Sherlock Holmes with Basil Rathbone & Nigel Bruce

Probably many younger people only know that Robert Downey Jr. played Sherlock Holmes and Jude Law played Doctor Watson in a couple of movies just a few years ago, and very well, too. But way back in the late 1930s, Basil Rathbone and Nigel Bruce played Holmes and Watson, respectively, beginning a series of fourteen films the two British actors made using the stories of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle as a basis for the movies' scripts. The film versions updated many of Doyle's stories to modern times (then the 1940s), especially about World War Two, as Holmes did his part to fight the Nazis and to thwart their plans to win the war. Other movies in the series made extensive use of automobiles and electronic technology of those times, as opposed to the original stories that were set in the latter part of the 1800s and into the early 1900s.

Probably the most famous of the Rathbone/Bruce series was the first movie, "The Hound of the Baskervilles," released by 20th Century Fox in 1939. Like Doyle's story, which also was very popular, the film was set in the latter part of the 1800s. The story centers around a supposed curse on the Baskerville family dating back a couple of hundred years, which involves a huge and vicious hound that kills members of the family, whose estate is located in the moor of Devonshire (now known as simply "Devon"). The heir to the estate, Sir Henry Baskerville (played by Richard Greene), is coming to England and the family doctor, Dr. Mortimer (played by Lionel Atwill), goes to Sherlock Holmes to tell him of his fears for the heir, and to tell about the history of the curse. Holmes does not believe in the curse, but he realizes there is something wrong, and he sends Watson to the estate to oversee the safety of Sir Henry. With attention diverted from him, Holmes disguises himself and goes to stay on the moorland near the estate to see if he can find out anything on his own. Meanwhile, we meet neighbor John Stapleton (played by Morton Lowry), as well as the butler, (Mr.) Barryman (played by John Carradine) and his wife (played by Eily Malyon). The latter couple's behavior draws attention to them as possible suspects. Holmes eventually finds out that Mrs. Barryman's brother, an escapee from prison, is hiding on the moor. His sister secretly gives him food and some clothing worn by Sir Henry (thus the uneasy behavior by Mrs. Barryman and her husband). The man is then attacked and killed by the Great Dane (they also have Great Pastry, some with prunes, which can help you .... ah... with a medical condition). Holmes finds the pit where the hound is kept, but in order to throw off the real culprit, Holmes tells everyone he is going back to London, thus setting the stage for an attempt on Sir Henry's life. Holmes heads back to the moor, where Sir Henry is about to be attacked by the hound, which has been set loose by John Stapleton, who, it turns out, is a relative of the Baskervilles trying to eliminate Sir Henry, so he can claim the estate. The hound is killed and Stapleton gets away from the house, but Holmes assures everyone that police have the area covered and that Stapleton will be arrested.

Other films in the series featured various characters, including: the infamous Professor Moriarty (played in three different films by George Zucco, Lionel Atwill, and Henry Daniell), Inspector Lestrade (played by Dennis Hoey), Mrs. Hudson (the landlady, played by Mary Gordon), the Creeper (played by Rondo Hatton, whose face in real life had been terribly deformed by a medical disorder), the Spider Woman (played by Gale Sondergaard) and Sebastian Moran (played by Alan Mowbray). Of course, if there had been a typo, it could have been "Sebastian Moron."

There were some memorable scenes, as the producers had the series set in the World War Two era in England, and Sherlock Holmes was used to fight the Nazis and rally people against the Nazi enemy: During an attempt to find Nazi spies, a woman gives a sort of speech to a group of disinterested working class Englishmen in a dimly lit pub. She tells them how they need to help, because "this is for England!" In another movie, Holmes and Watson go to the United States to find and protect secret microfilm wanted by the Nazis. At the end, the two drive down the street in Washington, D.C. toward the capitol building. Holmes quotes from a speech given by Churchill to Congress about how the United States and Britain will cooperate to win the war. And at the close of another film where Holmes fights the Nazis, he quotes a few lines from Shakespeare's "Richard II," after Watson notes, "This little island is still on the map:" Holmes says, "This fortress built by Nature for herself ... This blessed plot, this earth, this realm, this England."  

Photo is from the MPI Home Video DVD set (I can find no date on the discs or on the box, but I've owned this for several years, and I believe they have new packaging for it now).

WORD HISTORY:
Detect-This prefixed word goes back to Indo European "do," with the notion of "toward;" thus, "away from," which then gave Latin "de," frequently a Latin prefix, and distantly related to English "to," and ‎ meaning “away from”, thus also "take away," "take off" "undo"). The base word, distantly related to English "thatch" and "deck," goes back to Indo European "(s)teg," which meant "to cover." This gave Latin "tegere," which meant "to cover." Coupled with the prefix, this gave Latin "detegere," meaning, "to uncover;" thus also figuratively, "to discover, to bring to light." It's participle form was "detectus" ("uncovered"), and from this English borrowed the word as "detect," circa 1400.