It's my impression The Old Dark House by JB Priestley is considered an icon of classic filmdom. Thought lost for many years, the 1932 film was found in 1968 and has recently undergone a 4K restoration. The movie opens with a couple and their male friend driving on a rough country road in a horrific rainstorm. Fortunately they come upon a large, old house and seek refuge. The three are reluctantly admitted into the residence by a less than accommodating elderly couple and a frightening butler played by Boris Karloff. Shortly there after a second car arrives at the house with an odd young couple also seeking refuge. We find there are more people in the house than originally thought and what  transpires between the 5 travelers and the residents is ... well old and dark. Icon it may be and worth the watch, but not on my list of favorites.  Billed as both drama and comedy, it's rather goofy and mundane in terms of shock value.

If you're a fan of The Thin Man series of films starring William Powell, you'll find this an almost identical scenario with the notable exception of Myrna Loy. Based on the popular 1920 & 30s series of detective novels by S.S. Van Dine, The Kennel Murder Case is the last of four such movies starring Powell as Philo Vance. This final production is more modern and feels like a pilot episode for the Thin Man franchise launched just a year later. Philo Vance is a rich dog breeder/lover whose crime-solving prowess is regularly tapped by police for help with their most baffling cases. The kennel slant to the story is pretty lame in this adaptation, probably serving more as ploy than plot to test crowd reaction to man's best friend. Voila Asta? And the film is a tad hokey particularly in the manufacture of scale models which is reminiscent of Doc Brown in "Back to the Future." But it should serve well on a rainy weekend.

Dashing young doctor Jekyll is a raging success. He lectures at the medical college, lives in a mausoleum of a house with staff and plays a giant pipe organ proficiently. Add to this his betrothal to one of London's most eligible debutantes. Can it get any better? Well, yes. The fiance's father is resistant to give his permission and Jekyll is obsessed with experiments in the duality of human physiology, that of good and evil. But what could go wrong? Surely you know the story. I'm not that familiar with Frederic March's early filmography, but I'm inclined to believe this film is something of a cornerstone in his long career. He's good as Jekyll but he's superlative as Jekyll's alter ego Hyde. Some schmaltzy scenes and aged print aside, the production is a tribute to the advancement of movies in 1931.

In World War II Great Britain a dedicated crew of operating room nurses and doctors continue to perform their vital tasks amid the stress of German bomb attacks. It's a close-knit ensemble whose lives intersect in a multiplicity of ways but take a dramatic turn on the operating table one fateful morning. Enter Alastair Sim in the person of a Scotland Yard detective with whimsical, unorthodox investigative methods. Much due to the performance of Sim it's a delightful romp of a mystery which falters a bit toward the end but nonetheless delivers solid entertainment.

Anthony Newlander can attest to the adage, "Money can't by happiness." We open to find the successful industrialist surrounded by "friends and well-wishers" aboard his magnificent yacht anchored off the French Riviera. He's all too aware they are there not because they like him but for financial gain. Fed up with the charade he instructs the captain to clear the ship and set sail. That's when fate steps in. Gazing out over the water from his private balcony he hears the screams of a drowning man and instinctively jumps in to save him. They make it to shore and the plot is set for a sweet irony: "Which of the two men was drowning and which was saved?" This is a delightful romantic comedy which leads me to think the world might be a better place if there were more like it.

Johnny Kelly (Gig Young) is a man in crisis. He's a second generation Chicago cop disillusioned with his job, his marriage and his prospects who seeks solace in a nightclub dancer and direction in a kingpin lawyer with underworld connections. It's a path to nowhere which on one Windy City night intersects with a convergence of disparate denizens no less in crisis and perhaps far less centered in their own realities. Mala Powers displays her versatility as the aging nightclub vamp. Edward Arnold, William Talman (Perry Mason) and Marie Windsor intrigue in a villainous tryst. Chill Wills serves as the conscience of a cop. And the man in the window is metaphor for the human experience.

Unsure of a man's guilt in the murder of a beloved small town minister, Prosecutor Dana Andrews is out to prove his innocence even if doing so means placing his chances for career promotion at risk. Fortunately he's got devoted wife Jane Wyatt by his side. But the cops are sure they have their man and the town is out for blood. The film has a cast of A-list Hollywood actors and director Kazan sports a distinguished portfolio. The story however is a bit stale. If you don't like surprises, this one's for you. Good for a rainy Sunday.

It is said, "absolute power corrupts absolutely." So when wannabe outsider Willie Stark decided to run for treasurer of a "typical backwoods county seat" in Louisiana the corrupt machine in charge wasn't amused. To make it worse, word around the state was that Willie was different; he was an honest man. That attracted an adoring press and a campaign of harassment from political foes which culminated in a loss at the polls for Stark. But the story doesn't end there, it's just the beginning chapter in a saga of wealth, greed, power, graft and -- you guessed it -- corruption. Somewhat maudlin and melodramatic, it stands as Broderick Crawford's magnum opus and captured the Oscar for Best Picture in 1949. Based on the life and times of Huey Long.

Nightmare is a tale of two movies. To the consternation of fellow boarding school students, a teenage girl is racked with nightmares of her insane-asylum-committed mother. She decides to leave school and return to the family home, a large estate with built-in housekeeper, cook and chauffeur. But matters only get worse and the tale changes from her issues to those of the people around her. It is my steadfast rule to never need spoiler alerts attached to a review. But I can tell you the second act of this two-act play is far more engaging than the first. I suppose that is as it should be except act one is so contrived it taints a compelling performance by Moira Redmond (Jigsaw) in slightly less-contrived act two.

Comedy, mystery, drama, crime? Take your pick in this introspective look at a cross-section of society. Gosford Park is a commingling of vulgar, rich, old-money British aristocracy with vulgar, penniless, old-money British aristocracy with vulgar nouveau riche Americans and a large staff of vulgar downstairs servants. They're all commingled for a weekend do at the landed estate of His Lordship Sir William McCordle in the mid 1930s. Somewhere in the mix there are some sympathetic characters but you'll have to look hard. Nevertheless there is no shortage of refined British protocol to serve as glue for the event. Director Robert Altman creates a seamless continuum from a-z with which film fans might indulge in rapt cinematic voyeurism.

I try hard not to read synopses or watch trailers prior to viewing a movie. So why was I experiencing deja vu in the first 15 minutes of Ninth Guest? A few minutes later the been-here-done-that feeling turned into a flat realization: “Oh! This is a rip-off of Agatha Christie’s 'And Then There Were None!'" But wait! Christie’s book came later. Huh? Draw your own conclusions. As far as the two films are concerned, they’re both entertaining but I prefer “Guest.” “None’s” Barry Fitzgerald is a tiresome, typecast leprechaun. “Guest’s” set design and wardrobe is a tribute to art deco of the period. Both casts hold up their end of the bargain but “Guest’s” dialogue is between party goers familiar with one another and its penthouse setting makes it the winner.

Perhaps the overarching question about this movie is, “Who’s the stranger?” A man appears in a small New England college town ostensibly to hunt for antiques but with ulterior motives. At the same time a shady character arrives in town and mixes it up with a relatively recent member of the college faculty who is preparing for his wedding to a local debutante, the daughter of a Supreme Court justice. As he does so often, Orwell directs and stars in the movie. But directorial talent cannot overcome a transparent plot and an ending you can see coming a mile away in yet another story built on the prospect of post war insinuations.

A May-September marriage, while the joy of elderly wife Freda's life, isn't viewed so favorably by her immediate family and attorney; indeed the young husband, Edward "Teddy" Bare (Dirk Bogarde) is an unctuous doter. The plot quickly thickens when Freda announces she's changing her will which Teddy takes to mean she's cutting him out. What we come to realize about dear Teddy is that in addition to being unctuous, he has other more complex personality issues.