:
Boris Karloff,
Melvyn Douglas,
Charles Laughton,
more...
:
James Whale
see all cast/crew...
: Not Rated
: Kino
: Comedies, Horror, Ghosts, Classic Horror, Classic Horror, Precode
: 72 min.
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It's a wildly varied group that takes shelter from a raging English storm in the forbidding mansion of the Femm family. Among the reluctant guests are stuffed-shirt Philip Waverton (Raymond Massey): Philip's sensitive wife Margaret (Gloria Stuart); their mutual friend, disillusioned war veteran Roger Penderell (Melvyn Douglas); vulgar self-made millionaire Sir William Porterhouse (Charles Laughton); and Porterhouse's no-better-than-she-ought-to-be lady friend Gladys DuCane (Lillian Bond). Under the baleful eyes of ungracious, atheistic host Horace Femm (Ernst Thesiger) and Horace's religious-zealot sister Rebecca (Eva Moore), the group sits around conversing, slowly coming to the realization that first impressions are most deceiving. Normally, that would be the whole story-except that the old dark house houses a deep dark secret involving 101-year-old Sir Roderick Femm (played by "John Dudgeon", actually an actress named Elspeth Dudgeon) and pyromaniac Saul Femm (Brember Wills). Lumbering ominously throughout the proceedings is top-billed Boris Karloff, playing Morgan, the mute, alcoholic family butler (the opening credits felt obligated to tell 1932 filmgoers that yes, this was the same Karloff who'd portrayed the Monster in the previous season's Frankenstein). Directed with sinister verve by James Whale and brimming with unforgettable dialogue ("No beds! They can't have beds!" "Have some gin--it's my only weakness," "That's fine stuff too, but it'll rot!" etc.), The Old Dark House is one of the most enjoyable and least formularized of the Universal "scare" pictures of the early 1930s. The film was based on J. B. Priestly's Benighted, though Priestly's hero dies in the book and does not in the film (this appears to have been a last-minute decision--and a wise one). Long thought lost, The Old Dark House was rediscovered in the early 1970s; copyright problems with the lukewarm 1963 remake kept it off television until 1994, at which time a sparkling new print was struck, replacing the washed-out dupes with which film buffs were all too familiar. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
*** Please click HERE to queue up the new, remastered version of The Old Dark House (Disc 3 of the William Castle Film Collection. ***
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| More than nostalgia
by CFuller
December 6, 2004 - 2:53 PM PST
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2 out of 2 members found this review helpful
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I mostly watch the universal horror films for nostalgic reasons (I liked them when I was a kid), camp value, or just to enjoy their "1930s-ness". This film however, has aged remarkably well and is a better film than Franknestein (also James Whale) in several respects I think.
Surprisingly creepy and unsettling for a film made in '32, the familiar motif of caught in the rain/seek shelter in a scary old house is turned on its ear if not all the way onto its head and the film is generally not predictable.
Brember Wills' intimidating and disturbingly schismatic performance as the long-confined Saul Femm steals the show and certainly upstages a grunting and somewhat unmemorable Boris Karloff. It's worth the rental fee just to see his scene toward the end.
This is really a terrific film and I'm glad it was revived. |
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GreenCine Member Rating
(Average 7.67)
52 Votes
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