Features: DVD, Black & White
In this artful mixture of chills and ghoulish gallows humor, agroup of weary travelers find themselves trapped in a windsweptwelsh manor with the psychotic femm family.
Editor's Note
James Whale's horror-comedy classic is one of the first and best of the travelers-forced-to-spend-the-night-in-a spooky-house genre films. Driving through a dangerous rainstorm, Philip and Margaret Waverton (Raymond Massey, Gloria Stuart) and friend Penderel (Melvyn Douglas) must seek shelter at a foreboding Welsh mansion. Met by the disfigured, mute butler Morgan (Boris Karloff) and the bizarre members of the Femm family, the guests quickly realize that something is awry in the shadowy mansion. When the lights go out, the situation becomes even more ominous. Will the stranded travelers make it through the night in the old dark house?
Plot Summary
Based on the novel BENIGHTED by J.B. Priestly, THE OLD DARK HOUSE is the second of James Whale's classic horror films (FRANKENSTEIN). Driving through a terrible rainstorm, Philip and Margaret Waverton (Raymond Massey, Gloria Stuart) and their prankster friend, Penderel (Melvyn Douglas), suddenly find the road blocked by avalanches. Spying lights ahead, they hammer on the door of a creepy mansion, which is opened by the hideous, towering butler, Morgan (Boris Karloff). The house's inhabitants, Horace Femm (Ernest Thesiger), a funereal gentleman, and his shrill, mostly deaf sister, Rebecca (Eva Moore), provide a cold welcome.The situation gets spooky when fanatical Rebecca tells Margaret about the death of her "wicked" 21-year-old sister, and Horace warns the guests about Morgan's impending drunken violence. Some levity is provided by the arrival of two more windblown travelers--the boisterous Sir William Porterhouse (Charles Laughton) and his chorus girl companion, Gladys (Lillian Bond). The five hapless guests must band together to fight the increasingly violent and supernatural happenings and to discover what lurks behind the padlocked door on the landing. The combination of Whale's beautifully expressionist cinematography, black comedy, suspense, and fine performances makes for gripping viewing throughout.
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