The Hound of the Baskervilles

The film opens in a theatre where a pianist begins to accompany the on-screen picture. The unusual staging blends cinema with a live performance, creating a meta-theatrical mood. The audience becomes part of the opening sequence as the story begins.

Holmes has just restored a stolen artifact to three French nuns and is approached by Dr. Mortimer about Sir Henry Baskerville and a legendary hound haunting the Baskerville estate. Exhausted by numerous cases, he decides to pass the case to Dr. Watson, presenting him as the new investigator. This transfer shifts the focus from Holmes to Watson.

On the way from the station to Baskerville Hall, the group is halted by a policeman who warns of a murderer stalking the moors. The warning injects tension and foreshadows danger ahead. They proceed toward the estate with heightened caution.

While collecting specimens on the moor, Watson stumbles into a hut and encounters the eccentric Mr. Frankland and his strong lover Mary. The scene is quirky and unsettling, hinting at the odd characters surrounding Baskerville. The encounter also underscores the eerie atmosphere of the moor.

Holmes stays in London to visit his mother, a bogus spiritualist running false seances with her housekeeper Iris. She worries about Watson and urges the detective to hurry to his aid. The subplot adds a comic and sinister dimension to Holmes's character.

Holmes interviews the one-legged Mr. Spiggot to act as a runner on the moor, preparing the logistics for observing and pursuing clues. The odd choice of a runner underscores the peculiar tone of the investigation. The scene shifts focus back toward the Baskerville case.

On the moor, Watson is mistaken for Sir Henry by Mr. Stapleton. The encounter casts Stapleton as a suspicious figure whose motives remain unclear. Stapleton's sister later describes a dramatic encounter with the Hound that unsettles Watson.

The Barrymores mistreat Sir Henry and Watson at Baskerville Hall, feeding them only cheese and water and confining them in a cramped, waterlogged room. The uncomfortable hospitality highlights the danger and dysfunction surrounding the estate. The mood grows tenser as plans unfold.

Watson travels to the village and meets Stapleton again near Merripit Hall. Stapleton carries a chihuahua that abruptly urinates in Watson’s pocket and face, an odd, comic detail amid the mounting tension. The quirky moment reinforces Stapleton’s odd persona on the moor.

Arriving at Merripit Hall, Watson meets the eccentric Mrs. Stapleton, whose demeanor and surreal symptoms suggest demonic possession. Her acts deepen the eerie mood surrounding the Baskerville mystery. The sequence heightens the sense that something supernatural lurks on the moor.

Late at night, Sir Henry and Watson discover the Stapletons and the escaped murderer, Mrs. Barrymore's brother Ethel Seldon, dining together as a family. The discovery occurs with unsettling calm rather than panic, underscoring the tangled web of deceit. The moment confirms that danger hides behind ordinary appearances.

Holmes arrives and assesses the case so far, plotting his next moves. An invitation arrives for Sir Henry to dine at Merripit Hall, and Watson attends with Sir Henry while Holmes observes from a distance. During the dinner, Mrs. Stapleton resumes bizarre acts and vomits pale-blue liquid, and Stapleton's chihuahua urinates in Watson's soup.

The would-be murderers pursue Sir Henry and Watson to kill them, but the landscape traps them in a treacherous quagmire. The peril on the moor reaches a breaking point as attempts to escape falter. The bog becomes a symbol of the danger that surrounds the Baskerville estate.

Holmes reveals that the so-called Hound is really a large friendly Irish wolfhound owned by the late Sir Charles Baskerville. Its barking was misinterpreted as a monster, while the dog itself is the estate's silent heir. With the animal revealed to be innocuous, the would-be murderers lost their leverage to claim the Baskerville fortune.

The film closes on the theatre pianist, whose performance is interrupted when vegetables are hurled at him by the audience. The anticlimax delivers a quirky, meta-cinematic ending. The curtain falls as the cinema-within-a-film ends its tale at the theatre.