I know you’re already aquiver with excitement and anticipation, so just regard this as a reminder. This is the 1932 version, with a great cast - Raymond Massey, Melvyn Douglas, Charles Laughton, Boris Karloff, Ernst Thesiger as Horace Femm (I love the way he says his name), and as me (Sir Roderick Femm), an old lady, Elspeth Dudgeon, although in the credits I believe she is listed as John Dudgeon.
Don’t miss it, now. It’s an archetype of, well, of old dark house movies. It is an eponym of a whole genre!
Well, now, wasn’t that fun? James Whale really was a master at mood lighting, and simulating real candlelight.
I just love the way Ernst Thesiger says his first line: “My name is Femm, Horace Femm.” He manages to put both m’s into it both times.
Gloria Stuart is kind of a wet fish, but Lillian Bond is great. And I loved the bickering in the car in the opening scene, it reminds me of a Noel Coward play. Who knew that Raymond Massey had that kind of comedy in him.
Ah, well, now I can go to bed and dream of great big drafty dark houses in rainstorms. So . . . romantic!
Roddy
Sadly, I don’t have TCM, so while you were enjoying the movie I was reduced to reading about it on IMDb. What I learned:
Karloff was billed by a single name, like Cher or Madonna!
Elspeth Dudgeon has dozens of movies to her credit on IMDb, including “Woman Whose Skunk Was Stolen” in Zoo in Budapest, but on most of the entries she is listed as “(uncredited)”. For a contemporary actor this would almost certainly mean she was an extra, but in the '30s and '40s actors were not always credited for what today would be considered principal roles.
The lead actress, Gloria Stuart, is a founding member of the Screen Actors Guild, and played a principal role in Titanic 65 years after making this film, for which she became the oldest actress ever to be nominated for an Academy Award.