The concept behind the 1977 involved having "underground" director Paul Morrissey bring an irreverent slant to the original Sherlock Holmes mystery. The film thus casts Peter Cook and Dudley Moore as Holmes and Watson, with such reliable British performers as Terry-Thomas, Joan Greenwood, Denholm Elliott, Hugh Griffith, Spike Milligan, and Roy Kinnear in cameos. Producer Michael White took on the project; it mirrored his previous experience of combining spoofery and fidelity to source material with 's . Examples of the film's zaniness include the casting of a lovable Irish wolfhound as the "deadly" Baskerville mastiff and having Holmes and Watson speak in thick provincial accents. For its American release, was whittled down to 78 minutes, with several of its scenes out of sequence.