THE OLD DARK HOUSE (1932)

With special guest Jason Kravits

Intro, Math Club, and Debate Society (spoiler-free) 0:00-27:40
Honor Roll and Detention (spoiler-heavy) 27:41-1:06:53
Superlatives (so. many. spoilers.) 1:06:54-1:26:09

Director James Whale
Screenplay Benn W. Levy, with additional dialogue by R.C. Sherriff, based on the novel Benighted by J.B. Priestley
Featuring Lilian Bond, Melvyn Douglas, Elspeth Dudgeon, Boris Karloff, Charles Laughton, Raymond Massey, Eva Moore, Gloria Stuart, Ernest Thesiger, Brember Wills

Release date:  Oct 20, 1932
Budget:  $250,000
Gross US & Canada: $25,678; worldwide: $34,649

SPOILER-FREE SYNOPSIS

It’s a stormy night somewhere in Wales, and three travelers are having a rough go of it: married couple Phillip and Margaret Waverton, and their passenger in the back seat, the dapper Penderel.  That’s when they come upon a house, which is, shockingly, old… and dark.  They manage to gain entrance after convincing the mute, lumbering butler, Morgan, that they are indeed in distress, and are soon greeted by the house’s main occupants, the elderly Femms, Horace and his hard of hearing sister Rebecca. The Femms offer the travelers supper, but as the sternly religious Rebecca finds it inappropriate, no beds.  As they sit down to eat a meal of meat and potatoes, two more travelers burst in – the jolly Sir William Porterhouse and his personal companion, Gladys Duquesne.  Or is it Perkins?  As the evening wends from dinner to conversation to an interest in the rest of the house, things take a turn for the weird, and soon, all are ensnared in a trap – not just to make it through the storm, but to get out of the house alive.

SPOILER-FREE GUEST BIO

Jason Kravits has been appearing on stages and screens, large and small, for over 30 years. Best known for his long-running role as ADA Richard Bay on ABC’s “The Practice,” he has appeared in dozens of shows, including memorable roles on “Curb Your Enthusiasm,” “The Kominsky Method,” “30 Rock,” “Everybody Loves Raymond,” “Young Sheldon,” “Grey’s Anatomy,” “B Positive,” “NCIS,” and “Gilmore Girls.” He recently appeared opposite Nicole Kidman on HBO's “The Undoing” and Ewan McGregor in Netflix's Halston. Kravits has appeared in several Broadway shows, including The Drowsy Chaperone, Relatively Speaking, and City Center Encores production of The Golden Apple. In 2015, Jason created Off the Top!, a “one-man, completely improvised cabaret.” Since then he has performed the show over a hundred times to sold out crowds in London, Edinburgh, Adelaide, Melbourne, Amsterdam, Washington D.C. and Los Angeles, and regularly plays the world-famous Birdland Theater in New York City. Favorite recess snacks: Little Debbie Star Crunch Cookie, and Slim Jim.

EPISODE NOTES

Music under the synopsis is “A Little Street Where Old Friends Meet” by Gus Kahn and Harry Woods, performed by Isham Jones and His Orchestra. Click here to watch Jason’s viral video “My Dinner With Kanye.”

SCARE U SHORT

TRAILER

SUPERLATIVES

The Gaspar Noe Award for Most Disturbing Scene
Jason: The dinner scene
Eric: Any time Morgan opens his mouth
Bradford: The subtle transformation of Saul into giggling maniac

The Ellen Ripley Award for Character Who Most Deserves to Live*
Jason: Horace Femm
Eric: Penderel
Bradford: Gladys Du Cane

The Michael Myers Award for Character Who Most Deserves to Die*
Jason: Philip Waverton
Eric: Sir William Porterhouse
Bradford: Sir Roderick Femm

*Note: because no death is confirmed in this movie, we are bending the rules here and giving the awards to the character that most deserves to live (and does) and the character that most deserves to die (and does not).

The Ken Russell Award for Most Baroque Screen Moment
Jason: Rebecca in the mirrors
Eric: The Saul/Penderel sequence, from the table to tumbling off the balcony
Bradford: Horace rolls his eyes and says “No” after Sir William’s line, “There’s no accounting for taste”

The Brad Dourif Award for Character Who Could Have Been Played by Brad Dourif
Jason: Saul Femm
Eric: Saul Femm
Bradford: Horace Femm

FINAL LETTER GRADE

Jason: B
Eric: A-
Bradford: A