Hound of the Baskervilles

Anybody else seen this film by Pete 'n Dud?

"Awful" doesn't quite cover it. "Depressing" comes close. The sets were shabby, the cast look tired, the voices that Cook and Moore use are just bizarre and irritating (a Jewish Holmes?), and it seems mainly to be an excuse to rehash old skits and make no sense. Joan Greenwood goes very berserk in a not-terribly-special-effects Exorcist moment...

And as for poor Terry-Thomas, you can see his left hand shaking from the Parkinsons disease and he uses his right hand to cover it and hold it still. At the end of the film, they are all up to their chests in pond water (don't ask), and they noticeably hold T-T still to stop him disturbing the water

All in all, a desperate, depressing pity.

Can't really argue with anything there, Maurice. It is a horrible film. I seem to recall them somehow crow-barring 'one leg too few' in there! Bizarre in a bad way.

I've said before on this site, Peter Cook may have been a comic genius but he was a bleedin awful actor.

The problem with Hound of the Baskervilles was the director Paul Morrisey - he substantially changed the script (wanting to make a corny Carry On), insisted on the insertion of irrelevant dialogue from old sketches, and assembled the stellar supporting cast and gave them crap lines.

Bedazzled is Pete and Dud's best film, followed by The Wrong Box.

Quote: john lucas 101 @ April 8 2009, 9:39 AM BST

I've said before on this site, Peter Cook may have been a comic genius but he was a bleedin awful actor.

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I've refuted that horribly mendacious statement before on this site. Have you seen The Adventures of Barry McKenzie and Yellowbeard? And the Wrong Box and Bedazzled? He's great. He never tried to be a dazzling thesp, he's just very amusing.

Big Cook and Moore fan, but never seen this movie. Only ever heard bad things about it.

Cook was great in Yellowbeard and Whoops Apocalypse too. But maybe that's the character I prefer to see him doing - vague upper-class. Like I preferred Joan Sims as faux-upper-class in Carry On Up The Kyber and Carry On Don't Lose Your Head.

In this film it was just horrible. I think its horribleness was exacerbated by just how brilliant this film *could* have been. The music score is wrong too. It was a great feat by Moore to get it all done in time, but just isn't right.

Quote: Maurice Minor @ April 8 2009, 10:35 AM BST

I think its horribleness was exacerbated by just how brilliant this film *could* have been.

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Yeah, have you ever seen the Holmes sketch they did? That was brilliant.

Quote: Maurice Minor @ April 8 2009, 10:35 AM BST

Like I preferred Joan Sims as faux-upper-class in Carry On Up The Kyber and Carry On Don't Lose Your Head.

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Are you a fan of Worzel Gummidge? Joan Sims has a recurring role in the first couple of seasons as the local aristocrat, Mrs Bloomsbury-Barton. She's great! As is all of Worzel Gummidge.

Quote: Maurice Minor @ April 8 2009, 10:35 AM BST

In this film it was just horrible. I think its horribleness was exacerbated by just how brilliant this film *could* have been.

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Like I said above, the blame lies squarely with Paul Morrisey - and at risk of being racist, he's a Merkin.

Quote: Maurice Minor @ April 8 2009, 9:32 AM BST

Joan Greenwood goes very berserk in a not-terribly-special-effects Exorcist moment...

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Last night I watched the Alec Guinness/Dennis Price film Kind Hearts and Coronets and was instantly smitten by Joan Greenwood - her voice is like Felicity Kendall's only sexy and so very alluring.

Ah, Worzel Gummidge. I LOVED that as a kid. Bought a box set recently and, despite the film quality being iffy, it was wonderful. Nice to see Joanie as "the fat lady wi' the 'at" as Worzel attempts to make her stand in for him. The cast was excellent. Even John Le Mesurier turns up. Happy days.

Joan Greenwood was wonderful in the Ealing films she made. Her voice is so breathy and smokey. Marvellous. Which is another reason this film is so dreadful; her eyes light up and the words "LOVE ME!" illuminate across her cleavage. Eurgh.

Edited by Aaron.

Quote: Maurice Minor @ April 8 2009, 11:09 AM BST

Ah, Worzel Gummidge. I LOVED that as a kid. Bought a box set recently and, despite the film quality being iffy, it was wonderful. Nice to see Joanie as "the fat lady wi' the 'at" as Worzel attempts to make her stand in for him. The cast was excellent. Even John Le Mesurier turns up. Happy days.

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That episode with John Le Mesurier as the butler who gets locked in the coal cellar and later crashes through the fireplace was hilarious. Had me laughing out loud, as did most scenes where Aunt Sally and Worzel misbehaved in Mrs Bloomsbury-Barton's house. And then there's the episode where Connie Booth turns up as another Aunt Sally, and so much more that is wonderful without even mentioning Geoffrey Bayldon yet. Worzel deserves his own thread.

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Oh the cast was amazing. Michael Ripper too, and Babs Windsor. I need to get more DVDs...

To be honest, I've never seen Yellowbeard but I just found the trailer on YouTube. Anyway, the scene with Pete Cook kicking the little girl... my god, I burst out laughing. Funny!

Peter Cook is paired up with Beryl Reid as his wife. Now she IS funny in this. She's wearing corsets and 18th Century makeup with her cleavage on display. Again, she is doing the mock-posh accent that Joan Sims used now and again and Cook is *terribly* posh and vague, wearing elaborate period costume. Of course Beryl would have been well into her 60s here so looks delightfully over the top. In one scene in the garden, amongst refined guests she does a low curtsey and is spotted by Yellowbeard who snorts, runs up to her, grabs her and drags her off to the bushes. All the time as he manhandles her off backwards she is calling to her companions (Cook, Michael Hordern etc): "Please excuse me, aye believe this gentleman wishes to speak to me.... oh I say!" Then the conversation continues, Peter Cook explaining that his wife is busy, all the time you hear Beryl Reid shrieking from behind the shrubbery as her clothes come flying over the top.
Casual rape is a recurring theme in this film, but all in the best possible taste...

Edited by Aaron.

Quote: Maurice Minor @ April 8 2009, 11:27 AM BST

Oh the cast was amazing. Michael Ripper too, and Babs Windsor. I need to get more DVDs...

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I bought series 1-4 and the special (haven't been able to find the final series, filmed in New Zealand) only last year. Received a mighty surprise in one episode where the snooty proprietor of a clothing store appears, played by none other than Anthony Sharp, he who was the Minister of the Interior in A Clockwork Orange and who famously snubbed Stanley Kubrick.

And yes, Babs! She has some interesting recollections of her time in Worzel Gummidge in her autobiography.

Quote: Maurice Minor @ April 8 2009, 12:03 PM BST

Then the conversation continues, Peter Cook explaining that his wife is busy, all the time you hear Beryl Reid shrieking from behind the shrubbery as her clothes come flying over the top.

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That scene really stuck in my mind when I first watched Yellowbeard at a young age. Not the casual rape, but the droll sound of Peter Cook's voice as he delivered his lines: "She doesn't go much, Lady Lambourn... but when she goes, she goes... And when she does, she does."

Quote: john lucas 101 @ April 8 2009, 9:39 AM BST

Bizarre in a bad way.

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Bizarre is rarely good.

Quote: Kenneth @ April 8 2009, 10:00 AM BST

Bedazzled is Pete and Dud's best film

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Pre-determines quite a lot about the others.

Quote: hotzappa11 @ April 8 2009, 11:28 AM BST

To be honest, I've never seen Yellowbeard but I just found the trailer on YouTube. Anyway, the scene with Pete Cook kicking the little girl... my god, I burst out laughing. Funny!

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I only have an old VHS copy of Yellowbeard, so I just watched the trailer on YouTube. The most amusing thing was the name of the user who posted the trailer: mickeyjuice. I haven't heard that term in years.

Quote: Aaron @ April 8 2009, 12:30 PM BST

Pre-determines quite a lot about the others.

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Well, Bedazzled was the best film with both Cook and Moore. As for Cook on film without Moore, both Yellowbeard and Barry McKenzie were great - and arguably better than Bedazzled.