![]() ![]() ![]() This film originally came about due to the fact that both Hammer and Castle were in pre-production on their own separate versions of The Old Dark House, and thought it would be silly to release them at the same time. Also, can I vote for John Waters to host that investigation? Priestley novel) are at odds too! The casts are different, the external time periods and social landscapes diverge- how can these films be held up against one another? I’m always disappointed by those who would hold up a director like William Castle to one such as James Whale and say: OMGZ, not the same, therefore his work sucks! I think if we were to examine the oeuvres of Whale and Castle, we actually might find more similarities than differences. The films themselves, while based on the same source material (the J.B. These are two totally different directors, from different countries, different sexualities, different pasts, different film training. Of course William Castle’s version doesn’t hold up to James Whale’s! Why would it? No. Here we meet the classic old argument of remakes, which one is better/worse, compare/contrast, competition and listing: one more binary discussion that defeats the enjoyment of cinema. Whether that was part of their contract or not, is something that I was not able to verify. He certainly felt involved enough to credit himself twice in the opening sequence and give Anthony Hinds no credit whatsoever. It is startling that a man who loved himself and his work as much as he did never mentions this film. The suspension of the Castle Gimmick engine may be a reason why Castle neglects to discuss the film in his personal materials. Since this was a combined effort between Castle (and Columbia Pictures) and Hammer, his High Functioning promotional machine was likely suspended for the duration of the picture. As popular as William Castle was, having hit after hit in the states, he was not allowed to stand alone with this project. Having made a name for himself ten years earlier by purchasing the screen rights to Nigel Kneale’s Sci-Fi serial Quatermass & the Pit from the BBC, he had turned that into a hot Hammer property. William Castle was the Prince of Publicity.ĭark House’s straightforward campaign was more than likely due to the presence of co-producer Anthony Hinds, son of William Hinds, founder of Hammer Films. ![]() The films he made before and after Dark House were marketed to the hilt, as per Castle custom, so it stands to reason that there were other forces that disallowed him his usual “zest for promotion.” His film in 1962, Zotz!, distributed Zotz coins to patrons while Castle’s follow up to Dark House, 13 Frightened Girls aka The Candy Web (1963) held a contest for “teenage diplomats”: international contest winners, each one starring in their own country’s version of the film, speaking her lines in her own language. If you’re wondering about the gimmick for The Old Dark House it didn’t have one (likely to Castle’s dismay). One might even argue that the movie theater itself served as William Castle’s own Old Dark House, allowing him to haunt every square inch of it with each new gimmick or invention he came up with, from Emergo! to Punishment Polls. Castle had a history with Old Dark House-style films going back to House on Haunted Hill (1959) and 13 Ghosts (1960). Castle goes for a more slapstick approach while Whale’s is savage and biting (although certainly humorous).ġ963’s The Old Dark House was the first (and last) collaboration William Castle had with Hammer studios. In their review, the Silver Screenings blog summed up this horror comedy perfectly stating, “he only trouble with this film, in our opinion, is that you’re supposed to figure out which character is a murderer but you end up having too much fun to even try.” Castle invests the same joy and dark glee in 1963’s Old Dark House as James Whale did in 1932, but clearly each director had a different goal. Energetic and engaging, the film is delightful to watch. Unfairly maligned by the director himself (Castle doesn’t even mention the film in his deliciously readable autobiography “Step Right Up!: I’m Going to Scare the Pants Off America”), this film has an undeservedly poor reputation. The only thing more delightful than Charles Addams’ animated credit sequence in The Old Dark House (William Castle, 1963) is the next 84 minutes. ![]()
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |