Whale's directs with wit and atmosphere, Laughton and Thesiger camp it up, and Karloff is extremely creepy in this odd gothic tale that mixes drama and humor in equal portions.

A bit underwhelming considering the talent. But just a bit. The conversation with Saul is incredibly well done.

83.750

This movie had about everything! Humor, scary old houses, weird servants, a rainstorm....even some romance :-)

Another example of fine old-school horror. Love the bright whites and inky blacks of this visual scheme

It's a little disappointing for a Whale flix; just didn't seem like it was all that well conceived. Seemed like they were just setting stuff up but in the end none of it was ever really used. Just some strange stuff happens; in the end it was not all that weird though.

Karloff is great. And I always love the woman doing shadow puppets about a half an hour into it.

Shockingly great old universal horror flick with Boris Karloff and a fun early appearance by Charles Laughton(!) I loved the look of this film too, very stylish.

Laced with deadpan wit, this spins on an even then hoary premise. It exudes more black humor and musty melancholy than full-blown scares, but the pic easily succeeds in living up to its advance rep as a prime showcase for Whale's directorial talents and his ensemble cast's considerable skills. At the time, though, Universal honchos were more obsessed with pushing Karloff, who, fresh from his triumph in _Frankenstein_, not only receives top billing but is the subject of a "Producer's Note"

I still can't understand how a movie with such great actors turned out so very, very BAD.

Weird mix of american horror with british humor [and a touch of german expressionism] - I could see why this was too much for a 30s audience to handle. Good stuff.

Ernest Thesiger rules