Burn Me a Thick One, Pete
The Old Dark House (1932)
directed by James Whale
rating: 3 out of 5 cravats
on DVD from Netflix
Now I know the movie that Charles Laughton simmered at low heat for twenty years before he made The Night of the Hunter. Here he plays Sir William Porterhouse, and whenever I eat a porterhouse steak in the future, I will always be reminded of Laughton's overfed indignation at the looks he gets for bringing along a chorus girl. If there is anything more graceful than a beautiful woman in a long satin dress running through the shadows of a lamp-lit hall, then grace would have to have a name, and be someone specific - one movie, a particular face. The moment almost slips through - Whale's camp haunts the film as surely as the rain - but the trim perversity of a few perfect scenes suggests every resonant, timeless apparition since.
directed by James Whale
rating: 3 out of 5 cravats
on DVD from Netflix
Now I know the movie that Charles Laughton simmered at low heat for twenty years before he made The Night of the Hunter. Here he plays Sir William Porterhouse, and whenever I eat a porterhouse steak in the future, I will always be reminded of Laughton's overfed indignation at the looks he gets for bringing along a chorus girl. If there is anything more graceful than a beautiful woman in a long satin dress running through the shadows of a lamp-lit hall, then grace would have to have a name, and be someone specific - one movie, a particular face. The moment almost slips through - Whale's camp haunts the film as surely as the rain - but the trim perversity of a few perfect scenes suggests every resonant, timeless apparition since.
posted by NPK at 8:02 PM
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