The Old Dark House (1932) (2017 Cohen Collection restoration in 4K)

The Old Dark House (1932). There are 391 photos in the Internet Movie Database.

US © 1932 Universal Pictures Corp. P: Carl Laemmle, Jr. D: James Whale. SC: R. C. Sherriff, Benn W. Levy – based on the novel Benighted (1927) by J. B. Priestley, in Finnish Yön yllättämät (Aune Brotherus / WSOY 1933). Cin: Arthur Edeson. Interior design: Charles D. Hall. Set dec: Russell A. Gausman. SFX: John P. Fulton. Makeup: Otto Lederer, Jack P. Pierce. M: David Broekman. Songs hummed: “Singin’ in the Rain”, “Oh! Mr. Porter”, “Hochzeitsmarsch aus Lohengrin”, “The Roast Beef of Old England”. S: C. Roy Hunter. ED: Clarence Kolster.
    C: Boris Karloff (Morgan), Melvyn Douglas (Roger Penderel), Raymond Massey (Philip Waverton), Gloria Stuart (Margaret Waverton), Charles Laughton (Sir William Porterhouse), Lilian Bond (Gladys DuCane / Perkins), Ernest Thesiger (Horace Femm), Eva Moore (Rebecca Femm), Brember Wills (Saul Femm), Elspeth Dudgeon (Sir Roderick Femm).
    Premiere: 20.10.1932.
    Not released in Finland. 71 min
    2017 Cohen Collection restoration in 4K.
    The first screening of this movie in Finland.
    4K DCP from Park Circus screened at Cinema Orion, Helsinki (James Whale), 14 Nov 2018

Inspired by William K. Everson, I have always found James Whale's The Old Dark House his best horror film, the best haunted house film, and one of the greatest horror movies ever made. Everson states that this film invariably disappoints on first viewing, its greatness revealed only in repeat screenings.

It has been hard to put Everson's advice into practice because for decades it has been difficult to access prints. For home viewing I would not advise this subtle film which has an intensive sense of space (designed for the big screen and the cinema experience) and which is based on nuanced ensemble playing.

In Finland The Old Dark House has never been screened before because of difficulties in finding viewing prints. I have seen the film only once, in October 1983 at the Filmklubben / Svenska Filminstitutet in Stockholm's Bio Victor. It has been reverberating ever since, but today's screening felt virginal again. I had forgotten most of the profound strangeness of this work.

James Whale goes through the motions of displaying the register of the haunted house narrative as comprehensively as possible. Nobody has done it better. But his movie is most fundamentally a character study and an ensemble play.

There is the obvious monster, the horribly scarred butler Morgan, played by Boris Karloff at his best. The performance is made more powerful by the fact that the character is silent. Karloff's presence and charisma is certainly fundamental for the project, but he is not madder than most, although Morgan is known to become dangerous when drunk. Again, remembering that Whale was a war veteran, I was thinking whether Morgan might be a war invalid or the poet's representation of the war invalid experience.

The neurotic host is played by Ernest Thesiger who would continue with Whale as Dr. Pretorius in Bride of Frankenstein.

His sister, the religious fanatic, is played by Eva Moore with a memorably eccentric approach.

In the attic the guests discover the 102 year old father of the family (Elspeth Dudgeon).

But the most fearsome family member is brother Saul (Brember Wills), a murderous pyromaniac.

Of the visitors, Raymond Massey, Melvyn Douglas and Charles Laughton are caught here in early stages of their brilliant careers.

Gloria Stuart (1910–2010) had the most amazing career of all, playing old Rose in James Cameron's Titanic (1997) and it was not her last role, either.

The charming Lilian Bond (1908–1991) enjoyed a long career also. The bright British star had appeared in Ziegfeld Follies and delightful paradiasical Alfred Cheney Johnston photographs in the 1920s. She had played in William K. Howard's The Trial of Vivienne Ware, and she would become William Wyler's Lily Langtry in The Westerner.

"The sins of the fathers". We have few clues to the degenerate atmosphere lingering in this old dark house. The sister Rachel has died mysteriously.

The new digital 4K restoration is refined and does justice to the excellent cinematography and the odd sequences with crooked mirrors and oversized shadows (see images above).

Again, the twists and spins are so unusual and unexpected that it takes a while to adjust, and the film keeps growing in memory days afterwards.

BEYOND THE JUMP BREAK: OUR PROGRAM NOTE FROM WILLIAM K. EVERSON:
BEYOND THE JUMP BREAK: OUR PROGRAM NOTE FROM WILLIAM K. EVERSON:

The Old Dark House on alalajinsa täyttymys ja huipennus kokonaiselle elokuvasarjalle, johon kuuluvat The Bat, The Cat and the Canary, The Gorilla, Seven Footprints to Satan ja monet muut teokset. Mitään näin hienoa ei koko linjalla ole tehty tätä ennen eikä tämän jälkeen.
    Odotukset ovat korkealla elokuvan vaikuttavaa tekijäkaartia tutkiskellessa, mutta ensimmäisellä katsomalla elokuva tuottaa poikkeuksetta pettymyksen. Mitään ei tunnu tapahtuvan huolimatta siitä, että viisi matkalaista joutuu tulvien ja mutavyöryjen uhreina viettämään yönsä kaikkien aikojen salaperäisimmässä pimeässä talossa, jonka isäntinä ja emäntinä on poikkeuksellisen omituista väkeä!
    Onneksi The Old Dark House on elokuva, jonka haluaa nähdä useaan otteeseen, ja toisesta katsomiskerrasta alkaen se tempaa katsojan mukaansa. Silloin tietää jo, että on turha odottaa spektaakkelimaisia jännityskohtauksia. Sen sijaan voi keskittyä nauttimaan ja ihailemaan ainutlaatuisesta tunnelmasta, tyylistä ja välähtelevistä oivalluksista. James Whale, näyttelijänä ja ohjaajana kokenut teatterimies, lähestyy elokuvaa näytelmän tapaan: se on sarja dramaattisia saapumisia ja poistumisia. Karloff murtautuu sisään raskaan oven läpi; käsi ilmestyy portaiden yläkaiteelle; rajuja shokki-kohtauksia seuraavat tyynnyttävät puskurijaksot.
    Mutta jos lähtökohdat lienevätkin teatraalisia, toteutus on puhdasta elokuvaa. Ihmeelliseen liikkuvaan kamerailmaisuunsa Whale sijoittelee luonteenomaisia lyhyitä, äkillisiä lähikuviaan, ja valaisu on todella kaunista. Arthur Edeson oli Hollywoodin parhaita kuvaajia, ja yhteistöissä Whalen kanssa hän oli parhaimmillaan.
    J. B. Priestleyn romaani oli melko epätasainen; kirjailja oli parhaimmillaan ”yhteiskunnallisissa”, puolipoliittisissa kirjoissaan ja näytelmissään. Hienosti punottu elokuvakäsikirjoitus sen sijaan on tarkasti tasapainotettu: talon viisi asukasta kohtaa siinä viisi vierasta. Karkeasti ottaen jokaisella on vastinparinsa, ja kauhujen yö tuo esiin kustakin parhaat (tai pahimmat) puolet, ratkaisten kunkin ongelmat, kuten auringonnousu karkoittaa painajaisen ylivoimaiset pelot ja vaarat.
    The Old Dark House ei ole vain genrensa ilahduttava merkkitapaus vaan käänteinen prototyyppi, myöhäinen pohjapiirustus ja yhteenveto kaikelle, mitä oli siihen mennessä tehty tällä saralla. Se kiteyttää parhaan kaikesta ja lisää paljon sellaista, mikä oli James Whalelle ainutlaatuisesti ominaista.

– William K. Eversonin mukaan (Classics of the Horror Film. Secaucus, N. J.: The Citadel Press, 1974) AA 14.11.2018

SYNOPSIS FROM THE AFI CATALOG:

On a stormy night in Wales, five people, Philip and Margaret Waverton, their friend Penderel, Sir William Porterhouse and his lady friend, chorus girl Gladys Perkins, whose stage name is DuCane, seek refuge in a gloomy house off the road.

The denizens of the house include Horace Femm, an hysteric, his sister Rebecca, a religious fanatic, and Morgan, their scarred, brutish butler, who is a mute. At dinner, Horace confides that sometime in the past, their sister Rachel died in a mysterious fashion. As the evening progresses, the Wavertons discover the Femms' 102-year-old father in an upstairs room.

Transformed by drink, Morgan pursues attractive Margaret up the stairs, where he craftily releases another brother, pyromaniac Saul, from his locked room at the top.

Penderal and Gladys have fallen in love at first sight. They break the news to Sir William who, because he is still in love with his dead wife, is not very upset.

Soon after, Penderal encounters the liberated Saul in one of the dark rooms. At first Saul seems to be the only sane inhabitant of the house, but he proves that he is as crazy as the rest when he tries to kill Penderal. Both men are wounded in the fight that follows.

Morgan, having sobered up a little, carries the wounded Saul back to his room. After Gladys treats Penderal, dawn finally breaks and the storm is over. The five guests leave the house behind as quickly as possible and Horace cheerfully bids them goodbye, as if the events of the night had never happened.

Lilian Bond. Photo: Alfred Cheney Johnston, 1920s.