the old dark house cast

Universal Studios producer Carl Laemmle invited screenwriter Benn Levy from England to Universal City after being impressed with Levy's screenplay for Waterloo Bridge (1931) which was also directed by James Whale. Levy was loaned to Paramount Pictures, where he worked on the screenplay for Devil and the Deep. When Levy finished work on the film, he returned to Universal to start work on The Old Dark House.[2] The film is based on 1927 novel Benighted by J. B. Priestley, a novel about post-World War I disillusionment.[3] The film follows the original plot of the book, while adding levels of comedy to the story.[3]
The film appeared on Universal's schedule in February 1932 and the script was submitted to the Hays Office in March. Filming finished by May 1932.[2] Whale worked with many collaborators from his previous films including Arthur Edeson, who was the cinematographer for Frankenstein (1931) and Waterloo Bridge (1931), set designer Charles D. Hall, who also worked with Whale on Frankenstein, and playwright R. C. Sherriff, who wrote the original play for Journey's End which Whale made into a film of the same name in 1930.[4][5]        watch more