List Price: $29.95You Pay Only: $14.99 You Save: $14.96 (50%)Prices subject to change.
Availability: Usually ships in 1 to 2 days
Aspect Ratio: 1.33:1
Audience Rating: NR (Not Rated)
Binding: DVD
EAN: 0738329011321
Format: Black & White, DVD-Video, Special Edition, NTSC
Label: Kino Video
Manufacturer: Kino Video
Number Of Items: 1
Picture Format: Academy Ratio
Publisher: Kino Video
Release Date: September 02, 2003
Running Time: 72 minutes
Sales Rank: 14680
Studio: Kino Video
Theatrical Release Date: October 20, 1932
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Editorial Review:
Description:
A dark, gothic, one-of-a-kind macabre comedy. Directed by James Whale, subject of the acclaimed 'Gods and Monsters,' 'The Old Dark House' tells the story of three weary travelers who find shelter in a mysterious Welsh manor, soon find themselves in the unwelcoming company of the psychotic Femm family--and never will they be the same!
Customer Reviews
Average Rating: 
Rating:  - Strange, but very fun
The Old Dark House for me is a tough review to write; while I enjoyed the movie I can't fully explain what it is I loved about this movie. While often lumped into the horror genre, The Old Dark House is actually an offbeat comedy with some touches of horror, but even the suspense scenes are often played with a bit of dark humor.
Several people are forced to take shelter in an old house during a severe rain storm with a creepy family and mute butler (played by Boris Karloff). All the elements for a horror classic are here, but instead it's more laughs than anything else. The Old Dark House is quite a strange little movie and even after all these years it still remains a very strange movie.
The screenplay written by Benn W. Levy was highly enjoyable and well written. While not the greatest script it serves its purpose and works quite well. The characters are a bit annoying and even a bit obnoxious, but yet they work well overall and are mostly likeable.
The Old Dark House was directed by James Whale who is probably best known for the classics Frankenstein and Bride of Frankenstein. James Whale is one of the finest directors of his era and here he delivers one odd, but yet fun movie. The pacing never lags and there's always something happening to keep the viewer interested.
Ernest Thesiger as Horace and Eva Moore as his sister Rebecca are super creepy and weird and both deliver top notch performances. Any scene they have is golden and works well in ... Read More
Rating:  - Raging storm, trapped in a spooky mansion with psychopaths!
For the vintage black-and-white mystery-thriller film purist, this 1932 Universal Pictures flick has it all: brilliant casting, stormy night, spooky mansion, vulnerable travelers, crazy residents... what more could anyone ask for? Now, while this is a very old film the sound is pretty darn good and the print quality is much better than what I had expected.
THE STORY: During a raging thunderstorm, several travelers are forced to stop and seek refuge at the Femm Family Mansion due to road wash-outs and landslides. The Femms, all pretty aged (along with their domestic spore), are as wacky as they come. Horace is bug-eyed, skeleton-ish, paranoid, and terrified while his sister, Rebecca, is as venomous as a mamba and notably inhospitable ("NO BEDS! THEY CAN'T HAVE BEDS!") -- but as it turns out, she's sort of the brains of the outfit. There's also Morgan the Butler (Karloff!), a depraved creature who becomes VERY dangerous to be around when he's drunk (which is most of the time). And, best of all, locked away upstairs is Saul, an ancient psychopathic, conniving, homicidal pyromaniac -- and sometimes he gets out!
The mixed gender travelers (portrayed in part by Raymond Massey and Charles Laughton) try to make the best of their situation by backing up to a blazing fireplace and filling their empty bellies over a meal of roast beef and potatoes, but the combination of the storm (which threatens to wash away the entire mansion!) and the depraved proclivities of the morbid and bizarre ... Read More
Rating: - Classic Horror
The Old Dark House......has all the elements you'd expect in a film like this..suspicious characters,romance,humor and great acting!
I would recommend this movie to anyone who like 'old fashioned' scares!
Buy it!
Rating:  - Primitive Horror Film
This is the film version of the J.B. Priestly horror novel. It was a dark and stormy night, a couple is driving on a muddy country road through the Welsh mountains. Their touring car does not have side curtains. They are lost, and pull into a house with lights. The Femm household has some strange characters. This house has its own electricity. There is conflict among the household, like when prayers are offered before a meal. Then a knock on the door brings another couple to this house; they are also lost. The guests tell about themselves. [Filming in the rain must have been a technical breakthrough that year.]
When they go to fetch a lamp they hear a strange sound. Is there someone in a locked room? Does the butler have a drinking problem? Will something terrible happen? If a madman is locked up what will happen if he is released? Will the innocent survive and the guilty die?
This is boring and almost unwatchable film, a waste of time. It does show the performances of some actors who became more famous years later. Some of the scenes reflect the hidden quirks of the actors.
Rating: - Have a potato...
The Old Dark House (James Whale, 1932)
James Whale, who'd just imprinted his name on the American consciousness with Frankenstein, returned the next year with another Karloff vehicle, The Old Dark House. These days, Karloff's participation is somewhat eclipsed by the fact that this was the first American film to feature the great Charles Laughton, who would win the Best Actor oscar for The Private Life of Henry VIII the next year, as well as the nature of Karloff's role (he never speaks, only mumbles and growls; according to Robert Osborne, Morgan, Karloff's character, was the inspiration for the Addam's Family butler Lurch).
The Old Dark House is a much lighter tale than Frankenstein, and Whale treats it more as a comedy of errors than a horror film (though this is not to suggest that it's not deadly serious at times). The plot concerns said old dark house and its inhabitants, who on the night of a storm are repeatedly plagued by travellers on the road below, which has washed out in a landslide, leaving them with nowhere else to go. To compound matters, Morgan (Karloff), the family butler, has a hatred of storms, and tends to drink heavily when there's thunder in the air. And when he gets drunk, he's not a happy camper. Adding to the weirdness is a locked and barred room on the fourth floor, and no one will tell the guests what's behind it...
Much of the enjoyment of watching The Old Dark House comes from its top-notch ensemble cast, which includes not only Karloff ... Read More
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