The Hound of the Baskervilles

The movie begins on a theatre stage where a pianist accompanies the film being shown. This framing sets a theatrical mood as the narrative unfolds. The audience is drawn into a world where cinema and performance blur.

Holmes has just returned a stolen artifact to three French nuns and is asked to investigate Sir Henry Baskerville and a legendary hound. Fatigued by many cases, he entrusts the inquiry to Dr. Watson, who is portrayed as a Welsh eccentric. The case then shifts toward Watson taking the lead.

As Sir Henry, Dr. Mortimer, Watson, and Perkins travel from the station toward Baskerville Hall, a police officer halts them with a warning of a murderer stalking the moors. He then sends them on their way, heightening the sense of danger. The warning foreshadows the peril they will face.

While collecting specimens on the moor, Watson has an eerie encounter in a hut with the eccentric Mr. Frankland and his powerful lover, Mary. The scene adds a bizarre, unsettling texture to the landscape. It deepens the feeling that nothing on the moor can be trusted.

In London, Holmes visits his mother Ada, who runs a bogus spiritualist scam aided by her housekeeper, Iris. Ada worries that Watson may need help and urges her son to hurry to his aid. The scene juxtaposes Holmes’s rational world with his mother’s deceitful mystique.

Holmes interviews the one-legged Mr. Spiggot to act as a runner on the moor, adding a practical link to local knowledge. The interview shows Holmes’s methodical approach to gathering intelligence. The moor becomes a character through its human messengers.

While wandering the moors, Watson is mistaken for Sir Henry by Mr. Stapleton. Stapleton's sister describes dramatically her encounter with the Hound on the moor, and Miss Stapleton undergoes unsettling transformations reminiscent of a nightmare vision. The encounter deepens the mystery surrounding Merripit Hall.

The Barrymores confine Sir Henry and Watson to a damp, water-filled room while feeding them only cheese and water. The harsh treatment highlights the estate’s oppressive atmosphere and the distrust that permeates Baskerville Hall. The uneasy hospitality foreshadows darker motives at play.

Watson travels to the village to send a message to Holmes and encounters Stapleton, who is carrying a chihuahua that urinates in Watson’s pocket and face. The moment adds a grotesque touch of humor amid mounting tension. It also tightens Stapleton’s odd presence in the plot.

Arriving at Merripit Hall, Watson meets Mrs. Stapleton, who displays surreal symptoms suggesting demonic possession. The eerie behavior amplifies the moor’s sense of danger and illusion surrounding Stapleton’s household. The scene blends thriller with supernatural overtones.

Late at night, Sir Henry and Watson discover the Stapletons and the escaped murderer, Ethel Seldon, dining as a family. The revelation confirms a lethal conspiracy behind the facade of Merripit Hall. Yet the men observe the scene with a troubling calm rather than panic.

Holmes arrives to review the case and draw connections from the disparate clues. An invitation then arrives for Sir Henry to dinner at Merripit Hall, signaling a planned confrontation and a trap. Holmes remains vigilant, already mapping the final confrontation.

During dinner, Mrs. Stapleton vomits pale-blue liquid over Sir Henry, while Mr. Stapleton's chihuahua urinates in Watson’s soup. The grotesque theatrics heighten the sense of deceit and danger surrounding Merripit Hall. The plot thickens as the meal becomes a stage for treachery.

Ordered to leave in disgrace, the Stapletons and their accomplices pursue Sir Henry and Watson but are trapped in a treacherous quagmire. Holmes then reveals that the Hound is simply a large Irish wolfhound and that its barking was used to mask a murder-for-wealth scheme. With the danger unmasked, the motive is laid bare and the threat recedes.

The film closes by returning to the theatre pianist, only to be struck by vegetables hurled from the audience. The final image circles back to the opening frame, offering a darkly comic coda to the mystery. The unresolved tensions leave audiences with a wry, ironic ending.