The Old Dark House (1932)

"They used to bring their women here - brazen, lolling creatures in silks and satins.", 30 March 2006

With a classic like The Old Dark House, it's all but impossible to come up with something new and unique to say about the film that hasn't already been said a thousand times. I won't even try. Instead, I'll focus on a few of the things that make the film so special to me. First, it's the acting and the characters that bring such life to The Old Dark House and make me want to revisit it time after time. The cast is possibly the finest ensemble gathered for a horror movie in the 30s. Notables such as Charles Laughton, Boris Karloff, Melvyn Douglas, and Gloria Stewart each make the film a joy to watch. Each gives a great performance. But it's Ernest Thesiger that I enjoy the most. His portrayal of the eccentric Horace Femm surpasses, in my mind, his better known role of Dr. Pretorius from Bride of Frankenstein. I realize that this will seem almost blasphemous to some, but it's honestly the way I feel. It's one of the more memorable performances from the early 30s.

I'm also a fan of the way James Whale filmed The Old Dark House. A lot of the early talkies feel "stagey" when viewed today. But even though The Old Dark House is in reality "stagey", it never feels like that. Whale does an admirable job of keeping the action flowing given such a small set to work with. Filming from different angles and keeping the exact size of the set hidden in the shadows add to the feeling of more space than is actually there. It's quite an achievement for a film made over 70 years ago.

Finally, and this is more of a personal thing, I've always been a fan of the old, dark house mystery genre. In The Old Dark House, the mystery of the nutty Femm family replaces the more standard murder mystery. I consider The Old Dark House the standard barrier for this kind of movie. A spooky old house with mysterious locked rooms, a raging thunderstorm of epic proportions, a group of stranded travelers, and a family of off-the-wall inhabitants are among the films highlights.

9/10