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This review is for the Blu-Ray version of 'The Old Dark House' of The Cohen film collection release in 2017.
Five Star release. This is a fantastic restoration of a classic old horror movie made during the peak of Boris Karloff's career and directed by the great James Whale. It has more than just a great picture. It has some great extra's too. See details below.
BLU-RAY: I don't know much about film restoration but the picture is fantastic. If you are a fan of old horror movies, this release is a must have. The picture is very clean and I don't remember seeing any imperfections. They may exist but I didn't notice. You don't see any dust, hairs, lines, etc. in the picture. The picture is sharp and the contrast is excellent. This is by far the best picture ever made of this movie.
EXTRA's: This is another highlight of this release.
Best of all is the commentary track by Gloria Stuart. She does all the commenting by herself and there is nobody to prod her. Her mind is sharp and remembers many details about the filming of the movie. She focuses mostly on the movie and the people involved. There are tidbits about every actor in the movie along with many about the director, James Whale. She speaks a bit about 'The Invisible Man' too along with a few snippets about Claude Raines.
There is a second commentary track with James Whale biographer, James Curtis. I did not listen to this as of the time of this review.
There is an interview with Curtis Harrington. He is the person that saved this movie from being lost for good. He went in search of it when it was thought to be lost. He found the original negative and had several copies made. He tells the story in this interview.
Boris Karloff's daughter, Sara is interviewed, which was made very recently. This is a pretty good interview and she admits to being afraid to watch horror movies. She was born after Frankenstein, The Mummy, The Old Dark House and did not see these movies until the early 50's on television. She goes into detail about how difficult the make up process was in those early years.
There is a trailer but this appears to be made recently. I'm not sure if any of it was from an original trailer.
PLOT: The story is quite simple. A group of people in two separate cars are forced to stop in the middle of the night somewhere in Wales. There is a tremendous storm and the roads are impassible. First, Phillip(Roger Massey) and Margaret (Gloria Stuart) Waverton, along with Roger Penderel (Melvyn Douglas) stop. Later on Sir William Porterhouse (Charles Laughton) and Gladys Perkins (Lilian Bond) show up later. The Waverton's are greeted at the door by Morgan the Butler (Boris Karloff). He is big and scarred badly and very scary looking. He lets them in the house where they meet the Femm family. Horace (Ernest Thesiger) and Rebecca (Eva Moore) seem to be at odds with one another. Rebecca doesn't want them to stay but allows it. She is supposedly hard of hearing. Horace is timid and submissive and cowardly. We learn that the house is very old and that the family patriarch is still alive upstairs.
After dinner and a lot of discussion, Morgan the Butler goes and gets drunk in the kitchen. The group is told he is very dangerous in this state. Later on Phillip is asked to go to the top floor and bring down a lantern. He discovers a door that is barred shut and locked and another door. Along with his wife, they enter the unlocked door where the meet Sir Roderick Femm (who is obviously played by a woman). Sir Roderick tells them of Saul who is locked away upstairs. Saul is insane and wants to burn the house down. He also tells him that he is the reason that Morgan is living in the house. Morgan takes care of Saul and keeps him under control.
Morgan develops an infatuation for Margaret and chases her around in his drunken state. Her husband knocks him out. Meanwhile in the span of a few hours, Roger falls in love with Sir Williams girlfriend and wants to marry her (don't bother looking for reason, it's Hollywood.) Sir William somehow passes out while closing a bedroom window and wakes up and reluctantly gives his blessings to Roger and Gladys. Morgan releases Saul from his upstairs prison and the all the men team up on Morgan to lock him in the kitchen. Saul tries to burn the house down and it's up to Roger to stop him before it's too late. I won't give away the ending but the book this is based upon('Benighted') ends differently than the movie.
PRODUCTION: This movie was filmed in 1932. The Old House when seen from the outside was just a front. there was nothing behind it. Though the opening sequence was shot outside out in the cold and the actors got very wet. The inside was shot in a studio. We learn this information form Gloria Stuart in her commentaries. She says that all the other established actors complained about the conditions but she was so excited to be there that she enjoyed it.
Gloria Stuart, of 'Titanic' fame, was obviously enamored with James Whale. She spoke at length about him in the commentary and had nothing by great things to say about him.
As in Frankenstein, Boris Karloff, does not speak in this movie but nevertheless gives an excellent acting performance. In her interview, Sara Karloff, points out that Karloff could act as well as anybody with his hands and his eyes.
Another interesting tidbit from her is that, Boris was not invited to the premiere of 'Frankenstein' as he did not speak and was not considered a star of the movie.
From listening to Boris Karloff's daughter in the extra's, we find out that Charles Laughton did not particularly like Boris Karloff. This is of note because supposedly nobody ever had anything negative to say about him (We know from 'Ed Wood' that Bela Lugosi supposedly didn't like him but I've heard interviews saying this wasn't true.)
This was Gloria Stuart's second movie and she was supposed to have a English accent. She was criticized at the time for a poor accent and deservedly so. I didn't notice because I never heard an accent and thought she was supposed to be American. Of all the actors/actresses in this movie, I thought her performance was the weakest.
COMMENTS: Even though this movie is not really a great movie in terms of plot, I love it just the same. I like atmospheric movies and movies about creepy old houses. I don't like modern movies about creepy houses because there is just too much supernatural stuff going on. This movie does it right. There is nothing unbelievable happening. Just some creepy people who have no superhuman powers.
The movie was a bit inconsistent at times but that's OK. For instance, Rebecca Femm is hard of hearing early on, but as the movie progresses she doesn't seem to have any trouble hearing anymore.
I thought the best performance was that of Rebecca Femm, played by Eva Moore.
I'm not sure if I should criticize romances in old movies but they do seem ridiculous. I see this often in old movies. Roger and Gladys spend a few minutes sitting in a car and they are ready to get married!
RECOMMENDATIONS: While I wouldn't recommend this to Millennials unless they had an interest in Black & White movies or classic horror movies, I would recommend this release to just about anyone else. There is nothing like seeing a movie this old looking like it was just filmed.
It's 5 stars all the way.
But to be fair....here is a breakdown. Plot 3/5 stars, Picture quality 5/5 stars, Extra's 5/5 stars. Historical significance 5/5 stars.
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Reviews with images
NOT JUST KARLOFF: ALSO DIRECTOR JAMES WHALE + THE HOLLYWOOD DEBUT OF CHARLES LAUGHTON + CROSS-DRESSING IN HOLLYWOOD
Photo 1: Magazine Advertisement (note "John Dudgeon" in the cast list)Photo 2: Melvyn Douglas, Boris Karloff, Charles LaughtonPhoto 3: Raymond Massey, Charles Laughton, Gloria Stuart, Ernest ThesigerPhoto 4: John Dudgeon as Sir Roderick FemmPhoto 5: Elspeth DudgeonPhoto 6: Lobby CardPhoto 7: Director James Whale with Ernest Thesiger in 'Bride of Frankenstein'.‘The Old Dark House’ (1932) was the second entry in Universal’s horror trilogyteaming director James Whale with Boris Karloff.All three are now on blu-ray:'The Old Dark House' came between the original 'Frankenstein' (1931) and ‘The Bride of Frankenstein’ (1935)Frankenstein: Complete Legacy Collection [Blu-ray]Unlike the Frankenstein films which had a long life in second-run movie houses and on television,‘The Old Dark House’ was considered a “lost” filmuntil 1968 when director Curtis Harrington discovered an uncataloged negative in Universal’s vault.Damaged but viewable.The film was restored by the George Eastman House and released on DVD in 1999 by Kino.The Cohen Collection Blu-Ray is a new 2017 4K Blu-Ray transfer.Significantly improved picture and sound.Wonderful movie, fully the equal of the two Frankenstein films.The Kino bonus features from 1999 are carried over to the new Blu-Ray:--- feature length audio commentary by James Whale biographer James Curtis--- feature length audio commentary by actress Gloria Stuart (recorded at age 85)--- interview with Curtis Harrington on the rediscovery of this "lost" filmNew bonus features on the Cohen Blu-Ray:--- English SDH subtitles--- twelve page booklet--- re-release trailer--- interview with Boris Karloff's daughter SaraIn 1932 the film opened with a title card - included on the 1999 DVD, but not the new Blu-Ray:"PRODUCER'S NOTE:Karloff, the mad butler in this production, is the same Karloff who created the part of the mechanical monster in 'Frankenstein'. We explain this to settle all disputes in advance, even though such disputes are a tribute to his great versatility."British director James Whale was portrayed by actor Ian McKellan in the the 1998 film Gods and Monsters (Widescreen Collector's Edition)Recommended.For 'The Old Dark House', Whale used actors he had worked with on the London stage.Charles Laughton, Raymond Massey and Ernest Thesiger were making their American film debuts.Ernest Thesiger's best-known role was Dr. Pretorious in 'The Bride of Frankenstein' three years later.CROSS-DRESSING IN HOLLYWOOD'The Old Dark House' is based on the 1927 novel 'Benighted' by J.B. Priestly.For the role of family patriarch "Sir Roderic Femm",James Whale cast British actress Elspeth Dudgeon (1871-1955), billing her in the film credits as "John Dudgeon".Whale was one of the few openly gay directors in Hollywood,I always assumed this trans-gender casting was an inside joke.In her commentary, Gloria Stuart reveals that she never guessed John Dudgeon's true identity until the final day of shooting, when the director revealed all to general amusement.Of course, I also thought the name "Sir Roderic Femm" was another of the director's inside jokes.However that turned out to be J.B. Priestly's name for the character in his original novel,so I missed that one.Photo 1: Magazine Advertisement (note "John Dudgeon" in the cast list)Photo 2: Melvyn Douglas, Boris Karloff, Charles LaughtonPhoto 3: Raymond Massey, Charles Laughton, Gloria Stuart, Ernest ThesigerPhoto 4: John Dudgeon as Sir Roderick FemmPhoto 5: Elspeth DudgeonPhoto 6: Lobby CardPhoto 7: Director James Whale with Ernest Thesiger in 'Bride of Frankenstein'
Top reviews from other countries
BigGMonsterMan
Great DVD of a classic movie
Reviewed in Canada on December 23, 2017
Mitch
Brilliant bluray edition of this excellent film
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on February 1, 2018