A few years ago we shared a collection of movie posters painted by the great Hungarian artist Karoly Grosz. Among them was a promo for The Old Dark House. We’ve brought the poster back today because we just watched the film. Based on a J.B Priestly novel, the movie opens during a stormy night somewhere in Wales as five people, among them Charles Laughton, Gloria Stuart, and Lilian Bond, are stranded in the rain and entreat the occupants of a creepy old manse for shelter. The occupants are the Femm family and their facially scarred butler, played by Boris Karloff. Any sane person would do a one-eighty after getting a gander at him, but this is a horror movie, so they waltz happily through the front door.
As the night wears on and the house is buffeted by wind and rain, the guests begin to realize the Femms are not just a little strange, but seriously disturbed, and that there are more people in the house than at first appearance. It’s Karloff the horror specialist—of course—who eventually looses chaos upon the stranded travelers. He’s quite a creation, scowling and grumbling his way craggily through the film, and his performance is one of several reasons it’s interesting to watch an old chiller like this. When we say chiller, be forewarned that the movie isn’t really scary, but it’s atmospheric and worth a watch for fans of horror to see the building blocks of the genre. The Old Dark House premiered today in 1932.
