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DokBrowne [ 6.0 ]
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More of a "people gathering in a house with a killer on the loose" drawing room murder mystery than a horror-comedy. This is 3/4ths of a Bob Hope vehicle, after his growing stature in pictures like "Never Say Die" and "Some Like it Hot" (not that one), but before his shtick became all-encompassing in the following year's "Road to Singapore". As such it's akin to the MGM-era Marx Bros. movies when Thalberg watered down their act by making them second bananas to a generic love story, only of course nowhere as golden as movies like "A Night at the Opera". Bob cracks wise but the old dark house premise takes higher priority, to the point where he pretty much turns into a straight man for the final stretch so we can take the suspense seriously.
And it's all okay, with a nice look to it, but flavorless; watch 1932's actual "The Old Dark House" instead. What's most notable about this one is Hope's meta humor. It may or may not be the earliest occasion of movie characters talking savvy about movie clichés (technically radio cliches since he's a radio actor but he's applying them to the movie we're watching), but it's definitely the oldest one I've seen, beating out many of Hope's subsequent '40s-era "Road" flicks. A lot of his dialogue is essentially "Scream" nearly 60 years ahead of time, so it has some historical value, I suppose, and Hope's inherent geniality levies the movie's lack of inspiration
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| Weighted Rating | : 6.6 |
| No. Ratings | : 1 | |
| No. Reviews | : 1 | |
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