The Old Dark House (1932)

User Rating:

7.4/10   

Director:

James Whale

Writers:

J.B. Priestley (novel)
Benn W. Levy (screenplay)

Release Date:

20 October 1932 (USA)

Genre:

Drama | Horror | Thriller

Tagline:

Beware the night!

Plot:

Seeking shelter from a pounding rainstorm in a remote region of Wales, several travellers are admitted to a gloomy...

Plot Keywords:

Pyromaniac | Roadblock | Butler | Candlelight | Drunkenness

Cast

Boris Karloff	...	Morgan (as Karloff)
Melvyn Douglas	...	Roger Penderel
Charles Laughton	...	Sir William Porterhouse
Lilian Bond	...	Gladys DuCane Perkins (as Lillian Bond)
Ernest Thesiger	...	Horace Femm
Eva Moore	...	Rebecca Femm
Raymond Massey	...	Philip Waverton
Gloria Stuart	...	Margaret Waverton
Elspeth Dudgeon	...	Sir Roderick Femm (as John Dudgeon)
Brember Wills	...	Saul Femm

Runtime:

72 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono (Western Electric Noiseless Recording Sound System)

Certification:

Australia:PG | USA:Approved (PCA #2017-R, 4 February 1937 for re-release) | USA:TV-G (TV rating) | UK:PG

Filming Locations:

Universal Studios - 100 Universal City Plaza, Universal City, California, USA

Company:

Universal Pictures

Trivia:

This film was withdrawn from circulation when the remade version in 1963 by William Castle Productions was released. This film was considered to be lost until director Curtis Harrington discovered a printable negative.

Quotes:

Horace Femm: [picking up a bunch of flowers] My sister was on the point of arranging these flowers.
[He tosses them into the fire]

Movie Connections:

Referenced in Now You See Him: The Invisible Man Revealed! (2000) (V)

Soundtrack:

Singin' in the Rain

Superb sets and photography but ultimately just a well played farce

Director James Whale and his cast probably had a good time making this film. After the opening credits there's a "producer's note": 'Karloff, the mad butler in this production, is the same Karloff who created the part of the mechanical monster in "Frankenstein". We explain this to settle all disputes in advance, even though such disputes are a tribute to his great versatility.'

So you're know what you're in for, at least modern audiences should. Back then it must have been quite daring to openly "expose" and perhaps even undermine the potential scariness of the film, especially Karloff's role as the butler. I think many executives at Universal frowned upon this as well, in particular Carl Laemmle Sr., but Carl Laemmle Jr. probably shared the same kind of humor as Whale, so they let him get away with it.

The film is very loyal to J.B. Priestley's novel "Benighted" and took most of the wonderful dialogs and one-liners directly from the book. The sharply written dialogs are funny for sure and most of the best lines are handed to Thesiger, as in THE BRIDE OF FRANKENSTEIN, but it's doesn't work that well in what is supposed to be a horror film. Eerie things do happen, absolutely, but they are so bizarre and sometimes so utterly over the top, that you either stop caring about the characters or simply lose track of the proceedings at all.

Many have pointed out that Whale presents us some kind of parody of the horror movie or some kind of archetypal English household. This seems a very modern, almost anachronistic vision to me. What things did he attempt to mock or make fun of? Essentially THE OLD DARK HOUSE is a well acted sometimes very funny stagy farce with a horror atmosphere at best. He certainly had the last laugh because he probably never intended it that way, although most of the critical acclaim came after his death.

The sets and photography are superb and the atmosphere, largely due to the continuously stormy soundtrack, is very unsettling. And no complaints about the acting, especially the incomparable Ernest Thesiger who is a standout in a first rate cast. But in the end you ultimately feel it's all a goofy gimmick, but still 8/10 because in the end this film retains a totally unique feel to it and could only have been made by someone like James Whale.

A final note on the Special Collector's Edition DVD: Besides the obligatory stills gallery, nothing of particular interest. A six-minute interview with Curtis Harrington about him saving the original copy of the film. Good thing he did it but that's all we need to know. And truly worthless commentary tracks, James Curtis comments like he's reading a list with all kinds of facts about the movie. Suitable for a booklet, not for an audio commentary.

Camera Obscura --- 8/10