The Old Dark House (1932)

[RobertLuketic]

hopefully, it will be ready by next year!

The deal announcement comes as, in a major move for horror fans, the Cohen Media Group V.P. archivist Tim Lanza revealed at Lyon’s Lumière Festival that the Cohen Film Collection is working with Universal on the restoration of James Whale’s 1932 “The Old Dark House.” Written by J.B. Priestley, the comedy/gothic horror film stars Boris Karloff, in his first credited role, given his name was left of “Frankenstein,” Charles Laughton, Gloria Stewart, 63 years before she starred in “Titanic,” and Raymond Massey.

“The Old Dark House” was considered lost until director Curtis Harrington discovered material in the late 60s. CFC will be using material stored in the Library of Congress, said Lanza. It plans a 4K restoration, he add

http://variety.com/2016/film/global/...ca-1201887790/

[MJD64]

Great news! James Whale is my favorite director of classic horror and The Old Dark House completes his quartet of brilliant horror on blu-ray.

[Bates_Motel]

Wonder if they will port over the two commentaries from the DVD, especially Gloria Stuart's?

[1godzillafan]

Oh hell yes. More James Whale on blu-ray is always a good thing! And if one movie deserves to be restored, it's The Old Dark House!

[Cranston37]

Have a potato!

[The Great Owl]

Awesome news!

[jacksparrow900]

Between this finally getting a restoration and the The Vampire Bat restored by UCLA and hopefully on blu ray by April from Film Detectives. All I need is for Universal to release their 4k restoration of The Last Warning and hopefully working to restore the 25 version of Phantom since the first reel of the 25 version in Prizma color was found in 35mm and preserved last year.UCLA holds all the show at home prints in 16mm. We could finally have the 25 version as it was first shown.

[Joe Karlosi]

Amazing! This is the news I have been dreaming about for decades now! GREAT!

[charlieray1]

Wow! I love this movie -- pretty exciting news for a movie once believed to be lost.

[El_Fez]

Okay, yeah - I'm down! I caught this at the SIFF a couple of years ago and I loved it. Will go into my horror rotation STAT!

[javi92]

Universal, please do this restoration right.

[ravenus]

Terrific news. I have only seen this film in a crappy public domain streaming. I would be more than interested in a good blu-ray

[MartinScorsesefan]

Without doubt one of the top five horror films of the 1930's. This is fantastic news.

[Daveismyhero]

This has been my holy grail for restoration for years, so I am very excited about this. I hope they have some amazing extras to share!

[Joe Karlosi]

It's been 7 months. Has anyone heard anything new about this release? Is it still going to happen, or was it just a rumor?

[SeanJoyce]

The DVD is one of the most treasured pieces of my collection. If you're half as much a fan of the Halloween season as I am, then The Old Dark House is a necessity. Everything about it...from the cast, tone (macabre + quirky humor) and impeccable atmosphere (thunderstorms have never been so delicious) is just utter perfection.

I'm elated to own it on physical media, but I'll hop all over a fully-loaded Blu-ray.

[lilboyblu]

Originally Posted by Joe Karlosi

It's been 7 months. Has anyone heard anything new about this release? Is it still going to happen, or was it just a rumor?

Considering the age of the film and the poor shape that the surviving elements probably are in, I'll venture to guess that more than 7 months are going to be needed for a proper restoration. If you want it right now though, you can still pick up the DVD.

[Vlad Draculi]

This is going to bre coming out to BD? OH HELL YEAH!!!

[Joe Karlosi]

Originally Posted by lilboyblu

Considering the age of the film and the poor shape that the surviving elements probably are in, I'll venture to guess that more than 7 months are going to be needed for a proper restoration. If you want it right now though, you can still pick up the DVD.

I've had the DVD since it was first released in 1999.

I understand that it takes time... I was just wondering if this was still a "go", or was it just a rumor.

[oddbox83]

Originally Posted by lilboyblu

Considering the age of the film and the poor shape that the surviving elements probably are in, I'll venture to guess that more than 7 months are going to be needed for a proper restoration. If you want it right now though, you can still pick up the DVD.

Without surviving master materials, a restoration of this sort (if they are going the whole hog) will probably involve assessing various sources for quality and cut status to find the best prints, dupe negs or a mix of for best quality. That'll be rather time consuming even before actual scanning and restoration.