p e n g u i n d e v i l

The Old Dark House! James Whale and Boris Karloff and more! And I’d never even heard of it… But I quite enjoyed it. From the terrible car ride at the beginning, especially with Melvyn Douglas’ droll responses to the endless complaints of his snotty companions, to the dramatic goings on at the house that they find shelter in.

When the weather disrupts the travel plans of this threesome, they take shelter in the Old Dark House, alone with the eccentric family that lives there, it gets some comical old fashioned drama as it feels like there is some kind of threat around, but it isn’t clear what (or who) that might be. I thought that the characters were all pretty fun, and it just entertaining in general. And then old Saul gets out and the troubles really begin…

A great documentary about a man who seems to be clearly wrongly convicted of a murder and the processes of Texas “Justice” around how that happened. many people bandy about the “thin blue line” shtick as some sort showing of blind loyalty to the police. But, sadly, many times the law isn’t worthy of blind loyalty and this movie shows a classic (and terrible) case of that. Once in which the only loyalty that the police have is to railroading their lies tot he finish line, regardless of the cost to innocence.

A terrible situation all around and some terrible people, on both sides of the law. But a great, and unsettling, movie.