Director
James Whale
Cast
Boris Karloff - Morgan
Melvyn Douglas - Penderel
Raymond Massey - Philip Waverton
Gloria Stuart - Margaret Waverton
Charles Laughton - Sir William Porterhouse
Ernest Thesiger - Horace Femm
Eva Moore - Rebecca Femm
When it comes to horror movies, I have a particular love for stories that take place in old houses that aren't what they seem on the outside. In other words, a house can be ordinary on the outside, but a labyrinth of trepidation and unsettling horror on the inside. I love that.
"Sometimes in is out" Alice said in the 1991 movie The People Under the Stairs, directed by Wes Craven.
That movie, along with titles such as the horror comedy Nothing But Trouble and The Boy present a frightening atmosphere were the main characters might be able to escape the dangers within but are still trapped inside its walls. They might gain their freedom, but they'll had to pay some kind of eternal price, possibly part of their sanity.
Life can no longer remain the same somehow or another. This scenario adds more to the story of the scary monster chasing its victims. It adds to the turmoil. It creates that necessary sense of agitation on top of the victim's dread and anxiety. Before they can get away, they have to get out. Or they can get away, but they still need to get out. And that's the goal.
The 1932 horror comedy The Old Dark House has been sitting in my movie que for a while now for that reason. Of course, Boris Karloff's presence in the movie has much to do with it, too.
And it was director by James Whale, who later directed Karloff in 1935's Frankenstein. Whale also directed Gloria Stuart, also starring in this film, in his masterpiece movie (and my personal favorite Universal Monster movie) The Invisible Man.
The Old Dark House also stars Charles Laughton who famously portrayed Quasimodo in the 1939 movie The Hunchback of Notre Dame.
While I'm on the tangent of film cast, I'll add for good measure that English actor Ernest Thesiger, who plays Horace Femm in this movie, also plays the undertaker in the 1951 movie A Christmas Carol with Alastair Sim - one of my favorite adaptations of Charles Dickens's story.
Thesiger also plays Dr. Pretorius in The Bride of Frankenstein (1935) which was also directed by.....wait for it.....James Whale.
So, there's a good amount of legendary horror history in this one film.
Adapted from the 1927 novel Benighted by J.B. Priestly, The Old Dark House starts off with husband and wife Philip (Raymond Massey) and Margaret Waverton (Gloria Stuart), along with their sarcastic friend Roger Penderel (Melvyn Douglas) driving through Welsh country as a deluge of a rainstorm is pouring down.
Philip is doing all he can not to get stuck in the flooded road. It's dark, stormy, and late at night when they come upon an old house.
Desperate, they stop there with hopes of finding shelter.
Luckily, the tenants are home.
The servant of the house, Morgan (Boris Karloff), bearded, scarred and stoic, opens the door a crack and peers through.
Despite his menacing appearance, he lets them and goes to get the master of the house.
Horace Femm, a lanky and skeletal looking man, greets them and reluctantly allows them to stay. He gives the group a tour of the house, and tells them he lives there with his sister Rebecca (Eva Moore).
Rebecca escorts Margaret to her room, and starts berating her about being sinful. She pushes Margaret almost to tears.
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| Gloria Stuart in The Old Dark House |
She also mentions to Margaret that her 102-year old father, Sir Roderick Femm, also lives in the home.
There's an unsettling heaviness inside the house. It's apparent the moment Morgan answers the door.
The intrusive guests are invited to supper, during which time others knock on the door.
Sir William Porterhouse (Charles Laughton), accompanied by a chorus girl named Gladys DuCane (Lillian Bond) stop in for shelter.
Soon, everyone is chatting it up over by the fire place. During everyone's conversation, Gladys and Roger start having a talking on their own.
She says her real last name is Perkins. And then they head out to his car to grab a bottle whiskey. It's obvious, of course, they have more on their mind than just drinking whiskey, though it'll help them do what it is they want to do. (*whispers* each other)
Meanwhile, the storm cuts the lights out. Rebecca asks Horace to go upstairs and grab a lamp from the top floor.
Horace reluctantly obliges, but tells Philip to go and get it instead claiming he's scared to go upstairs.
When Philip finds the lamp on a small table, he notices a locked door. He then hears a voice coming from the room.
At the same time, William assists Rebecca in closing windows, and Margaret is left by herself in the dining room.
Suddenly, Morgan approaches her, drunk and starts attacking her. She screams and runs up stairs as Philip is heading down with the lamp.
He throws it at Morgan, causing him to fall down the stairs.
Back in the car, Roger and Gladys are about to get it on as they nestle close with their whiskey...and each other. Their conversation goes right to flirting. Gladys suggests the two live together, which Roger agrees without any consideration.
She insists to him that her relation with Porterhouse is purely on friendly terms. And that's good enough for Roger.
When they head back to the house to tell Porterhouse what they've just decided, he takes it surprisingly well.
Philip and Margaret go to check out the locked room where Philip heard the voice earlier.
When they're able to get inside, they find very old Roderick lying in bed.
Barely hanging on to life, he tells the two about a terrifying secret within the house that ends up almost killing everyone at once.
I've seen some movie sights categorize this movie as a horror comedy. In a 2018 article from the Irish Times on the film's restoration, writer Donald Clark calls it James Whale's "funniest horror film." Even considering the decade The Old Dark House was made in, nothing in the story line or dialogue, save for a few comedic quips to lighten the mood at times (that's not uncommon in horror movies, even today) doesn't seem sufficient enough to categorize it as a comedy.
It's a movie that was filmed prior to the enforcement of the Motion Picture Production Code censorship guidelines. That comes across at times, as I thought to myself a few times "I bet that was scandalous for its day."
Once considered a lost film, The Old Dark House has claimed a rightful title of "cult classic." Though I have yet to read the story it's based on, the movie does possess a bit of a pulp fiction feel to it. The setup is just begging for quick and easy seductive entertainment. I could easily see this story told on the pages of an EC Comic like Tales from the Crypt or Vault of Horror all the way down to the movies simple yet somehow alluring title. Maybe that's where the comedy is?
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| Boris Karloff as Morgan. |
I see this as a foundational movie in the horror genre with its use of eccentric characters, religious infatuation, unsuspecting guests, sexual proclivity, and the emphasis of shadows.
The scene in which Rebecca takes it upon herself to chastise Margaret about her lewd ways based on her dressing in "satin and silks," the camera focuses on Rebecca's reflection in the warped mirrors hanging over the vanity as she rambles on. When Margaret finally tells her to leave, she looks at her own reflection in the same warped mirrors as Rebecca's words and skewed reflections run through her mind. And then she begins to panic over herself, and struggles to open the door and run out of the bedroom.
It's a simple and effective scene in portraying human frailty that results from fallen human nature. Margaret sees her own reflection and tries to run from it.
Rebecca doesn't see her warped reflection while she's berating Margaret. However, when Rebecca leaves the room, she looks at her self in the warped mirror to make sure she looks presentable.
Even though this movie isn't as scary as other horror movies of the same period, it's a memorable picture.
Generally protagonists in a horror movie will escape their horrific situation at a certain cost. But they still escape. The Old Dark House ends on a happy note which may leave some horror fans in the audience a little unsatisfied. The point is that people sometimes have to endure the dark and stormy night before they find their true selves, and maybe come out better in the morning. So, it makes sense to include a happy ending. The darkest hour is before the dawn, as they say.
Maybe horror comedy isn't an accurate category for The Old Dark House. Psychological horror is more appropriate. It's a movie I recommend.
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