The Old Dark House



Phillip and Margaret Waverton, and their friend Roger, get lost while driving out in the country during a heavy storm one night. As the old road washes out ahead of them, and then a mudslide blocks the path behind them, they’re forced to take refuge in the only place nearby: an old, rundown manor owned by the Femm family, a group of eccentrics who seem friendly enough, but also not all too thrilled by the sudden intrusion of wet, noisy guests. As the storm outside rages on and two more waylaid (and even louder!) visitors show up at the house, all the guests soon discover that their temporary safe haven may not be so safe after all. Not only does the family butler, Morgan, have a disturbing temper when he drinks, but the Femm’s themselves may be harboring several dark family secrets that have the potential to put all of them in jeopardy.



Based on the novel Benighted by J.B. Priestley, The Old Dark House was directed by James Whale, right in the middle of his success with two popular Universal horror films Frankenstein (1931) and The Invisible Man (1933). Today the film is given credit with reinventing the “dark spooky house” sub-genre of horror films and is considered an early example of gothic horror. But at the time of its release it was largely ignored by the public, in part due to conflicting reviews, causing it in many cases to be pulled from theaters prior to the end of its planned 3 week engagements. Due to the poor reception, the film was renewed only once (which, long before the era of home video, would have really been the only way for people to watch it at the time, beyond lucking out with a viewing on television) and when the rights expired in 1957, Universal essentially tossed the original print into a vault and washed their hands of it. Largely forgotten, for many years it was considered to be just one of the many estimated thousands of “lost films” that have vanished over the years from that era of cinema, much like the much sought after London After Dark starring Lon Cheney. But after some dedicated searching through Universal’s archives (but only after repeatedly asking Universal to look for it themselves and getting nowhere), Whale’s friend, Director Curtis Harrington, managed to find the film and sent the damaged print off to be restored. And thus the world managed to retain a piece of film history from a much touted director, and the film was reintroduced to a more receptive audience, where it garnered enough clout to now be considered a cult classic. So, good on you for taking the initiative there, Mr. Harrington. Lord knows that if you’d waited for the Universal people to do it, it would have taken them another 20-some-odd years to get off their dunkus and find it, and by then the negative probably would have been shot to high hell and totally useless.



As for the film itself, it’s an odd combination of horror, drama and comedy, as well as being a bit of a parody of the horror genre itself. Because, yes, even back then the genre was already full of enough cliches for there to be enough material to poke fun of itself. The Femms are creepy, but also just goofy enough to not feel too sinister. The Waverton’s aren’t creepy, but the husband seems to be a little sassy. Roger is your stereotypical snarky, but laid-back British chap, often being the one to spout out sarcastic one-liners. You know the type. The other couple that shows up is comprised of one of the loudest, most obnoxious (by English standards, anyway) fellows by the name of Porterhouse, a man who only finally shuts up after forcefully being offered a potato, and his “gal he just sort of hangs out with”, Gladys, who almost immediately starts to tap-dance by the fire in her soggy shoes, much to the disdain of the Femms, who stand by and watch her in silent judgement. There’s also another sibling upstairs who happens to be a bit of a fire bug, and the aged Femm family patriarch, who is obviously played by a woman, under what I suspect to be a literal pound of make-up. The only one who feels really sinister at all is Morgan (played by Boris Karloff in his first credited role), but even he ends up being pretty easy to distract by the end, so even he isn’t too scary. So while this is a horror movie, it’s not a particularly scary one, thanks to all the added (often subtle!) levity and the cast of eccentric characters.




I shall now use “Have a potato” to try to shut up all my unwanted guests at dinner time, too.

Where the film really shines though, is that it has an excellent sense of atmosphere. Though based on a book, the movie itself is based on a stage production of the book. Which is kind of obvious now in hindsight, because once the characters are out of the car, the film primarily takes place in two rooms, the Great Hall/Entrance area and a bedroom upstairs. But while there are a couple other sets, that’s not a lot of location variety, really. But that’s okay, because it let them focus on the space they had, and make it look extra worn down and creepy, with a strong focus on angle and shadows to add a bit of flair and disorient the viewer. It’s called a “dark house” for a reason, after all. But it’s also not so dark that you can’t see what’s happening during every second, either. So the film ends up looking exceptionally good for the time (even occasionally arty!), especially after getting its shiny, new restoration.





The cast is also quite good. Of course you’ve got Karloff there, saying nothing, but looking appropriately menacing the entire time. But there’s also Oscar winners Melvyn Douglas (Hud, Being There) and Charles Laughton (The Life of Henry the VIII). As well as Gloria Stuart, who worked with James Whale on several projects, was nominated for her role as “Old Rose” in Cameron’s Titanic in 1997, and was a founding member of the Screen Actors Guild AND the Hollywood Anti-Nazi League. Raymond Massey, who has not one, but TWO stars on the Hollywood Walk of Fame for his work. And Ernest Thesiger and Elspeth Dudgeon, both of whom worked again with Whale on Bride of Frankenstein, but with Dudgeon being credited as “John” in Old House, since she played the old guy upstairs, and not being credited at all in the later (much is the pity.) So everyone is good and you don’t have to worry about any crappy players in this sordid little tale.







I did note a couple of dings against the production, though they are very minor. The first, is the pacing. Even though the film is pretty short, only around 72 minutes, there are times when the movie can feel a bit sluggish. Part of this is because…. Well, there’s really not much of a plot to be had here, quite honestly, so much of the movie is padded out with long dialogue exchanges. Now, considering the cast of characters, most of these are highly entertaining. But there are also several points where we’re just watching people wander about. Proving that having your characters wander around in the dark has been a horror staple for over 90-fragging-years. Thankfully those moments are short, but I was still both amused and dismayed to see them. Because dear gods, I do not need to watch characters walk back and forth across the muddy yard. If they say they’re going back to the house, JUST SHOW THEM BACK AT THE FRONT DOOR. I don’t need to see the whole trek between the barn and the door! If they say they’re going back inside, and they’re suddenly at the door, I can infer that they made it! I’m not going to think they teleported instead of walked! You don’t need to prove it!


I also think he almost bonked her head against the stone stairs in this scene…. Still not sure if that was intentional or not.

And the second, is that the film does have a bit of a tonal imbalance. Like, 85% of the movie does an excellent job of blending the moments of goofiness with the more serious and macabre moments. Nothing too dark, nothing too heavy or too peppy. But then you get to the end and suddenly the film is implying that Morgan not only gets violent, but is possibly going to assault the ladies, and the older brother upstairs is a genuine psycho who plans on killing everyone and burning the house down, and suddenly the slightly silly movie you’ve been watching has taken a dark-as-hell turn. They do try to lighten the whole thing up with a marriage proposal at the end (did I mention there’s a romance sub-plot in this? Cause there is!), but considering that one of the characters nearly died (and another character DID die), I think it kind of sombers any moment of lightheartedness they were aiming for.


Holy shit! Those are real flames and those aren’t stunt doubles. These Pre-Code films were dangerous!


Oh gods, and now they’re really falling too?! I’m legitimately more concerned for the actors in this film than I am the characters. Screw safety standards! Second degree burns and concussions for everybody!

Dings and questionable sudden choices in romantic partners aside though, I liked The Old Dark House. It’s not perfect, but I can see why it’s well liked by so many. It’s a tad slow in places and gets a little darker than expected considering much of the rest of the film, but I think the fun character interactions and the excellent atmosphere more than make up for it. It’s quirky, but also has that old, elegant horror movie charm specific to that era. So if that sounds like your cup of tea, feel free to give this one a shot. But if you like your horror movies a lot more serious (or require color in all your films), then this may not totally appeal to you.

The Old Dark House is available on a variety of streaming services

The Old Dark House is also available on DVD and Bluray. Just don’t mix it up with the remake.

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