The old dark house
| Movie | |
|---|---|
| German title | The old dark house |
| Original title | The Old Dark House |
| Country of production | United Kingdom , United States |
| original language | English |
| Publishing year | 1963 |
| length | 90 minutes |
| Rod | |
| Director | William Castle |
| script | Robert Dillon |
| production | William Castle, Anthony Hinds |
| music | Benjamin Frankel |
| camera | Arthur Grant |
| cut | James Needs |
| occupation | |
| |
The Old Dark House is a feature film from 1963. The film was made in collaboration between the British film studio Hammer Films and the American producer William Castle . Castle, who also directed the film, made a comedic remake of the 1932 horror classic The House of Horror by James Whale . Like Whale's film, Castle's work was based on the 1927 novel Surprised by the Night by John Boynton Priestley .
action
Tom Penderel is an American car salesman who lives in London . Tom lives with the eccentric millionaire Casper Femm. However, he rarely sees Femm, as he has to be at the family house every night before midnight due to a family directive. Casper orders a luxury car from his friend for Tom to deliver to the Femms mansion. When Tom arrives, he finds Casper dead. Tom wants to leave the scene, but causes an accident with the car in the approaching storm. So he has to stay in the Femms house. Tom gets to know some family members. Casper's niece Cecily is a serious young woman, while the other niece Morgana is a seductive beauty. Casper's uncle Potiphar is expecting a new flood and is building an ark .
During the night there are murders of the members of the Femm family. Agatha Femm, Casper's mother, dies first. She is found dead with knitting needles stuck in her throat. The next victim is Casper's twin brother Jasper, after which Casper's father Roderick dies. Tom realizes that the killer is a woman. He thinks Morgana is guilty, but Cecily admits the murders, she wants to become sole heir of the property. Cecily flees the house. Tom finds out that she installed time bombs on all the clocks in the house. Tom can defuse all but one of the bombs. He throws the last one through a window, since he only has seconds left. The bomb lands in front of Cecily's feet and explodes.
Reviews
The lexicon of international films described the film as a “gruesomely amusing remake of the horror classic“ The old dark house ”in 1932; Horror specialist Castle mitigates its shock effects with dry humor and parodistic exaggerations. "
The TVGuide, however, found it to be an inferior remake.
background
The film premiered on October 30, 1963 in the United States. In Great Britain, however, it was only released in cinemas in September 1966, in a version shortened by 9 minutes for reasons of censorship. In Germany it was broadcast on television on May 23, 1970.
The film was originally shot in color (Eastman Color), but in the US it was released in black and white for cost reasons. When it was first released in England, the film was back in color.
Director Castle, who was known for the promotional gimmicks used during the screenings of his films, was looking for new ways due to falling revenues. Conversely, Anthony Hinds , the head of production at Hammer, was already preparing a remake of The Old Dark House himself . When he found out that Castle was also working on a project of the same name in the USA, he suggested that they combine their two productions. So it came to the first and only collaboration between Castle and the British Hammer studio. Both Castle and Hammer Studios had their films released through Columbia Pictures . Since funding in Great Britain was cheaper than in the United States, Castle closed a deal with Hammer Studios by shooting at Bray Studios and hiring exclusively British actors except for the lead role.
None of the otherwise usual Castle gimmicks were used in the screenings of the film.
The neo-Gothic country house Oakley Court was used as the filming location for the exterior shots of the "old dark house". It was also used in many other awesome films and is probably best known today as Frank N Furter's castle in the Rocky Horror Picture Show . The title track of this film also mentions actress Janette Scott, who plays a leading role in The Old Dark House .
The animated title sequence of The Old Dark House was created by Chas Addams , the creator of the Addams Family , who was a huge fan of the 1932 film adaptation of The Old Dark House . As Boris Karloff confirmed, Addams was directly inspired to the character of Lurch by the character of the silent butler Morgan played by Karloff in the original film version . The house drawn by Addams in the opening credits is much more like the Addams Family residence than the castle actually shown later in the film.
If the American flag is hoisted at the end of the film, it may be an allusion to a habit of an actual former resident of Oakley Court (the location), Ernest Olivier, who had their national flags flown in honor of his foreign guests.
Web links
- The Old Dark House in the Internet Movie Database (English)
Individual evidence
- ↑ The old dark house. In: Lexicon of International Films . Film service , accessed October 23, 2019 .
- ↑ Critique of the TVGuide (English)
- ↑ Ariel Schudson on The Old Dark House (English)
- ↑ Jeff Stafford on TCM , accessed October 23, 2019.
- ↑ Oakley Court location
- ↑ Article about The Old Dark House from 1932, including a Lurch sketch by Charles Addams and a quote from Boris Karloff