Ah yes, the old dark house genre. Hollywood made what seems like dozens of these during the first half of the twentieth century. Throw in a bunch of people who are all men in tuxedos or women in evening gowns and pearls; a dead or dying rich relative with a will, a murder of the relative, everyone under suspicion, a detective, hidden doors and passages....you’ve seen it all before. Heck, The Three Stooges, The Ritz Brothers and Laurel and Hardy all parodied this plot. Done with class and style initially in 1927 by Universal with Paul Leni’s THE CAT AND THE CANARY, very quickly this plot got used in several poverty row films, most of which are public domain and can be found in several of those 50 or 100 film DVD packs, not to mention YouTube. THE OLD DARK HOUSE (1932), ironically with the most cliched film title of them all, is anything but cliche in its execution. What we have is another very atmospheric Universal Horror film - but more than a horror film. Comedic touches abound and there are ten actors in this movie, all to some extent, fleshed out and interesting. Director James Whale is to be highly commended for mostly avoiding what could easily have been another cliched film and instead presenting a group of characters that pull the viewer in for 72 minutes.
Like all the Universal Horror films of the thirties, the atmosphere is again top notch. The film starts on a very rainy and windy night on a dark and muddy road. A great shot of the close up of the rain trickling down Phillip Waverton’s (Raymond Massey) hat onto the back of his neck. Then there’s an even better point of view shot of the car driving to the house itself, which is very creepy and effective. Once in the house, where the majority of the film takes place, the place is mostly lit by candles, as the house owner, Rebecca Femm (Eva Moore) doesn’t like electric light. We see shadows of the staircase against the back wall, shadows of the smoke from the fireplace, lightning, the sounds of rain and thunderstorms - a very effective atmosphere that is pretty consistent throughout the film. One of the reasons I love these old Universal films, they’re such a treat for the eyes.
The characters, like I mentioned, are all interesting, though some more than others. Still, THE OLD DARK HOUSE is unusually rich in great characters. The first three characters we meet are Phillip and Margaret (Gloria Stuart) Waverton and their friend Roger Penderel (Melvyn Douglas). Even though the already mentioned driving scene has a horror like atmosphere, the bickering between the Waverton’s has almost a screwball comedy like feel to it, establishing right away THE OLD DARK HOUSE is a difficult film to tie into one genre. To punctuate the comic atmosphere, Penderel seems to have a nonchalant and sarcastic answer to every line and situation in the scene. We later learn he is a WWI vet who was no doubt damaged by the war, perhaps explaining his attitude towards life a bit. He’s seen Hell, surely anything else he’s encountering is trivial by comparison.
Once they get into the house, they encounter the mute butler, played by Boris Karloff. THE OLD DARK HOUSE was not as big a hit as hoped for upon release and I think the reason is people wanted a meatier Karloff role. The role itself is OK, but if you’re coming into THE OLD DARK HOUSE looking for Karloff to be the star, you will be disappointed. He grunts, has no lines, and is covered in a beard and gets into a few fights as he gets drunk later on. It’s visually an interesting role, but not the character complexity Boris would do later in 1932 speaking horror roles like MGM’s THE MASK OF FU MANCHU or Universal’s THE MUMMY.
After meeting Boris as the butler, we meet my two favorite characters in the movie, elderly siblings Horace (Ernest Thesiger) and Rebecca Femm. Horace is an effeminate man in trouble with the law who has a sardonic tongue and is blatantly atheist. He does unintentionally comic things, like holding a pair of flowers and saying, “My sister was in the point of arranging these flowers” before throwing them into the fireplace. Only Ernest Thesiger can take a banal line like “Have a potato” and deliver it with such comic meaning. Horace is also a very fearful man and his sister Rebecca has the cure for him, turn to the Lord.
The contrast between Horace and Rebecca as far as religious beliefs go could not be more opposite. Horace is the blasphemer and deaf Rebecca doesn’t even need to hear Horace’s mocking tone, she already knows his attitude. Due to Rebecca’s style of Christianity, she shows great sexual repression, constantly harping on her younger siblings who were wild and died young without repenting to the Lord. She even mocks Margaret Haverton for wearing silky lingerie and indulging in the pleasures of the flesh. Bear in mind, Ms. Haverton is not some woman of the streets doing these things, she’s a married woman. The fact Ms. Femm shows judgement towards a married woman for “pleasing her man” shows serious psychological issues. That scene is especially effective when they show Rebecca’s face in the broken mirror by the candlelight, giving her face a fun house mirror effect, lecturing Ms. Haverton repeatedly with her “laughter and sin” line and giving off that laugh. A truly creepy and effective scene. Rebecca Femm also has some comic moments with her deafness and her constant refrain, “no beds, they can’t have beds.” She even utters the line when that is not being asked about. Again, more proof THE OLD DARK HOUSE is a combination horror and comedy.
Eventually, two more travelers come into the Femm house for shelter during this rainy night, Lillian Bond as Gladys Perkins and Charles Laughton as Sir William Porterhouse. Charles Laughton, one of my favorite actors ever, is making his Hollywood debut here. He chews the scenery in a comically entertaining way the moment he’s on screen, being very boisterous. Still, he can get serious when making that monologue about losing his first wife and why he feels the need to make money, I can‘t take my eyes off him there. A really dynamic actor. Lilian Bond plays his female companion, more for show and genuine companionship versus anything sexual, which she tells to Penderel, who she does fall in love with, in that oh so subtle 1930’s Hollywood way. Penderel and Perkins do fall in love and want to be married after knowing each other for one night. A weaker aspect of THE OLD DARK HOUSE, one of the very few. Still, to the credit of both the actors and James Whale, this whole premise is as good as it can be because the characters are likable and act as believable as possible. They tend to avoid the melodramatic gestures one would expect in a premise like this, thankfully.
The final two characters we meet are members of the Femm family, who both live all the way upstairs, for different reasons. There’s the 102 year old patriarch of the family, Sir Roderick Femm. Credited as “John” Dudgeon, the first name is really Elspeth, yes, an actress, heavily made up in wrinkles, long hair and a beard, playing the father. That in itself is fun and adds a bit of intrigue to the film. Oh, but then there’s the final Femm, Saul Femm, played by Brember Wills. A smaller man, really a great shot where we only see his little hand on the staircase with his friend, Boris the butler in front of him. Saul eventually does come into full view, and we learn he’s a psychotic pyromaniac, the real reason why he’s locked up. The scene where he’s in vain, trying to convince Penderel he’s sane before slowly cracking and having fun with a knife is truly creepy. Along with Peter Lorre in M, one of the creepy insane performances of the early talkies. Watching him cackle with laughter while trying to set the place on fire, in addition to Boris fighting the men of the house, is a truly action packed scene.
THE OLD DARK HOUSE is a film that is truly unique and probably could have only been made by the great James Whale. Remade by William Castle and Hammer in the early 60’s, I confess I have yet to see that version, but can’t imagine it topping the original. I’ll check it out one of these days. But yes, as long as you go into this not expecting a big Boris Karloff star turn, I can’t see how THE OLD DARK HOUSE wouldn’t be satisfying for those who enjoy old horror films - and a little dark humor.
