The Old Dark House

James Whale's 1932 chiller "The Old Dark House" is completely nuts, centering around a manse that's haunted not so much by enraged spirits or creates of the night as by the ghosts of the past and tormented psyches. There's a reason why iMDB lists the film as both "horror" and "comedy" -- sometimes it's hard to tell where one genre leaves off and the other takes over.

The action commences in classic style -- on a dark and stormy night. Newlyweds Philip (Raymond Massey) and Margaret Waverton (Gloria Stuart), together with their friend Penderel (Melvyn Douglas) are motoring around the Welsh countryside when they are caught up in a terrific storm. Besieged by washed-out roads and mudslides, they seek safe haven in a large house -- once grand, now decrepit -- in which an odd pair of siblings live, tended to by their mute (and occasionally deranged) butler.

Horace Femm (Ernest Thesiger) is impeccably dressed and seems worldly at first, even boasting that he's wanted by the police. But his world is tiny, circumscribed by the house itself; mocked by his religious sister, Rebecca (Eva Moore), he shudders at the idea that the house might be brought down by the storm and rising floodwaters. Meantime, their brutish butler Morgan (Boris Karloff, in a makeup job obviously inspired by his earlier role in Whale's "Frankenstein" movies) shuffles around menacingly before going on a drunken rampage.

Before that happens, though, two more refugees from the inclement night arrive: Sir William Porterhouse (Charles Laughton) and his showgirl companion Gladys (Lilian Bond). With the players all on the scene, the rain-lashed house begins to yield its terrifying secrets -- including an ancient, bedridden patriarch (played, with Whale no doubt grinning into his hand, by Elspeth Dudgeon) and an elder brother, Saul (Brember Wills), who we're given to understand is a homicidal pyromanic. (Saul's entrance is drawn out with masterful suspense, capped by the punchline of his eventual revelation. Think along the lines of the much-heralded Johnny Rico from 1982's post-apocalyptic, deeply satirical "Caf� Flesh," and you begin to get the idea.)

But what horror/comedy would be complete without a little romance? As their fellow guests grapple with the diabolical family in the house, Penderel and Gladys end up locked out; snug in the stable, they share a bottle of whisky and fall in love, so much so that Penderel promises to pop the question "by the cold light of day" -- assuming anyone survives the storm, the marauding drunk butler, or the fiendish firebug, Saul.

What's funny or frightening is a matter of individual taste and perception, but the ingenious Whale finds ways to straddle the line. Time and again, the funniest scenes are also the most ghastly. Are those screams of terror or guffaws of delight? With Cohnen Media's sparkling 4K restoration of this almost-lost classic, we don't have to choose. We can embrace thrills and trills at the same time.

The Cohen Media restoration Blu-ray offers a selection of tantalizing special features. Curtis Harrington -- himself a film director who had a contract with Universal and was a friend of Whale's -- recounts his one-man campaign to retrieve the original film negative from the vaults and preserve it. (His foresight was not misplaced; the first reel was already in unprintable condition when the negative, lost for years, was finally located.) Two audio commentary tracks accompany the film, one by Whale biographer James Curtis and one by star Gloria Stuart herself. There's also an interview with Boris Karloff's daughter Sara.

Should you buy this one? Absolutely; it's a priceless combination of gags and ghouls, and it's worth making an annual viewing part of every Halloween season.

"The Old Dark House"
Blu-ray
$25.99
http://www.cohenmedia.net/films/old-dark-house