THE OLD DARK HOUSE (1932) (4K Restoration Blu-ray Review)

THE OLD DARK HOUSE (1932) 

Label: Cohen Film Collection
Region Code: Region-FREE
Rating: Unrated
Duration: 72 Minutes 
Audio: English PCM Mono with Optional English Subtitles 
Video: 1080p HD Full Frame (1.37:1) 
Director: James Whale 
Cast: Boris Karloff, Charles Laughton, Eva Moore, Gloria Stuart, Melvyn Douglas, Raymond Massey

James Whale's The Old Dark House (1932) is based on J.B. Priestley’s novel "Benighted", it opens with married couple Philip (Raymond Massey, The Woman in the Window) and Margaret Waverton (Gloria Stuart, Titanic) driving by night through the hilly terrain of wales during an awful storm, they funnily bicker like a loving married couple while their friend Roger Penderel (Melvyn Douglas, Ghost Story) chimes in with considerable wit from the backseat. When a drenched hillside turns into mudslide it nearly buries the trio in their car, forcing them to seek shelter at a spooky mansion that seemingly appears out of nowhere from the night. 

The trio are greeted at the door by the lurch-erous Morgan (Boris Karloff, Black Sabbath), a mute giant of a man with a heavily scarred face. The mansion is owned by the eccentric, elderly siblings Horace Femm (Ernest Thesiger, Bride of Frankenstein) and his extremely hard of hearing sister Rebbecca (Eva Moore). Horace is a cadaverous looking man, but happens to be friendly and witty, while is sister Rebbecca is less welcoming and tries to send the trio of stranded travelers away. However, with the awful downpour they are allowed to stay, warming themselves by the huge fireplace and joining the Femm's for dinner, with Horace funnily offering a potato to everyone around the dinner table, there's something so great about Thesiger's performance, likewise Moore is amazing as the bickering sibling, who has a great exchange with Stuart about her rotting skin, so good.

While eating dinner there's another knock at the door, and two more stranded travelers arrive, taking shelter from the storm for the night. We're introduced to Sir William Porterhouse (Charles Laughton, Island of Lost Souls) and his platonic companion Gladys Perkins (Lilian Bond). Porterhouse is a bit of a loud braggart, and Gladys is only too happy to strike-up a budding romance with the handsome Mr. Penderel over sips of whiskey. 

As the night wears on this atmospheric but plot-bare old dark house entry begins to reveal it's secrets, such as the fact that more Femm's are kept locked away in rooms on the upper floors of the spooky Gothic mansion, including a creepy, laughing pyromaniac and a wickedly charming patriarch, Sir Roderick Femm (Elspeth Dudgeon). Meanwhile, creepy butler Morgan becomes increasingly drunk in the kitchen all to himself, but begins to act out towards the new visitors to the home. 

The movie sort of feels like a stage-play for a long part but the Gothic images are drenched in moody shadow and light, a scene of one of the guests making shadow-hand puppets against the wall is very striking, but much of the film does take lace in just a few rooms of the mansion, but I never grew tired of the location, it's a very entertaining movie and it's well lit and shot. 

This one didn't quite thrill me when I first watched it, I was expecting more of a William Castle-type entry, and he did actually remake this on in '63, but this time around I found myself quite happy and more than content with the wicked humor of the piece, this is a dark house comedy with a fun cast of characters who are witty, acerbic and fun to hang around with. The film is stolen by the charms of Gladys Perkins and Melvyn Douglass, and the bickering of elderly Femm siblings, including a late appearance from their older cousin Saul (Brember Wills) in a standout performance. Surprisingly Boris Karloff is onscreen for very little of the film, but he makes a memorable and hulking mute threat as the film wear on.  

Audio/Video: The Old Dark House (1932) arrives on Blu-ray from the Cohen Film Collection with a fantastic 4K restoration framed in the original full frame 137:1 aspect ratio. I have not watched by old Kino DVD for years, and I sold it when this was announced, but this is rather stunning uptick in quality from what I remember. Grain looks healthy, the shadow-drenched black and white cinematography looks absolutely gorgeous, there's some very fine shadow detail, and the black are inky and deep, and the image is surprisingly sharp. 

Audio on the disc comes by way of a Mono PCM English track, dialogue is intelligible throughout, there's some age related issues by way of somewhat distorted music cues and some hiss but this overall sounds remarkable considering the age of the film. Optional English subtitles are provided.

Onto the extras we get two audio commentaries, one from then-aging, now deceased, star Gloria Stuart, and a second from James Whale biographer James Curtis - both of these are carried over from the Kino release. We also get an archival interview with director Curtis Harrington who recalls how he saved the film from certain doom, spearheading the campaign to find and preserve the original  negatives. 

We get a brand new interview with Boris Karloff's daughter Sarah Karloff, interviewed by Dean Otto, with the famous daughter recalling her father's career, his love for special effects make-up man Jack Pierce, and having some slightly unsavory things to say about actor Charles Laughton - who apparently never had a kind word for her father. There's also a re-release trailer for the film. 

This single-disc release comes housed in a standard Blu-ray keepcase with a sleeve of artwork featuring artwork on the a-side and a scene from the film on the b-side. Sadly Cohen do not use the amazing original painted poster artwork for the film, and I'm not a fan the way the sleeve of artwork is framed with a "C" from "Cohen" and minimizes the artwork on the front sleeve and off centers it, but otherwise this release is fantastic through and through, this is only a nitpic. Inside there's a 12-page booklet containing a vintage interview circa '96 with director Curtis Harrington on the rediscovery of this once thought-lost film by film historian David Del Valle, plus chapter selection, cast and crew credits, and stills from the film. The disc itself features Karloff's character as seen on the sleeve. 

Special Features: 
- Audio Commentary by actor Gloria Stuart
- Audio Commentary by James Whale biographer James Curtis
- 12-Page Booklet containing Interview with director Curtis Harrington on the rediscovery of this once thought-lost film by David Del Valle
- New Interview with Sara Karloff, daughter of Boris Karloff (15 min) HD
- Curtis Harrington Saves The Old Dark House (7 min)  
- Re-release trailer (2 min) 

The Old Dark House (1932) is a witty, atmospheric chiller with loads of laughs, it doesn't make for a great scare film, but it is one heck of a fun old dark house comedy with solid direction from James Whale (Bride of Frankenstein). The new 4K restoration looks astounding, while it does show it's age this is the best the movie has ever looked on home video, a very attractive penetration through and through.