The Old Dark House (1932)

Light the candles and bring out the blankets-The Old Dark House is a great scary movie on a gloomy evening or afternoon! Five travelers are lost and stranded in a rainstorm, forced to seek refuge in a very creepy looking house. Boris Karloff, in a Frankenstein meets Ape-Man get-up, answers the door, and even though he's enormously frightening, the five walk in the house and place themselves at the mercy of some very creepy people.Husband and wife team Raymond Massey and Gloria Stuart are probably the stupidest of the bunch. Raymond leaves his wife alone to go exploring up the dark, rickety staircase, and when he hears someone crying from behind a door, he tries to open it. Gloria, who has just been made aware that Boris Karloff not only is scary but has incredible strength and is a bit insane, insists on changing her clothes then walks down an empty corridor in a very revealing dress. As you can see, these people aren't very bright. Then again, no one in a horror movie ever is!Charles Laughton and his mistress Lilian Bond show up, but since it's Charles Laughton, she quickly leaves him as soon as she meets Melvyn Douglas. Eva Moore and Ernest Thesiger are the homeowners, and they make every scene as creepy as they possibly can. Don't watch this one by yourself!

"The Old Dark House" was largely unseen for many years due to Columbia Pictures acquiring the rights to re-make the film in 1963. Universal was then prohibited to screen the 1932 original even though they still owned the film.The picture is a gloomy atmospheric James Whale masterpiece of its kind. It was largely promoted as a follow-up to Universal's 1931 hot "Frankenstein" which also featured star Boris Karloff in a non speaking role while wearing complicated make ups. In "The Old Dark House", Karloff has surprisingly little to do except growl in close ups of his grotesque looking make-up. He does have a rampage scene though. The bulk of the screen time is given to the impressive ensemble cast.The story in brief, has travelers Philip and Rebecca Waverton (Raymond Massey, Gloria Stuart) along with friend Penderal (Melvyn Douglas) motoring through rural Wales in a driving rain storm. They come upon a creepy dark old mansion in the middle of nowhere where they plan to seek shelter for the night. They are greeted at the door by a gruesome looking mute servant, Morgan, who shows them in. Inside they are met by Horace Femm (Ernest Thesiger) and his hard of hearing sister Rebecca (Eve Moore) who reluctantly admit them and provide them with a roast beef dinner. Then another pair of stranded travelers, Sir William Porterhouse (Charles Laughton) and his "chorus girl" companion, Gladys (Lillian Bond) arrive seeking shelter. Penderel and Gladys immediately fall in love.Morgan starts drinking in the kitchen and becomes violent and attacks Margaret Waverton with evil intent but is driven away. Meanwhile, when the power goes out, Waverton and Horace go upstairs to retrieve a lamp, Woverton hears a noise from upstairs. Before he can investigate, he is attacked by Morgan whom he crashes the lamp over.Woverton discovers a 102 year old Sir Roderick Femm (Elspeth Dudgeon) who warns of his older son Saul (Brember Wills) who is insane and kept under lock and key. Then Morgan frees Saul and................................................It was a coup having Douglas, Laughton and Massey all available at the same time for this picture. They basically carry the picture with Karloff's sinister presence, providing the horror element. The other players are equally good in their roles . We get to see the lovely Ms. Stuart in her undies as well. I couldn't help but notice the young Laughton's resemblance to the young Alfred Hitchcock.

The delivery of some of the characters is somewhat stilted possibly owing to the sound recording equipment requiring slow and distinct dialogue or that some of the actors were still transitioning to sound film acting. Nevertheless, once you are drawn into it, the film is entertaining on a number of levels. It is a weird combination of horror parody, social commentary and character study. The scene in which the old crone played you Eva Moore taunts the lovely Gloria Stuart about the fleeting nature of youth and youthful beauty is remarkable. "Fine stuff but it will rot!" I bet some of us are reminded of these words when we watch Stuart in her final film role as the old lady in "Titanic". I love how Ernest Thesiger invests the most benign phrases with a sense of foreboding and menace. He makes "Have a potato" and even "Good morning" sound serenely sinister. Lillian Bond is a joy. As a counterpoint to Stuart's classical beauty and nervousness, Bond's cheerful, cheeky, earthy and sensible working class girl shines.

Three travellers—Philip and Margaret Waverton (Raymond Massey and Gloria Stuart) and their friend Penderel (Melvyn Douglas)—are driving through a storm on their way to Shrewsbury when they find themselves having to take refuge in a remote Welsh house inhabited by Horace Femm (Ernest Thesiger), his sister Rebecca (Eva Moore) and their dumb butler Morgan (Boris Karloff). They are later joined by Sir William Porterhouse (Charles Laughton) and his lady friend Gladys (Lillian Bond), who also seek shelter from the downpour. What the visitors don't realise, until it is too late, is that the Femms keep their deranged homicidal older brother Saul (Brember Wills) locked in a room at the top of the house…James Whale's The Old Dark House is a parody of the horror sub-genre that shares its name, where the action is set in an ominous building with creepy corridors, cobweb strewn passageways, dark rooms and even darker secrets. Whale knowingly takes his Gothic atmospherics to extremes, and quickly introduces his cast of quirky characters, all of which should add up to a whole lot of fun, except that the plot meanders all over the place for an absolute age, only getting down to business in the closing stages. Watching the guests and their hosts having dinner, sharing a drink, and engaging in polite conversation soon gets dull. Worse still, the film totally wastes Karloff in a role that doesn't make use of his distinctive voice, and introduces a ridiculous love story between Penderel and Gladys (who decide to get hitched less than twenty four hours after they meet!).3.5/10, rounded up to 4 for beauties Gloria Stuart and Lillian Bond, who add some welcome sexiness to proceedings (this being a pre-Code movie, Stuart provides some 'cheesecake' by changing out of her wet clothes and Bond gives a brief glimpse of cleavage when grabbed by Karloff. Saucy!).