Theme: Old Dark House Thrillers

During the 1920s, the stage developed its own genre of thriller/comedies that took place in large gloomy old mansions. These were soon adapted onto film beginning in the mid-1920s. The genre peaked in the 1930s and 40s but died away after that apart from occasional stragglers.

The plots of these would usually centre a diverse group of relatives or interested parties; an innocent heroine; a criminal usually known as some type of animal; a gloomy old mansion as setting; and a balance of comedy and thrills (although some of the films are pure thrillers and feature no comedy, while later efforts of the 1930s/40s emphasise more of the comedy). Supernatural elements do appear but these are always revealed to be mundane in nature with absurdly contrived end explanations.