The Old Dark House(1932):
It's October, people! Time to go buy some Samuel Adams pumpkin ale, pull out your copies of The October Country and Out of the Mouths of Graves, and get into the spirit of things. And as far as I'm concerned, there's no better way to kick off this most wonderful time of the year than with one of the defining films of my favorite horror sub-genre! Of course, I refer to the 1932 James Whale old dark house romp entitled(appropriately enough) The Old Dark House. Let's dig in, shall we?
They say you never forget your first time, but sometimes the problem is that your first time not only wasn't your first, but that your actual first time was actually quite embarassing. Sure, you treasure that grad student job you had one summer as an office temp for a major corporation, but then there was that lame-ass job you had flipping burgers as a teenager. Then there's your first kiss. Sure, nailing that Co-Ed was great; but then there was that ugly girlfriend you had back in high school. We lie like this and select our memories because we don't like to admit how imperfect we are and how we had to struggle. Much of The Old Dark House's reputation is based off of a similar principle as this.
Film historians often like to call this film and Paul Leni's silent masterpiece The Cat & the Canary the first films to feature the combinations of deranged families, dillapidated old houses, stormy nights, unfunny comedy relief and stranded travellers. Truth is, this film and Cat were just two of the later entries in a sub-genre that dates back even earlier. The reason they are remembered so well is because the films that came before, if not lost to time, survive but are quite dismal. Not so Cat and House. Both films helped to renovate the clichés to such an extent that they seemed new and invigorating. And it's no wonder those clichés seemed so new considering that this film was directed by James Whale, a director who could make the most hackneyed plotlines feel fresh and original.
Once considered "The Ace of Universal", then dismissed as a hack, then extolled as a genius after his death, Whale is a very controversial and underrated director even today for several reasons, not the least of which being that he was one of the first openly gay directors in Hollywood, which makes him a hero by today's standards for taking such a risk. Whale had already made several excellent films like the original version of Waterloo Bridge (superior to the more well-known remake), Journey's End and Frankenstein. Still, it is my opinion that he found his true calling working on this morbid little comedy. The eccentric characters, bizarre humor and inflammatory scenes (Yeah, I know there were plenty in Frankenstein, but not of the sexual nature they are here) on hand here would all become Whale staples in all his subsequent films, particularly the horror films he is most well-known for.
The plot is relatively simple stuff: A bickering honeymooning couple (Melvyn Doglas and Gloria Stuart) and their cynical war hero friend Tom Penderell(Raymond Massey) are caught in an almost torrential (and very convincing looking) rainstorm while cruising through the hills of Wales. They are forced to take shelter in the manor of the eccentric Femm family.
Did I say eccentric? That doesn't begin to describe these people. Brother Horace(Ernest "Have a cigar, it's my only weakness'' Thesiger) is an eccentric, nasty, atheistic and effeminate man who seems to condescend people just by looking at them, with his few efforts at coming off as friendly just serving to make him more menacing. But he's a saint compared to his screeching, half-deaf, religious fanatic sister Rebbecca(Eva Moore); who is so paranoid about the evils of sex that she forbids the visitors from having beds!! (the delivery of the line 'NO BEDS!!!!' is priceless, by the way), and as with all religious types, she seems to be hiding some perversions of her own("That's some nice stuff" she says as she ogles and gropes a half-dressed Gloria Stuart).
Then there's the intimidating, growling butler named Morgan (Boris Karloff, top-billed despite a minimal role), and 100+ year old patriarch Sir Roderick (played unconvincingly by a woman, who thankfully is still really old looking at least) and finally there's happy, playful little Saul: The family pyromaniac kept in an attic, who gets loose whenever Morgan gets drunk. And Morgan has gotten drunk tonight...
The film manages to be at turns creepy, funny and atmospheric. There are some weak spots like an annoying bit part from everyone's favorite overrated ham Charles Laughton and a clichéd romantic subplot for Massey's character that goes nowhere, but those scenes don't really slow anything down. The film also manages to be extremely quotable as well: From the afore-mentioend 'NO BEDS" line, to Penderell's reaction to Morgan's unintelligible growling ("Even Welsh ought not to sound like that'') and of course Horace's legendary offering/threat for the other characters to "Have a po-tato" during dinner time. Few films from this era are as quotable as this.
As you can kinda tell, ODH is not so much a horror film so much as a comedic melodrama with Gothic overtones; but the influence this film would have on all films which explored similar ground that followed is clear. From the maniac in the attic (The Ghoul from 1974), to the stranded travelers, to the seemingly cultured snob (Guy Rolfe's character in Dolls(1987) is clearly a tribute to Horace), to the dessicated family patriarch (A character archetype most notably re-used as Grandpa from Texas Chainsaw Massacre.), it all came from here. That said, ODH has many weaknesses. Several scenes drag on too long (particularly, anytime Laughton is on screen), and the ending happens so fast that it's almost anti-climatic after almost a whole hour of build-up. The film's status as a lost film for so many years has also grossly inflated it's reputation. In fact, while I have said that I feel that the film is where Whale found his voice for all future endeavors, it still is very much an experimental piece, and hence; the weakest of his Whale's four horror films.
Still, when The Old Dark House is your weakest film, then you certainly have nothing to be embarassed about!!! Enjoy, folks. This one may not have started it all, but it certainly defined it all.
Also, on a more somber note, I'd like to mention that Gloria Stuart, the film's leading lady (also in The Invisible Man, The Secret of the Blue Room...and Titanic), recently passed away. She was over 100. For such a short-lived film career, those aren't bad titles to leave behind! I'll consider this review a tribute to her, and hope that she gets to have a po-tato in that great big dinner party in the sky. Cheers.
