This week on SVENGOOLIE...

[Intrepid37]

She actually looks like she could be Bela's kid.

[Swithin]

She actually looks like she could be Bela's kid.

The actress, Gloria Holden, gave her name to William Holden. Her ex-husband helped discover William Beadle and renamed him for his former wife.

[txfilmfan]

The first lesbian possibly bi-sexual female vampire was Countess Zaleska in Dracula's Daughter (1936), the first horror movie I ever saw, on Shock Theater in the late 1950s. Still one of my favorite horror films.

At first glance, I thought she was Neva Patterson.

[LiamCasey]

This month on Svengoolie...

4/1: Abbott and Costello Meet the Mummy (1955) w/ Bud Abbott and Lou Costello. Plus Marie Windsor, Michael Ansara, Dan Seymour and Richard Deacon. And directed by Charles Lamont.

4/8: The Old Dark House (1932) w/ Boris Karloff, Melvyn Douglas, Charles Laughton, Gloria Stuart, Lilian Bond, Ernest Thesiger, Eva Moore, Raymond Massey, Elspeth Dudgeon and Brember Wills. And directed by James Whale.

4/15: This Island Earth (1955) w/ Jeff Morrow, Faith Domergue and Rex Reason. Plus Russell Johnson and Richard Deacon.

4/22: The Mole People (1956) w/ John Agar, Cynthia Patrick, Hugh Beaumont, Alan Napier and Nestor Paiva.

4/29: Destroy All Monsters (1969) w/ Akira Kubo, Jun Tazaki, Yukiko Kobayashi and Yoshio Tsuchiya. And, needless to say, Godzilla, Mothra, Rodan, King Ghidorah and other kaiju. And directed by Ishirō Honda.

[LawrenceA]

4/22: The Mole People (1956) w/ John Agar, Cynthia Patrick, Hugh Beaumont, Alan Napier and Nestor Paiva.

I was surprised to see a news item this week about a remake being fast-tracked at Universal:

https://deadline.com/2023/03/the-mole-p ... 235311775/

[TikiSoo]

I was surprised to see a news item this week about a remake being fast-tracked at Universal

Thanks! Yes, very surprising. Guess someone thinks cgi will be better than guys in rubber costumes.

[ziggy6708a]

[Swithin]

This is one of the greats, based on a play by J.B. Priestley, and an excellent choice with which to introduce the horror genre to nonbelievers.

[EP Millstone]

This is one of the greats, based on a play by J.B. Priestley, and an excellent choice with which to introduce the horror genre to nonbelievers.

Nonbelievers in horror?

I guess The Old Dark House is considered a horror film because it was produced by Universal Pictures (which arguably created the American Horror Film genre) and because Boris Karloff is in it. His character, Morgan, is not a monster and not even monstrous looking. But he's played by "Frankenstein" and moves like Frankenstein, ergo, he's the story's "monster."

The real monster is a diminutive, rather hircine pyromaniac, chillingly portrayed by Brember_Wills. It is his fiendish presence that creates an atmosphere of dread and terror within the gloomy, shadowy refuge.

To me, The Old Dark House is more a black comedy. With one exception, the residents of The House of Femm are harmless, comparatively eccentric, and not really horrific or evil.

First-time viewers: Pay close attention to "Sir Roderick Femm" -- a case of inspired gender-bender casting!



Other Recommendations for People Who Aren't Interested In/Don't Care for Horror Films

Burn Witch, Burn (AKA NIght of the Eagle)
Carnival of Souls
The Haunting
The Innocents
The Mephisto Waltz
Rosemary's Baby

[Swithin]

This is one of the greats, based on a play by J.B. Priestley, and an excellent choice with which to introduce the horror genre to nonbelievers.

I guess The Old Dark House is considered a horror film because it was produced by Universal Pictures (which arguably created the American Horror Film genre) and because Boris Karloff is in it. His character, Morgan, is not a monster and not even monstrous looking. But he's played by "Frankenstein" and moves like Frankenstein, ergo, he's the story's "monster."

The Old Dark House is definitely a horror, of the old dark house genre. There are many of them, usually grade B with George Zucco, or someone like that, but The Old Dark House has all the trappings: demented characters, a dark and stormy night, religious fanatics, terrified, stranded people, the shadows and imagery, etc. All the usual tropes.

[TikiSoo]

I love the Old Dark House and was so glad to see a beautiful, clear version of it!
I had furiously worked to get work/excersize done in time so I could enjoy watching Saturday night TV...then fell asleep for the entire movie and only was awake until the 2nd commercial.

I did get to see all the Three Stooges shorts aired beforehand. Every single one of them was a dud, a misfire, unfunny.
Guess I understand now why some people don't care for them - I didn't realize they weren't consistent. The best one shown last night was the one with Joe Besser!

[EP Millstone]

I love the Old Dark House and was so glad to see a beautiful, clear version of it!
I had furiously worked to get work/excersize done in time so I could enjoy watching Saturday night TV...then fell asleep for the entire movie and only was awake until the 2nd commercial.

Yo, TikiSoo! You're alla time falling asleep during Svengoolie! You have a VCR, right? Perhaps even a DVR? Why don't you just record the show since you're prone to conking out during its broadcast?

[TikiSoo]

Yo, TikiSoo! You're alla time falling asleep during Svengoolie! Why don't you just record the show since you're prone to conking out during its broadcast?

LOL.
See? That's why I'm one of those people who LIKES re-runs.
I have The Old Dark House on DVD recorded off TCM & wouldn't like a recording with all those goolie interruptions, even if it was a nicer quality print.

[Detective Jim McLeod]

I saw this on Saturday, the best print I have ever seen of The Old Dark House. I like some of Sven's sequences since he allows the film to be seen in it's entirety, however I was a little annoyed at one point. In the scene where Lillian Bond is speaking to Melvyn Douglas in the garage, she says of the Charles Laughton character, "he fancies himself to be so GAY!" There was laugh dubbed in at that part, I don't think that was needed.

Sven had some good trivia on the cast though I mostly knew all of it. The last sequence where there was a costume contest at some event was pretty good.

I decided to watch my DVD of the film with Gloria Stuart's commentary turned on. I had heard it before but couldn't remember much. She talks mostly about her own career and doesn't go into much about the other members of the cast. Since most of them were British they would have tea breaks and Stuart and fellow American Douglas were not invited. One interesting tidbit was when she talks about the scene with old Roderick Femm. Director James Whale did not tell her and Raymond Massey that the part was played by a woman. He had her remove her wig at the end of the scene, to the surprise and delight of the cast.

[Hibi]

What's on this week?