The Hound of the Baskervilles is a 1959

1959 in film

The year 1959 in film involved some significant events, with Ben-Hur winning a record 11 Academy Awards.-Events:* The Three Stooges make their 190th and last short film, Sappy Bull Fighters....

 British detective film

Detective fiction

Detective fiction is a sub-genre of crime fiction and mystery fiction in which an investigator , either professional or amateur, investigates a crime, often murder.-In ancient literature:...

 produced by Hammer Films and directed by Terence Fisher

Terence Fisher

Terence Fisher was a film director who worked for Hammer Films. He was born in Maida Vale, a district of London, England.Fisher was one of the most prominent horror directors of the second half of the 20th century...

.

The film is the first adaptation from the Sir Arthur Conan Doyle

Arthur Conan Doyle

Sir Arthur Ignatius Conan Doyle DL was a Scottish physician and writer, most noted for his stories about the detective Sherlock Holmes, generally considered a milestone in the field of crime fiction, and for the adventures of Professor Challenger...

 novel of the same name

The Hound of the Baskervilles

The Hound of the Baskervilles is the third of four crime novels by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle featuring the detective Sherlock Holmes. Originally serialised in The Strand Magazine from August 1901 to April 1902, it is set largely on Dartmoor in Devon in England's West Country and tells the story of an...

 to be filmed in colour and stars Peter Cushing

Peter Cushing

Peter Wilton Cushing, OBE was an English actor, known for his many appearances in Hammer Films, in which he played the handsome but sinister scientist Baron Frankenstein and the vampire hunter Dr. Van Helsing, amongst many other roles, often appearing opposite Christopher Lee, and occasionally...

 as Sherlock Holmes

Sherlock Holmes

Sherlock Holmes is a fictional detective created by Scottish author and physician Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. The fantastic London-based "consulting detective", Holmes is famous for his astute logical reasoning, his ability to take almost any disguise, and his use of forensic science skills to solve...

, Sir Christopher Lee

Christopher Lee

Sir Christopher Frank Carandini Lee, CBE, CStJ is an English actor and musician. Lee initially portrayed villains and became famous for his role as Count Dracula in a string of Hammer Horror films...

 as Sir Henry Baskerville and André Morell

André Morell

André Morell was a British actor. He appeared frequently in theatre, film and on television from the 1930s to the 1970s...

 as Doctor Watson. It also starred Marla Landi

Marla Landi

Marla Landi is an Italian-born British film actress.Her major roles included Mary in Across the Bridge and Cecille Stapleton in Hammer's The Hound of the Baskervilles .'Marla Landi' was her stage name....

, Ewen Solon

Ewen Solon

Ewen Solon was a New Zealand-born actor, who worked extensively in both the United Kingdom and Australia....

, Francis de Wolff

Francis de Wolff

Francis de Wolff was an English character actor. Large, bearded, and beetle-browed, he was often cast as villains in both film and television....

, John Le Mesurier

John Le Mesurier

John Le Mesurier was a BAFTA Award-winning English actor. He is most famous for his role as Sergeant Arthur Wilson in the popular 1970s BBC comedy Dad's Army.-Career:...

 and Miles Malleson

Miles Malleson

William Miles Malleson was an English actor and dramatist, particularly known for his appearances in British comedy films of the 1930s to 1960s. Towards the end of his career he also appeared in cameo roles in several Hammer horror films, with a fairly large role in The Brides of Dracula as the...

.
The film differs somewhat from the novel. It begins with the cruel aristocrat, Sir Hugo Baskerville (David Oxley

David Oxley

David Oxley was an English actor who made many film and television appearances over a 35 year period. He is best known for portraying Sir Hugo Baskerville in The Hound of the Baskervilles and for the major role of Captain W...

), hosting a party at Baskerville Hall, when a dead man's daughter escapes from the mansion, angry at Baskerville for treating her badly.