The Old Dark House (1932)
Directed by James Whale
The (very) odd film out amid Whale’s fantastic hit parade of Frankenstein (1931), Invisible Man (1933), and The Bride of Frankenstein (1935), this blissfully macabre, motley tale of wrong house, wrong family, wrong time moldered for decades in a Universal Studios vault. Just the sort of treatment—as Charles Laughton (a brash, sweet industrialist) and company learn—that probably helped drive their host family so singularly batty. Caught in a howling downpour, these passersby seek refuge under the Femm family’s roof, but find instead an all-time loony bin: Rebecca is half-deaf, God-fearing, and rude; Saul’s a deceitful firebug; and even Horace, who seems the normal one, says he’s wanted by the law. And then there’s their kooky, mad boozing butler Morgan (Boris Karloff). Deliciously atmospheric with Whale’s signature wit, The Old Dark House is a suspenseful brew of gothic and comedy. Jeremy Polacek (Feb 12, 12:30pm, 3:45pm, 7pm, 10:15pm at Film Forum’s Laughton series)