Comedy thriller. American Tom Penderel is invited by his friend Casper Femm for a weekend at his family’s remote mansion on darkest Dartmoor. Once there, he meets the other members of Casper’s family, who all seem to be teetering on the verge of insanity. He also discovers that Casper has been killed just before his arrival!
Production Details
A William Castle-Hammer production released by Columbia Pictures
Copyright MCMLXII Columbia Pictures Corporation – All rights reserved
MPAA Approved Certificate No. 20056
The characters and incidents portrayed and the names used herein are fictitious and any similarity to the name, character, or history of any person is entirely accidental and unintentional
Based on “The Old Dark House” by J.B.Priestly
RCA Sound Recording
Produced at Bray Studios England
Eastmancolor 86 mins
Filming Began: 14th May 1962
UK Release: 16th September 1966
Studio:
Bray Studios, Down Place, Oakley Green, Berkshire
Location:
Oakley Court Hotel, Windsor Road, Oakley Green, Windsor, Berkshire – Exteriors used for “Femm Hall”
60-61 Cheyne Walk, Chelsea, London – The Courtyard House used for the exterior of the “Mayfair Casino”
The Embankment, River Thames, London
Stills from film
Click an image for enlarged slideshow
Cast & Crew
Red = Uncredited
Crew | Name | Age at Release | Birth | Death | Age | Hammer Credits | Uncredited | Total Hammer | |
Assistant Art Director | Burt Evans | 3 | 3 | ||||||
Assistant Art Director | Kenneth Ryan | 1 | 6 | 7 | |||||
Assistant Boom Operator | Ken Nightingall | 37 | 21 Apr 1929 | 19 May 2020 | 91 | 1 | 2 | 3 | |
Assistant Director | Douglas Hermes | 43 | 28 Jun 1923 | 1981 | 57 | 6 | 6 | ||
Assistant Make-up | Jim Evans | 56 | 19 Mar 1910 | Dec 1987 | 67 | 1 | 1 | 2 | |
Associate Producer | Donna Holloway | 48 | 18 Apr 1918 | 27 Sep 1984 | 66 | 1 | 1 | ||
Associate Producer | Basil Keys | 49 | 1917 | 2009 | 92 | 4 | 1 | 5 | |
Camera Maintenance | John Kerley | 2 | 2 | ||||||
Camera Operator | Moray Grant | 48 | 13 Nov 1917 | 17 Sep 1977 | 59 | 29 | 29 | ||
Chargehand Electrician | Vic Hemmings | 2 | 2 | ||||||
Chief Electrician | Jack Curtis | 3 | 24 | 27 | |||||
Clapper Loader | George Davies | 1 | 1 | ||||||
Construction Manager | https://www.hammer-graveyard.org.uk/arthur-banks/# | 19 | 29 | 48 | |||||
Continuity | Pauline Harlow (Wise) | 28 | 1938 | 01.01.1938 | 86 | 11 | 3 | 14 | |
Director | William Castle | 52 | 24 Apr 1914 | 31 May 1977 | 63 | 2 | 2 | ||
Director of Photography | https://www.hammer-graveyard.org.uk/arthur-grant/# | 51 | 1915 | 1972 | 57 | 33 | 33 | ||
First Assistant Editor | https://www.hammer-graveyard.org.uk/chris-barnes/# | 28 | 1938 | 5 Jun 2009 | 71 | 21 | 12 | 33 | |
Focus Puller | Walter Byatt | 36 | Oct 1929 | 11 Jan 2024 | 94 | 1 | 1 | 2 | |
Grip | Albert Cowlard | 43 | 1923 | 01.01.1923 | 101 | 1 | 10 | 11 | |
Hair Stylist | Frieda Steiger | 62 | 29 Dec 1903 | 19 Aug 1993 | 89 | 28 | 28 | ||
Make-up Artist | https://www.hammer-graveyard.org.uk/roy-ashton/# | 57 | 16 Apr 1909 | 10 Jan 1995 | 85 | 36 | 4 | 40 | |
Master Plasterer | Stan Banks | 6 | 6 | ||||||
Music Composed & Conducted by | Benjamin Frankel | 60 | 31 Jan 1906 | 12 Feb 1973 | 67 | 3 | 3 | ||
Producer | William Castle | 52 | 24 Apr 1914 | 31 May 1977 | 63 | 2 | 2 | ||
Production Accountant | Ken Gordon | 2 | 9 | 11 | |||||
Production Designer | https://www.hammer-graveyard.org.uk/bernard-robinson/# | 54 | 28 Jul 1912 | 2 Mar 1970 | 57 | 45 | 4 | 49 | |
Production Manager | John Draper | 2 | 1 | 3 | |||||
Production Secretary | Maureen White | 36 | 1930 | 01.01.1930 | 94 | 1 | 5 | 6 | |
Property Master | Tom Money | 49 | 1917 | 1974 | 57 | 2 | 21 | 23 | |
Props Buyer | Eric Hillier | 46 | 1920 | 1975 | 55 | 17 | 17 | ||
Screenplay | Robert Dillon | 33 | 23 Oct 1932 | 23.10.1932 | 91 | 1 | 1 | ||
Second Assistant Director | Dominic Fulford | 47 | 19 Aug 1919 | 23 Apr 2007 | 87 | 1 | 6 | 7 | |
Second Assistant Editor | Pat Foster | 1 | 1 | ||||||
Sound Camera Operator | H.C. Allen | 1 | 1 | ||||||
Sound Editor | James Groom | 41 | 1925 | 17 May 2016 | 91 | 13 | 2 | 15 | |
Sound Maintenance | Charles Bouvet | 59 | 27 Oct 1906 | 1978 | 71 | 8 | 8 | ||
Sound Recordist | https://www.hammer-graveyard.org.uk/jock-may/# | 61 | 1905 | 8 Jan 1991 | 86 | 30 | 1 | 31 | |
Special Effects | https://www.hammer-graveyard.org.uk/les-bowie/# | 52 | 10 Nov 1913 | 27 Jan 1979 | 65 | 30 | 13 | 43 | |
Special Effects | Kit West | 30 | 2 Jun 1936 | 16 Apr 2016 | 79 | 1 | 7 | 8 | |
Still Photographer | Tom Edwards | 1999 | 29 | 29 | |||||
Studio Manager | A.F. Kelly | 4 | 4 | ||||||
Supervising Editor | https://www.hammer-graveyard.org.uk/james-needs/# | 46 | 17 Oct 1919 | 4 Feb 2003 | 83 | 110 | 1 | 111 | |
Third Assistant Director | https://www.hammer-graveyard.org.uk/hugh-harlow/# | 27 | 17 Jun 1939 | 17.06.1939 | 85 | 5 | 33 | 38 | |
Title Backgrounds | Charles Addams | 54 | 7 Jan 1912 | 29 Sep 1988 | 76 | 1 | 1 | ||
Wardrobe Mistress | https://www.hammer-graveyard.org.uk/rosemary-burrows/# | 36 | 5 | 41 | |||||
Wardrobe Supervisor | https://www.hammer-graveyard.org.uk/molly-arbuthnot/# | 57 | 19 Dec 1908 | 31 Oct 2001 | 92 | 48 | 5 | 53 | |
Cast | Name | Age at Release | Birth | Death | Age | Hammer Credits | Uncredited | Total Hammer | |
Agatha Femm | Joyce Grenfell | 56 | 10 Feb 1910 | 30 Nov 1979 | 69 | 1 | 1 | ||
Casino Concierge | https://www.hammer-graveyard.org.uk/john-harvey/# | 54 | 27 Sep 1911 | 19 Jul 1982 | 70 | 12 | 1 | 13 | |
Casino Employee | Jack Arrow | 4 | 4 | ||||||
Casino Patron | https://www.hammer-graveyard.org.uk/aileen-lewis/# | 52 | 9 Apr 1914 | 12 Feb 2014 | 99 | 1 | 6 | 7 | |
Casino patron | Miles Silverton | 79 | 3 Apr 1887 | 18 Apr 1972 | 85 | 1 | 1 | ||
Casino Patron | Jim O’Brady | 59 | 13 May 1907 | 1 Jan 1991 | 83 | 18 | 18 | ||
Casino Patron | Joyce Everson | 40 | 17 Aug 1926 | 16 Jan 2004 | 77 | 1 | 1 | ||
Casino Patron | Harry Phipps | 55 | 1911 | 3 | 3 | ||||
Casino Patron | Angela Kay | 1 | 1 | ||||||
Casino Patron | John Adams | 4 | 4 | ||||||
Casper/Jasper | Peter Bull | 54 | 21 Mar 1912 | 20 May 1984 | 72 | 1 | 1 | ||
Cecily Femm | Janette Scott | 27 | 14 Dec 1938 | 14.12.1938 | 85 | 2 | 2 | ||
Croupier | John Lynn | 3 | 3 | ||||||
Gambler | Amy Dalby | 78 | 3 Jan 1888 | 10 Mar 1969 | 81 | 1 | 1 | 2 | |
Morgan Femm | Danny Green | 63 | 26 May 1903 | 1973 | 69 | 4 | 4 | ||
Morgana Femm | Fenella Fielding | 38 | 17 Nov 1927 | 11 Sep 2018 | 90 | 1 | 1 | ||
Potiphar Femm | Mervyn Johns | 67 | 18 Feb 1899 | 6 Sep 1992 | 93 | 2 | 2 | ||
Roderick Femm | Robert Morley | 58 | 26 May 1908 | 3 Jun 1992 | 84 | 1 | 1 | ||
Tom Penderel | Tom Poston | 44 | 17 Oct 1921 | 30 Apr 2007 | 85 | 1 | 1 |
Original Poster
Click to enlarge
Footnotes
With typical immodesty, William Castle allowed himself a credit for Producer/Director and then another one solely for Director. On the other hand, it might just have been an error on the part of those responsible for the titles.
Hammer seemed to be having a bit of a rough ride at this time. The Phantom of the Opera was not doing good business at the box office and they still had two completed films (The Damned and Cash on Demand) awaiting release. The Old Dark House made the total three and in Britain it had to wait until 1966 before it escaped into cinemas as the second half of a double bill with the spoof western Big Deal at Dodge City.
Janette Scott, who is the daughter of actress Thora Hird, got a bit of a shock when she walked into her bathroom at Bray Studios on the first day of shooting. As a gesture of welcome, William Castle had filled it with dead flowers! Castle himself was one of Hollywood’s great showmen and revelled in gimmicks and tricks he played on cinema audiences. He started reasonably conventionally by using 3-D in his westernFort Ti (1953), then progressed to more outlandish ideas:-
1). Macabre (1958) carried a $1,000,000 insurance policy for anyone dying of fright while watching it;
2). House on Haunted Hill (1958) was presented with “Emergo”‘, a device by which a cardboard skeleton was swung above the heads of the audience at appropriately scary moments;
3). “Percepto” was used for showings of The Tingler (1959). It involved certain cinema seats being wired up and electrical jolts being administered to their unfortunate occupants;
4). 13 Ghosts (1960) came complete with “Illusion-0” and audiences were equipped with “ghost viewers” (anaglyph spectacles) so that they could see the phantoms on the screen;
5). A clock which appeared on-screen during the “fright break”‘ in Homicidal (1961) allowed the audience to flee the cinema before the film proceeded to its horrific climax;
6). Audiences to Mr Sardonicus (1961) were invited to take part in the “Punishment Poll” and vote thumbs up or thumbs down to decide the villain’s fate. In reality, of course, the film only had one ending anyway!
Castle’s other work includes The Night Walker (1964), starring Barbara Stanwyck, and two films starring Joan Crawford – Strait-Jacket (1963) and I Saw What You Did (1965). All his films are worth seeing, if only to wonder at the sheer bare-faced cheek of the man!