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Old Dark House (The)

Country: USA, Language: English, 72 mins

  • Director: James Whale
  • Writer: J.B. Priestley; Benn W. Levy
  • Producer: Carl Laemmle Jr.; E.M. Asher

CGiii Comment

It really is just a delicious comedy of manners.

The character of Horace Femm will linger and remains one of the best camp figures in cinematic history - with a name like that, how could he not be.

One of the first haunted house films made and it really has never been surpassed.

Whale's talents are shown to perfection in this little masterpiece of the genre.

Totally delightful.


Trailer...

The(ir) Blurb...

Seeking shelter from a pounding rainstorm in a remote region of Wales, several travellers are admitted to a gloomy, foreboding mansion belonging to the extremely strange Femm family. Trying to make the best of it, the guests must deal with their sepulchral host, Horace Femm and his obsessive, malevolent sister Rebecca. Things get worse as the brutish manservant Morgan gets drunk, runs amuck and releases the long pent-up brother Saul, a psychotic pyromaniac who gleefully tries to destroy the residence by setting it on fire.

Cast & Characters

Boris Karloff as Morgan;
Melvyn Douglas as Roger Penderel;
Charles Laughton as Sir William Porterhouse;
Lilian Bond as Gladys DuCane Perkins;
Ernest Thesiger as Horace Femm;
Eva Moore as Rebecca Femm;
Raymond Massey as Philip Waverton;
Gloria Stuart as Margaret Waverton;
Elspeth Dudgeon as Sir Roderick Femm;
Brember Wills as Saul Femm