraid to stand up for himself.

In the book Watson went by himself to Laura Lyons house then got Holmes and went back to her house though in the movie Watson went only once and he was accompanied by Holmes. This is a minor difference that did not affect the storyline at all I think the reason for cutting this scene out was for time reasons. I believe that this was a very opportune time to cut a scene out because the first visit had no meaning or important details to it. I feel that the director chose to edit this scene for multiple reasons and I agree with his decision.

There was a scene of Watson going to Holmes’s tent in the mountains. In the book, Dr. Mortimer was not with Watson nonetheless in the movie both Dr. Mortimer and Watson went to Holmes’s tent. This difference was not a conflicting problem because in the movie Dr. Mortimer was just left alone going through the tent when Watson and Holmes were talking a ways away from the tent. Even though this was a difference from the book the dialogue between Holmes and Watson was the exact same as the book.

A scene that was not included in the movie that was in the book was the scene that Mr. Barrymore was raising and lowering a lantern and Seldon the murderer was off in a field doing the same. The