The Old Dark House - Pre Code Whale at His Best

 Since I've been watching films on the 1932 year list, I realize how rich the list is of Pre-Code content. Whale pushed that, for sure, with his film, The Old Dark House, where you have and elderly sister and brother in an isolated castle located in some unknown hilly, muddy, landslide-heavy countryside arguing about atheism and death, a locked room containing a deranged arsonist who cackles and appears momentarily harmless until that switch flips, and a scar-faced, mute butler with a serious alcohol problem who becomes quite dangerous after downing enough liquor. So you have obvious city affluent types lost in a rainstorm, having no choice but to disembark at this castle after landslides trap them. And two others also halted by the storm and muddy slides eventually join them. Not to mention another family member is actually a male actor in disguise as a female character, speaking about the locked room brother who must not be freed or else. There is a family dinner with a lot of awkwardness in conversation as this culture clash sort of leaves those in attendance trying to figure out how to navigate it. And there is this "backwards" and "modern" culture clash as well. Those "eccentrics" (though I would say the moderns, especially, Douglas and Laughton have peculiarities that stand out as interesting) in the castle, seemingly frozen in their own time, opposed to the bourgeoisie that needs to stay the night altogether in the castle...this is a playground for Whale that I appreciate. The "pleasure and sin" where Gloria Stuart's striking blonde with barely little on but a gown opposite Eva Moore, who almost seems to be revealing a lust Stuart recognizes and tries to escape from is enough of a scene to really hold this film out as a Pre-Code curiosity. But you have Douglas and Bond falling for each other and talking about living together, how war changes you, and Karloff trying to grab Stuart every chance he gets. And that is just scratching the surface. Great movie that has so much scene to scene, dialogue to dialogue; Whale isn't just that Frankenstein director. Also, yeah, The Invisible Man is the good shit.