So much average

There are better movies of two hours length. I loved the actress'performance.

It's the kind of movie you'll want to see a second time with someone who hasn't seen it yet, to remember what it was like to watch it for the first time.

A clunky actioner with a handful of cool moments.

Copyright 12 October 1932 by Universal Pictures Corporation. New York opening at the Rialto: 27 October 1932. U.K. release: 21 October 1932 (sic). 6,451 feet. 71 minutes.SYNOPSIS: A charming young wastrel (Melvyn Douglas), a wealthy but rough-and-ready manufacturer (Charles Laughton) and his chorus-girl partner (Lilian Bond), plus a bickering married couple (Raymond Massey and Gloria Stuart) are independently stranded one stormy night in Wales. They are forced to spend the night in a gloomy old mansion belonging to the weirdly eccentric Femm family who are somewhat at the mercy of their grimly menacing (if speechless) butler (Boris Karloff). As might be expected from Priestley and Sherriff, the bizarrely comic dialogue is even more fascinating than all the anticipated shocks and thrills. COMMENT: Sometimes referred to as the grandfather of all haunted house horrors, The Old Dark House is just one of quite a few well-stocked originals, including The Bat (1926) and The Cat and the Canary (1927). What it does offer is a superb gallery of interesting and fascinatingly off-beat characters, brilliantly brought to life here by an incredibly star-studded cast. It's virtually impossible to pick just who stands out from this richly diverse assembly, though I do have a soft spot for Gloria Stuart who was never more attractively photographed or handsomely attired. Karloff's fans will not be disappointed either.Tempting though it is to quote some of the racy dialogue and point out a few of the heart-stopping chills and surprises so effectively delivered by director James Frankenstein Whale and cameraman Arthur All Quiet on the Western Front (and later Casablanca) Edeson, I'll content myself by observing that, despite the hundreds of imitations that have since appeared, the original Old Dark House still packs at least five or six mighty good scares.

This was quite an experience, I wasn't expecting anything less from the great James Whale. The Old Dark House (1932) its probably among my favorite horror films from Universal, it has a great cast playing interesting likable characters, and a great director who makes everything work.The horror element in this film its quite effective, its eerie and creepy, but even if it didn't have those horror elements to it the movie would have been worth watching, is just fun to listen to these wonderful characters talk, the writing is quite clever and develops the story in such a way that it keeps you interested and engrossed. The performances, the mystery, the suspense, the horror, the thrills, an eerie mood and a great set are what makes this film great.I definitely recommend it.

The Old Dark House is by far the least known of James Whale's horror films, it was somewhat poorly received upon first release in 1932 and it quickly vanished from all screens large and small and was very much at risk of becoming a "lost film". Fortunately thanks to Curtis Harrington, The Eastman House and the employee's of a certain film vault in New York, that didn't happen.The Old Dark House, as the title would have you believe is something of a spookhouse or haunted house film, but only there aren't any spooks, specters or ghosts at all, just a bunch of old eccentric people; a family known as the Femm's and their disfigured, mentally unbalanced brute of a butler, "Morgan" (played by Karloff). The Old Dark House may not be a true spookhouse film, but it certainly has the visuals and vibe of one. Let me give you a brief run down of what you can expect to see: lost and weary travelers, an unrelenting thunderstorm, an old dark house (now there's a surprise), loud gales, lots of shadow play, diminutive pyro-maniacs, ancient invalids of indeterminate gender, roast beef and potatoes and many a vinegary personality. I find this old obscure film to be extremely intriguing and fascinating for several reasons and it absolutely drips with a certain creepy, storm-battered, wind-whipped, atmosphere - and that is something that all fans of horror should appreciate.A brief run-down of the plot goes as such: Three weary traveler's are lost in a torrential rainstorm out in the wet and rainy wilds of Wales, after nearly getting their car stuck several times and avoiding a landslide by the slimmest of margins, they see lights a head - enter The Old Dark House. As they knock on the front door, a disfigured, though dapperly dressed, mute brute of a man comes to the door and immediately the eccentric characters from within the house begin to appear, first Karloff (Morgan, the butler), then Thesiger (Horace Femm), then some old bent-over, deaf and vinegary lady (Rebecca Femm, Horace's sister) who's not at all happy to have these unexpected visitors in her house. First some gin, then a rather opulent dinner, during which two more visitors appear out of the rain, a boisterous Englishmen and a amateur chorus-girl. But the most eccentric occupants of the house are yet to emerge, Horace Femm is the only one of them who has any degree social grace and is for the most part "normal", because he HATES living in what is a very unwholesome house. The five travelers are up against, the storm, the dark (as the lights eventually do go out, thus it's more like The Old "Dimmly-Lit" House) plus in addition to that, the unfortunate travelers are further menaced by a deranged and drunken Morgan and his old friend Saul; who turns out to be the battiest of them all - they keep this crazy little old man locked-up on the on top floor, otherwise he tends to be something of a homicidal arsonist. But because of the drunken idiot that is Morgan, Saul eventually does get loose and bad things happen. Saul (played by the little known Brember Wills) is one of the great old coots of cinema, he's very short, bearded and balding, with dark shifty eyes, a mischievous crooked smile and a hilariously shrill laugh, a complete eccentric... among other things. Until the rain stops, it's up to the travelers to survive whatever the Old Dark House throws at them, because that's whats really holding them hostage, the rain - and it's a constant presence until the end.The Old Dark House proves to be, very potently, a clinic of quirky characterizations, black humor, witty dialog, shadow play and a definite display of mastery in creating an overall pervasively foreboding atmosphere, throughout the dimly-lit corridors and confines of the unwholesome old dark house. The film is filled out with a great cast of about a 50/50 mix of American and British actors, several of which are true bonafied scene-stealers such as: Thesiger, Douglas, Karloff, Moore and Wills.I simply love the off-beat quirkiness that this film's characters have in immense abundance, that combined with a constantly stormy atmosphere, this all makes for an extremely invigorating experience (you definitely want to watch this movie at night, that's THE time to do so). As usual, James Whale's stylish sense of direction is virtually flawless, as is the films casting; Whale always had a great intuition for picking the right people and this film is no exception. If I had any criticism's for this movie, I gotta say I never did care much for the very last scene, as it contrasts too much with the rest of the movie and I find it a bit awkward and it's an abrupt scene to end things on.One final detail (involving the sound department), one that very frequently colors the soundtrack of this film and adds greatly to it's atmosphere - the wind. If your ears are even remotely attentive to what's going on, you'll quickly deduce that the wind you're hearing isn't real wind at all. Evidently in the early-30's recording wind was still something of a technical issue, that had still yet to be resolved. So instead they used this particularly distinctive "fake wind" sound effect, that's highly characteristic of that era. I don't know how they made it, but it's definitely man-made and I for one absolutely Love how it sounds. It was only used in movies made from around 1928 to about 1935 (the very next year The Invisible Man would also use the very same highly characteristic faux wind effect). The short time-period that this distinctive sound FX was used, several decades ago, certainly seems to make it something of a long-lost, dust-covered, Hollywood relic. I don't know about you, but for me it's a real pleasure to hear that vintage sound effect. Man-Made Faux Wind.

A darker or stormier night would be hard to imagine, what with all the landslides and floods (and I've been caught out of doors not once but TWICE during hurricanes) and the claustrophobic OLD DARK HOUSE itself the stuff of nightmares. Who could ask for more: a mysterious old "couple," their monstrous manservant, an androgynous, bedridden old patron, and a psychotic pyromaniac locked away in the attic. Throw in two groups of weary travelers and let the games begin. Once again, James Whale tells a Whale of a tale and Karloff, though wordless throughout the proceedings (as in James Whale's first FRANKENSTEIN feature), manages to conjure up some powerful emotion(s); his struggle with three men (Melvyn Douglas, Raymond Massey and Charles Laughton) reminds one of his wrestling match with Colin Clive and Edward Van Sloan in FRANKENSTEIN, as well. All around, a pretty nice way to spend a dark and stormy night.