Sometimes I can get in a wormhole on YouTube, especially when I’m in the mood for an “old dark house” movie from the 30s and the 40s. I just get a hankering for cantankerous families gathered at crumbling mansions for the reading of a will. For creaking staircases, hidden passages, revolving bookcases, spooky faces in the window, strange figures lurking in the basement. Sure, later films mined those tropes through the 50s on to today. But there’s something about cheap programmers from the 30s and 40s mixing horror with lame comedy that amuses me to no end. Here are some that, God-willing, are still on YouTube:
Cat in The Canary was a 1927 silent film directed by Paul Leni with these elements and it was remade beautifully with Bob Hope and Paulette Goddard in 1939 and in 1979 by Radley Metzger, starring Carol Lynley. Potential heirs show up at a spooky house and have to spend the night while creepy hands poke out of hidden compartments over the bed, and one by one people disappear or are mysteriously murdered. They are all great fun and I’ve found all on YouTube from time to time.
The Bat, based on a book by Mary Roberts Rinehart has been a staple in movies since 1926 with a silent movie by Roland West. But it’s The Bat Whispers (1939) that supposedly Bob Kane got the inspiration for his comic- Batman. The movie is about a master criminal called the “Bat” and a spooky old mansion leased by a wealthy woman and her annoying servant and niece. Is the “Bat” lurking in the secret passageways searching for a hidden treasure and terrifying the occupants of the house? Well, duh…The camera movements get pretty expressionistic, but your patience is tested by the aggravating servant, screaming hysterically and fainting often. The 1959 version of The Bat is also available on YouTube starring Vincent Price and Agnes Moorehead and is great fun too.
Secret of the Blue Room (1933) was remade three times, but the first, and best, stars Lionel Atwill, Gloria Stewart and Paul Lukas. it’s about the reopening of a house with a deadly past- and three suitors of Gloria Stewart’s character- Irene, who bet they can spend the night alone in the notorious “Blue Room” where Irene’s father died many years ago and has been locked up ever since. The Missing Guest (1939) is about a tenacious reporter named “Scoop” Hanlon (Paul Kelly) who lies his way into the mansion that includes the deadly “Blue Room” and is witness to disappearances and murder. Two ex-crooks turned detectives show up and are truly irritating. Murder in the Blue Room (1944) follows a similar plot but adds an Andrews Sisters-like singing group called the “Jazzy-Belles” to joke up the film and sing songs like “Boogie Woogie Boogie Man.” “IT’S MUR-DER TO MUSIC” screamed the ad for the film.
The 9th Guest (1934) is interesting because it’s about all these sophisticated New Yorkers invited to a party at an ultra-modern penthouse. They find themselves locked in (with an electrified gate preventing them from leaving) and a strange recorded voice accuses each of them of a crime and promises to kill them off in a timely fashion. All the tropes of the old dark house movies are here, not to mention Agatha Christie, but it’s twisted and surprising.
The 13th Guest (1932) stars a young Ginger Rogers who shows up in a booby-trapped house for the reading of a will. A hooded figure hiding in the walls electrifies the heirs one after another. This was also remade as The Mystery of the 13th Guest in 1943.
The Hidden Hand (1942) Is about a lunatic who has escaped from prison and hides in the walls of his equally-nutty sister’s mansion. Trap doors drop the cast one by one to a watery grave in this whacky entry.
The Living Ghost (1942) stars James Dunn as a wise-cracking ex-detective turned psychic hired to find a missing banker. Breezy fun.
House of Mystery (1934) Relatives are forced to spend a week in the creepy mansion of a wealthy adventurer who was cursed by an Indian cult. This one even adds a killer gorilla to the mix.
One Frightened Night (1935) An eccentric millionaire is about to bequeath his relatives his fortune when two women claiming to be his long-lost granddaughter show up and murder follows.
The Ghost Walks (1934) On a dark and stormy night, a playwright, a theatrical producer and his effeminate male secretary are forced off the road and end up seeking shelter at the country house of a strange doctor. All sorts of weird occurrences terrify the producer but it turns out the people in the house are actors and they are only performing the writer’s new play. Unfortunately, a real murder actually happens, only the producer and his assistant are convinced it is still part of the play. A policeman shows up and warns everyone a homicidal maniac has escaped from an asylum. “This is about as cheerful as an undertaker picnic in a cemetery,” someone complains.
One Body Too Many (1944) A comedy/mystery starring Jack Haley (Wizard of Oz’s Tin Man) who plays a insurance salesman who arrives at a mansion to find his client murdered and the grasping heirs waiting to hear the reading of the will. A highlight is definitely Bela Lugosi as a sinister butler.
The Phantom of Crestwood (1932) Who killed Jenny Wren? A blackmailing vixen, who already caused one man’s suicide, is weekending at a mansion with other married men she is blackmailing. Guess who ends up murdered?
Sh! The Octopus (1937). Love that bizarre title. This is set in a lighthouse where two bumbling detectives and other mysterious invited guests battle a murderer and a killer octopus too.
Night of Terror (1933) Assembled at a creepy mansion is a scientist attempting to have himself buried alive to prove a life-restoring formula; Bela Lugosi as a mystic butler; Wallace Ford as a smart-ass reporter. Meanwhile the police are combing the countryside looking for a killer called the “Maniac.” What more can you want out of a movie?
The Smiling Ghost (1941) Wayne Morris plays a sweet boob, ironically named “Lucky,” who takes a job pretending to be the fiancé of wealthy Elinor Fairchild (Alexis Smith) to try to break the curse that every fiancé of hers ends up dead (or in an iron lung). Meanwhile a “smiling ghost” stalks the mansion trying unsuccessfully to bump off Lucky. Brenda Marshall plays a tough-talking reporter out to get the story who falls for Lucky, and the wonderful Willie Best plays Lucky’s valet Clarence, who has to escape a crazed relative who collects shrunken heads.
The Black Cat (1941) A 1941 comic/horror/old-dark-house film about a greedy family fighting over an inheritance left to a housekeeper (Gale Sondergaard) and many, many cats. With Broderick Crawford as an antiques dealer, Basil Rathbone, Bela Lugosi and a young Alan Ladd.
The House of Secrets (1936) A man (Leslie Fenton) finds to his surprise he has inherited a spooky mansion called “The Hawk’s Nest” outside London. But when he gets there he is thrown off the property by a family who insist they live there. He tries to unravel the mystery of who they are. Great fun.
Murder by Invitation (1941) A wealthy elderly woman is brought to court by greedy relatives hoping to have her committed to an asylum. Their plan backfires but she invites them all to her house to decide who she actually will her money to. But they start mysteriously disappearing in this enjoyable mystery/comedy.
Horror Island (1941) Dick Foran stars as a man who leads a charter boat group to a spooky island supposedly containing a treasure. There is a shadowy killer (the “Phantom”) that haunts the island.
Chamber of Horrors (1940) Based on an Edgar Wallace mystery about Lord Selford, who buries his famous jewels (along with his body) in a crypt with seven locks. The keys were handed over to a solicitor and only all seven can open the tomb. The Lord’s niece, June (Lilli Palmer), receives one of the keys from a relative who later turns up dead. June hooks up with a detective and travels to the Selford mansion, now inhabited by the sinister Dr. Manetta (played with fiendish gusto by Leslie Banks), who keeps a delightful torture chamber. Just terrific.
Now there are way too many of these to cover here (and don’t be surprised by the lousy quality or if they gets yanked off YouTube suddenly) but always save this for last:
The Old Dark House (1932) “Have a potato,” asks the effete Horace Femm (Ernest Thesiger) to the wary stranger who, during a wild storm, end up stranded at the desolate stone house of a family of lunatics. James Whales’ darkly comic masterpiece is so good it will ruin the others for you if you see it first. Melvyn Douglas, Gloria Stuart (Titanic), Charles Laughton and Raymond Massey are the unfortunate “guests”, and a scarred-face Boris Karloff is the unstable butler.
Pleasant screams.
There is nothing like being scared to death while having a good laugh. Would love to see One Body Too Many, The Ghost Walks and revisit this particular Black Cat and The Old Dark House.
Thank you Dennis for these YouTube delights.
Dennis, the graphics of these movie posters are terrific! Nice collection.
I once stayed at an old dark hotel in Fishguard, Wales.”Lucky you,” the desk clerk said, “you’re getting Richard Biurton’s room”! I didn’t know if it was true, or just something they said to the dumb Americans like my self, but I was happy to play along after my lengthy walk up a hill, at night, in the rain, to get there. It was worth it. To wit: These films are wonderful, particularly if you’ve lived through it your self.
Have a potato!