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The Old
Dark House has been in the news recently for two reasons.
First, Gloria Stuart did a commentary track for the laserdisc
release a few years ago, which was supposedly the conduit
for James Cameron to consider her for the part of the elder
Rose in the "not accounting for inflation" biggest moneymaking
film of all time, Titanic. Second, The Old Dark House was
directed by James Whale, the subject of the recent film Gods
and Monsters. I have always been a sucker for haunted house
stories, and so I just could not pass up The Old Dark House.
It opens with a scene reminiscent of the beginning of the
Neil Simon's spoof Murder by Death. Two different parties
are driving along during a horrible storm, and they decide
to seek shelter in an old dark house, seemingly in the middle
of nowhere. One group includes Philip Waverton (Raymond Massey),
his wife Margaret (Gloria Stuart), and Roger Penderel (Melvyn
Douglas). The other group consists of Sir William Porterhouse
(Charles Laughton) and his weekend escort Gladys DuCane (Lilian
Bond). The house is occupied by Horace Femm (Elspeth Dudgeon)
and his sister Rebecca (Eva Moore), who are both quite reluctant
to accommodate the stranded visitors for the night. But eventually
the Femms relent, and the unwelcome visitors are treated to
a nice dinner of potatoes and roast beef. Serving the dinner
is dumb Morgan the butler (Boris Karloff), who has a tendency
to fall under the influence of alcohol and pull a Jack Torrance.
But Morgan is nothing compared to what awaits the hapless
guests when they discover the upper floors of the house are
occupied.
The Old
Dark House has just the right combination of humor and terror.
Several comical moments highlight the beginning of the film,
but later the film turns downright creepy. It is the kind
of film best watched with all the lights off, although I am
sure many of you already view movies this way.
Horror film
conventions say people are safe from the lurking evils as
long as they stay together. But bad things happen when they
become adventurous and wander off by themselves. This is true
in today's films, and it is even true in 1932's The Old Dark
House, where James Whale skillfully employs this method to
great effect. So the lesson must be if the formula ain't broke
(for seventy years), don't fix it. Or maybe the lesson is,
if something works well, milk it for everything it's worth!
Whale knew what he was doing with the camera, but he was also
smart to cast talented people in his films. Two years later
Charles Laughton would win best actor for his performance
in The Private Life of Henry VIII, and he would go on to a
distinguished film career in movies like Spartacus along with
his startling direction of Night of the Hunter. Many years
later Melvyn Douglas would win best supporting actor Oscars
for Hud and Being There. Raymond Massey won best actor for
his performance in Abe Lincoln in Illinois. So these were
some acting heavyweights, but more impressive were the performances
of the actors playing the Femm family, especially Dudgeon
who manages to set the tone for the film all by himself.
Video: How Does The Disc Look?
The packaging
says this is a "digital transfer from the finest source elements
available." The picture is not going to awe you, but it is
good enough, especially if you keep in mind that this film
was thought to be lost forever during the 1960s before a print
was finally discovered in the Universal vault in 1968. The
image exhibits graininess throughout, and the picture is also
quite soft compared to other dvd releases. On the positive
side, there are far fewer scratches and other blemishes than
expected, making for a predominantly clean picture except
for the grain. The picture is also not overly contrasty, a
problem that befalls many older films shown on television.
Audio: How Does the Disc Sound?
The sound
has also seen better days, but again it is satisfactory considering
the age of the film. Hiss is very evident at high volume levels,
and sound distortions such as pops are occasionally heard.
There is some depth to the sound occasionally, like during
the storm at the beginning of the film. Again, do not let
these statements scare you away. The video and audio are perfectly
serviceable. Some people say we are just fortunate to have
Kubrick's films on dvd when making excuses about their quality
deficiencies. Well, I'm not sure if I agree about the Kubrick
dvds, but that excuse is more appropriately applied to The
Old Dark House, a low profile film with 67 years working against
it.
Supplements: What Goodies Are There? The extras
are an unexpected wealth of information. The two commentary
tracks provide the viewer with enough historical, background,
and behind the scenes material to satisfy even the most demanding
film connoisseur. The commentary by James Whale expert James
Curtis contains biography information on just about every
actor in the film. He also discusses the difference between
the film and the book on which it was based, along with topics
like censorship and the studio 's role in the film. Gloria
Stuart's commentary is much better than I imagined. She obviously
took this opportunity very seriously, and her preparation
allows her to reveal a lot of information about the film and
James Whale. Her memory obviously does not reflect her age.
It comes as no surprise that James Cameron was impressed by
her commentary. Hopefully she will be interviewed for the
upcoming Invisible Man dvd. Also included is a short discussion
by director Curtis Harrington talking about his efforts to
find a print of the film, and many production photographs,
a few of which contain shots of James Whale. There is also
a liner essay by James Curtis, although much of this information
is repeated by Curtis in his commentary.
Parting Thoughts
Anyone who
likes the Universal horror classics should not pass up this
gem. Highly recommended.
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