The Hound of the Baskervilles (Unrated, 1939) and The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes (Unrated, 1939) — Before making their 12 programmers for Universal, Basil Rathbone and Nigel Bruce first teamed up at 20th Century Fox for these period features.

The stories, set in their proper Victorian Age, provide ample evidence as to why Rathbone and Bruce became so associated with their roles.

The MPI Home Entertainment discs provide commentary tracks by Holmes experts as well as trailers.

These two films are not as action oriented as the Universal programmers, but they are closer to the spirit of Conan Doyle than the later movies.

Completists, who have the other 12 Holmes films released by MPI, will want to add these to their libraries as well.

Bob Bloom is the film critic at the Journal and Courier in Lafayette, Ind. He can be reached by e-mail at bbloom@journalandcourier.com or at bob@bloomink.com. Bloom's reviews also can be found at the Journal and Courier Web site: www.jconline.com
Other reviews by Bloom can be found at the Rottentomatoes Web site: www.rottentomatoes.com or at the Internet Movie Database Web site: www.imdb.com/M/reviews_by?Bob+Bloom