The Old Dark House (1963) dir. William Castle, William Castle Productions/Hammer Film Productions
Moving onto William Castle, we get a film that Boris Karloff turned down, as he felt it was too silly.
Tom (Tom Poston) is an American abroad. His roommate Caspar Femm (Peter Bull) asks him to deliver the fancy car he just bought to his ancestral home in Dartmoor. A sudden storm wrecks the car and nearly does Tom in, but he manages to find the home. Seems Caspar beat him to the house, and he's dead.
The rest of the Femm family don't seem too put out by this. Seems there is some competition among the family. If they want to get their part of the estate, they must be in the house before midnight, with the loser's shares being added the rest.
The family remaining:
Jaspar (Bull)-Caspar's twin brother.
Agatha (Joyce Grenfall)-the mother. Her knitting needles seem rather sharp, aren't they?
Roderick (Robert Morely)-the father.
Potiphar (Mervyn Johns)-the uncle. Seems convinced the world will end in a flood and has been building an ark in the backyard.
Morgan (Danny Green)-other uncle. Hates sex and anyone who has eyes on his daughter. Or anyone who looks at daughter, or who happens to be in the same zip code as his daughter.
Cecily (Janette Scott)-cousin. Pure as the driven snow.
Morgana (Fenella Fielding)-other cousin. Sex appeal and twisted steel and knows it.
The family starts dying off rather quickly. Can Tom figure out whodunit? Can he stop Uncle Morgan from bashing his brains in? Or stop Morgana from doing something far more sinister to him?
Not the worst film ever but lord. Starting to see why Karloff passed; everyone is being funny, but not acting funny. The film seems to think Poston bugging his eyes and wailing is hysterical, while the Femm family acts like pantomime rejects. By the time the mystery is over, it's less who did it and more who cares?
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