DVD: Network 7952503. time: 70 minutes plus extras. Price: £12.99 (UK) Rated: PG) stars: Boris Karloff, Raymond Massey, Gloria Stuart, Melvyn Douglas, Elspeth Dudgeon and Charles Laughton.

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This film was made 76 years ago. Most of the people who made it or originally watched it are now dead. Watching this DVD gives you the chance to look into a bygone age when society and technology were quite different from what we have today. If you're interested in old horror movies or even nostalgic about the past then this is a must for your collection.



This is actually a very good movie. There are ten characters but they don't get confused in the darkened rooms of the house. Each one is strong, recognisable and full of vigour. So what's this all about?

Somewhere in Wales, perhaps not far from Shrewsbury, there is a large old house off the beaten track. It is somewhat in need of renovation but it's solidly built and has many rooms and out-buildings. In it live a middle-aged brother and sister, he being cowardly and evasive while she is cantankerous and deaf. Throw in a mute alcoholic butler, a mad centenarian father and an incarcerated arsonistic brother then you would have a place you wouldn't want to visit on a dark and stormy night.

Of course, it is raining. This is a rain that is incessant, staying with you until the last few minutes of the film. Philip and Margaret Waverton drive through the rain, dodging landslides and traversing muddy fords more in keeping with Malaysia in a monsoon than the British countryside. Philip is played by Raymond Massey, who many will remember from 'Things to Come' while Gloria Stuart, an actress of countless films whom I think is still with us today, plays Margaret. Lounging in the back of the vehicle is Roger Penderel, happy-go-lucky and bored with life. Melvyn Douglas is Penderel, a part he played early in a long and illustrious career in both the movies and politics.

Seeking shelter, they arrive at the big house. The first face they see is the gruesome Morgan the butler, scarred and somewhat deranged. Boris Karloff needs no introduction and is equally at home playing the brutish butler as he was with the Frankenstein monster the previous year. This would have been enough for me but no, they enter to meet another madman, Horace Femm, evasive and pusillanimous, whose demeanour immediately suggests that something isn't quite right about the place. His sister Rebecca isn't much better. Intolerant and unwelcoming, she nevertheless allows the strangers to stay.

Over dinner of roast beef and potatoes, the service from Morgan is something to be believed, we are interrupted by more travellers seeking sanctuary from the storm. This time it's Sir William Porterhouse, a bold as brass Yorkshireman who says what he means and means when he says, made rich through industry but with impoverished roots. With him is Gladys, an out-of-work chorus girl, who is more a companion than a girlfriend. Porterhouse is played in a grand manner by Charles Laughton, a man of many parts including Captain Bligh and the Hunchback of Notre Dame.

Morgan has a problem. He is bad enough sober but with a drink in him he goes berserk. Unfortunately, he scoffs Penderel's whisky which he finds in the car and then proceeds to run amok, taking a fancy to Margaret Waverton in the process. Meanwhile, Penderel and the chorus girl take a fancy to each other and Philip Waverton comes across the demented 102 year old father of the house, actually played by actress Elspeth Dudgeon, who tells him about the mad arsonist locked up in the room upstairs. Unfortunately they are too late, Morgan has let him out!

Enough said about the movie. It comes to a dramatic conclusion and if you haven't seen this before I won't spoil it for you. Sufficient to say, there are good performances from well-known actors and you won't be disappointed.

There are no ghosts in this movie, no monsters and nothing supernatural. The real horrors and the crazed minds of the people in the house. By standards of today, this stuff is really innocuous but you have to put yourself into the context of the time when moviegoers were more innocent. This is best watched on a dull wet afternoon when you can sit yourself in front of the television, feet up, with a cup of tea and a biscuit. I think this is a splendid movie, well worth its release on DVD.

Rod MacDonald