The Old Dark House
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Movie Reviews of The Old Dark House
Movie Review: Clever, Amusing and Scary
Summary: 4 Stars
What a great and weird film...scary, funny, unsettling, sophisticated. And the Femm family..."They were all godless here. They used to bring their women here - brazen, lolling creatures in silks and satins. They filled the house with laughter and sin, laughter and sin. And if I ever went down among them, my own father and brothers - they would tell me to go away and pray, and I prayed - and left them with their lustful red and white women." "The fact is, Morgan is an uncivilized brute. Sometimes he drinks heavily. A night like this will set him going and once he's drunk he's rather dangerous." "Have a potato?" Ernest Thesiger as Horace Femm is a movie unto himself. The film stars one of my favorite actors, Melvyn Douglas, as a skeptical, somewhat disallusioned and reluctant hero.
Three travelers, motoring through the Welsh mountains late at night, are caught in a cold, thundering downpour. Their map is useless, the road is getting washed out and they are lost. Then they see a light from a lonely hulk of a large stone house. They pull up and run to the door, knocking loudly. The door opens, slightly. Staring at them is an unkempt, bearded mute with a mutilated face. A reedy, unseen voice tells them to enter.
And that's just the first five minutes.
For the next hour we witness how these three travelers, Roger Penderel (Melvyn Douglas), his friend Philip Waverton (Raymond Massey) and Waverton's wife, Margaret (Gloria Stuart), plus two other lost souls, William Porterhouse (Charles Laughton) and his companion, Gladys DuCane (Lillian Bond), deal with the eccentric and strange Femm family and the family's manservant, Morgan (Boris Karloff). The Femms and Morgan are more than eccentric; they can be unpleasant and dangerous. There's Horace Femm (Ernest Thesiger), skeletal, elderly and effete; his deaf and religiously fanatical sister, Rebecca (Eva Moore); their psychotic and murderous brother, Saul (Brember Wills) who must always be kept locked up; and their 102 year old aged father, Sir Roderick Femm, who is bed-ridden.
Most of the movie is shot in the great room of the Femm house or up the stairs. The only light is by candlelight, the fireplace or dim electric light while it lasts. Shadows are everywhere, dark shadows that can hide more than secrets. And throughout the long night the rain keeps pouring down.
Does anyone die? Well, one. Is this a Boris Karloff monster movie? Nope. Karloff as Morgan plays an important role, but the movie isn't about him. The movie is about style. It's indirect and clever and at times it is very amusing. Certainly the cast couldn't have been improved upon, especially the actors playing the unnerving Femm siblings.
The movie, in my view, holds up very well. The DVD picture and audio have been restored.
Movie Review: Have a potato...
Summary: 4 Stars
The Old Dark House (James Whale, 1932)
James Whale, who'd just imprinted his name on the American consciousness with Frankenstein, returned the next year with another Karloff vehicle, The Old Dark House. These days, Karloff's participation is somewhat eclipsed by the fact that this was the first American film to feature the great Charles Laughton, who would win the Best Actor oscar for The Private Life of Henry VIII the next year, as well as the nature of Karloff's role (he never speaks, only mumbles and growls; according to Robert Osborne, Morgan, Karloff's character, was the inspiration for the Addam's Family butler Lurch).
The Old Dark House is a much lighter tale than Frankenstein, and Whale treats it more as a comedy of errors than a horror film (though this is not to suggest that it's not deadly serious at times). The plot concerns said old dark house and its inhabitants, who on the night of a storm are repeatedly plagued by travellers on the road below, which has washed out in a landslide, leaving them with nowhere else to go. To compound matters, Morgan (Karloff), the family butler, has a hatred of storms, and tends to drink heavily when there's thunder in the air. And when he gets drunk, he's not a happy camper. Adding to the weirdness is a locked and barred room on the fourth floor, and no one will tell the guests what's behind it...
Much of the enjoyment of watching The Old Dark House comes from its top-notch ensemble cast, which includes not only Karloff and Laughton, but also Melvyn Douglas, Lilian Bond, Eva Moore, Elspeth Dudgeon (in her first big-screen appearance), Gloria Stuart, Ernest Thesiger, and Raymond Massey. Put them all together and you get, as one critic put it, the most uncomfortable dinner scene ever committed to film. I plan to say "Have a potato." to all my in-laws this Thanksgiving, and none of them will get it.
For all that, it's not a very scary film, but then one has to wonder whether it was meant to be. There's some romance, a bit of swashbuckling, and, of course, the mad butler, but when the women go cowering into the cupboard when that locked door on the fourth floor is finally opened, how can the viewer look at the situation with anything but amusement by that time? That may, of course, have been Whale's intention all along. We'll never know. Just the fact that we're still able to see this film is pretty amazing, given that it was lost for so many years. *** ½
Movie Review: Strange, but very fun
Summary: 4 Stars
The Old Dark House for me is a tough review to write; while I enjoyed the movie I can't fully explain what it is I loved about this movie. While often lumped into the horror genre, The Old Dark House is actually an offbeat comedy with some touches of horror, but even the suspense scenes are often played with a bit of dark humor.
Several people are forced to take shelter in an old house during a severe rain storm with a creepy family and mute butler (played by Boris Karloff). All the elements for a horror classic are here, but instead it's more laughs than anything else. The Old Dark House is quite a strange little movie and even after all these years it still remains a very strange movie.
The screenplay written by Benn W. Levy was highly enjoyable and well written. While not the greatest script it serves its purpose and works quite well. The characters are a bit annoying and even a bit obnoxious, but yet they work well overall and are mostly likeable.
The Old Dark House was directed by James Whale who is probably best known for the classics Frankenstein and Bride of Frankenstein. James Whale is one of the finest directors of his era and here he delivers one odd, but yet fun movie. The pacing never lags and there's always something happening to keep the viewer interested.
Ernest Thesiger as Horace and Eva Moore as his sister Rebecca are super creepy and weird and both deliver top notch performances. Any scene they have is golden and works well in a weird, creepy, but yet funny way. Even though Boris Karloff has top billing as the mute butler Morgan, truth is he isn't really given that much to do. Karloff was one of those rare actors who without any lines can deliver a performance of a lifetime. Karloff is in the movie early lurking around and being creepy, but he goes MIA until towards the end of the movie.
But when he returns that's where the horror and suspense moments kick in, but don't go in expecting a Karloff movie or you'll be slightly disappointed since this really isn't a Karloff movie. I can't really quite explain what it is about The Old Dark House I liked. It's not one of the best movies from it's time, but yet there is just something so wonderful here that it worked well for me.
Movie Review: It Was a Dark & Stormy Night!
Summary: 4 Stars
Universal's The Old Dark House, 1932, is a fun old film directed by Frankenstein director James Whale, along with the old favorites Karloff and Ernest Thesiger (from "Bride").
This trio is riding through the countryside in the pouring rain and a landslide cuts them off. They have no choice but to go to an old, broken down house where live strange and broken down people.
Karloff has no lines here since he's dumb (has no voice) and a tough butler character. Theisger takes the cake as one of the Femm's with his sister who is a cranky piece of work. Karloff's part is minor. Charles Laughton as the big man with the "girlfriend" was great comic relief.
And there were clearly gay themes towards the end -- Saul, Morgan and their insanity and their obvious affection can be offputting for some viewers. Also the filming techniques were impressive: Gloria Stuart's off-kilter look in the cracked mirror was reflective of madness and fear. Wow!
The flow of characterization between actors is magical to see. The building of suspense and fright as well and building of curiosity. Who is locked up in the room upstairs? Why? Who is Saul?
The theatrical way the film is done, with the players each having their own idiosyncracies, as they stay overnight in a house of madmen, is fascinating to watch. This film was originally thought lost until a print was found and restored in 1968.
A confrontation with a madman bent on destroying the house; a few close-calls and some pretty insane dialogue make for a fun, if a bit dated, film.
This film was remade in 1963, same title, by William Castle.
A great cast is worth repeating:
Cast
Crew
Boris Karloff - Morgan
Melvyn Douglas - Roger Penderel
Charles Laughton - Sir William Porterhouse
Ernest Thesiger - Horace Femm
Raymond Massey - Philip Waverton
Gloria Stuart - Margaret Waverton
James Whale - Director
Carl Laemmle - Producer
Benn W. Levy - Screenwriter
Arthur Edeson - Cinematographer
David Broekman - Film Score
J.B. Priestley - Original Novel
Movie Review: A Classic Thriller From, "The Father Of Frankenstein"
Summary: 4 Stars
THE OLD DARK HOUSE(1932)---(directed by James Whale)---Boris Karloff, Melvyn Douglas, Charles Laughton, Gloria Stuart, Ernest Thesiger, Lillian Bond, Raymond Massey, Eva Moore.
After the success of, "Frankenstein", director Whale was pretty much given carte blanche to do whatever he wanted. He made this film. It is an interesting combination of "spooky" and "funny". Sir Ian McKellen, who played Whale in, "Gods And Monsters"(see below), described it in an interview as "camp". A married couple(Massey and Stuart) and a cynical friend(Douglas) are caught in a hellacious storm and seek refuge in an old, dark house, inhabited by the weirdest assemblage of folks imaginable. The head of the household is Thesiger, who lives with his "religious zealot" sister(Moore) and two other relatives---one an old man who is bed-ridden in an upstairs room---the other, a pyromaniac brother who is kept in a locked room. Karloff plays a potentially homicidal butler with a taste for booze and pretty young girls. Another couple stranded by the storm soon turn up(Laughton and Bond); we learn that Bond is Laughton's "kept woman" and that no real affection exists between them. Laughton plays a loutish, wealthy, "self-made man" and turns in one of his typical "scenery-chewing" performances. With their arrival, the stage is set for all sorts of bizarre "goings-on". Karloff begins ogling Stuart, gets drunk, and starts trying to rape her; the "firebug" brother gets loose and starts trying to set everything in sight on fire; Thesiger and the sister run around wringing their hands and trying to get things under control; and, meanwhile, Douglas and Bond fall in love(Laughton seems not to care very much---other than grousing about the inconvenience of having to find another mistress). As screwy as all this may sound, this is actually a pretty good film. Whale creates an appropriately spooky atmosphere with lavish sets and a "storm from hell". All the actors turn in admirable performances(even Laughton's "over the top" performance is appropriate for his character). Without spoiling too much, I'll just say that things eventually turn out rather well and, as the film closes, the sun shines brightly!