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The Old Dark House (1932)

Director: James Whale

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From Time Out Film Guide

Alongside The Bride of Frankenstein, Whale's greatest film, a masterly mixture of macabre humour and effectively gripping suspense. A very simple story - a group of travellers stranded by a storm take shelter in the sinister, unwelcoming Femm household, a gloomy mansion peopled by maniacs and murderers - allows Whale to concentrate on quirky characters (Laughton's brash, boorish Yorkshire mill-owner, blessed with a near-incomprehensible accent, is particularly delightful) and thick Gothic atmosphere to stunning effect. But what is perhaps most remarkable is the way Whale manages to parody the conventions of the dark house horror genre as he creates them, in which respect the film remains entirely modern. (Frm JB Priestley's novel Benighted.

Author: GA 0000-00-00 00:00:00

Time Out Film Guide

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Cast & crew

Director: James Whale

Producer: Carl Laemmle Jr

Cast: Boris Karloff, Melvyn Douglas, Charles Laughton, Gloria Stuart, Ernest Thesiger, Raymond Massey, Lilian Bond, Eva Moore full cast

Genre(s): Horror

Duration: 71 mins


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