BORIS KARLOFF

By: Brian Thomas
Review Date: Thursday, September 28, 2006

With FRANKENSTEIN, Universal Pictures made an unexpected star of character actor Boris Karloff, and it's as a Universal star he'll likely always be remembered. When the United States Post Office chose to feature the heavily trademarked Universal Monsters on postage stamps, Karloff's image adorned two of the stamp designs. But Universal wasn't the only Hollywood studio to exploit Karloff's horror stardom. Universal found him a valuable commodity to loan out to MGM for THE MASK OF FU MANCHU, Fox for CHARLIE CHAN AT THE OPERA and Warner Bros. for THE WALKING DEAD. In the 1940s, Karloff was the star of several of Val Lewton's horror classics at RKO. But it was at Columbia Pictures where Karloff found a second home of sorts for a disjointed series of features.

1935 was a big year for Karloff, as he starred in THE RAVEN and THE BRIDE OF FRANKENSTEIN for Universal, and THE BLACK ROOM for Columbia. Although the other two are more memorable, BLACK ROOM is a minor classic, and is somewhat of a hybrid between Karloff's Universal programmers and the Lewton pictures yet to come. A period picture, it begins in the late 18th century with a pair of twin boys born to the Baron Berghman (Henry Kolker), who can take no joy in the event as it seems to be the fulfillment of a dreaded prophesy (FRANKENSTEIN's Edward Van Sloan is on hand for the delivery). The Berghman family began with one twin brother slaying the other in the castle's Black Room, and it's said it will end the same way. Growing to adulthood, brothers Anton and Gregor (both played by Karloff with minimal and seamless camera trickery) are as much different in temperament as they are alike in appearance. Wicked Gregor becomes a hated tyrant to the district he governs, while traveling scholar Anton is beloved by all. With the peasants plotting his assassination, Gregor puts into motion a plot to abdicate to his brother, after which he will immediately murder him and take his place, easily adopting Anton's manners and paralyzed right arm.


Karloff shines in this dual role, showing off an ability to project warmth as well as chills, often transforming from one to the other and back again within the same scene. Add to that the assured direction of Roy William Neill (FRANKENSTEIN MEETS THE WOLF MAN) moving through the ornate studio sets and furnishings, and you've got a very enjoyable exploration of man's dual nature. The only negative element is in the climax, which feels slightly rushed.

Columbia liked the results so much that they had Karloff go from Jekyll to Hyde once again in THE MAN THEY COULD NOT HANG (1939). Karloff, who played more doctors and scientists than perhaps any other actor in movie history, stars as Dr. Henryk Savaard, who is experimenting with a process for killing people medically to bring them back to life after surgery. Unfortunately, he's only halfway through this process with his first human volunteer when the police break in and arrest him for murder. Society is not ready for his methods (a form of which are in practice today), and Savaard is hanged. However, his assistant claims the body and uses Savaard's process to fix his broken neck and revive him. Much like in THE RAVEN, the judge and jurors that convicted the late Dr. Savaard are all invited to his home, where he confines them and plans to kill them with a variety of death traps.

Karloff is again terrific at making the journey from benevolence to menace, with help from an impassioned courtroom speech, and the underrated director Nick Grinde keeps things moving along briskly. But too much effort goes into setting up and explaining the plot and too little time is left for revenge gimmicks. Later pictures like THEATER OF BLOOD would learn their lessons from this one.

Universal took note of Karloff's success at Columbia and tried unsuccessfully to get him into a Jekyll & Hyde role in BLACK FRIDAY. Meanwhile, Columbia teamed Karloff and Grinde again for the similar THE MAN WITH NINE LIVES (previously issued separately by Sony on DVD) and BEFORE I HANG (both 1940). BEFORE stars Karloff as kindly old Dr. John Garth, a sort of predecessor to Kevorkian convicted of a mercy killing. The prison doctor (Edward Van Sloan) convinces the warden to let Garth continue his experiments in life extending serums. On the eve of execution, Garth uses his serum on himself so that his work will not be lost, but is surprised by a last minute reprieve from the governor. He's surprised again when the killer's blood he used in the serum has not only made him 20 years younger, but infected him with the same psychopathic urges. Karloff outdoes his previous transformations here, greatly abetted by atmospheric camerawork by Benjamin Kline. Karloff doesn't just go from old to middle aged, but has several scenes where he gets to drop his humanity to let evil climb to the surface. Kline would reteam with Karloff years later as a regular contributor to the THRILLER television series.

Karloff would team with Peter Lorre and Bela Lugosi to menace radio bandleader Kay Kyser in the comedy thriller YOU'LL FIND OUT for RKO, then head back to Columbia for his weirdest picture there, THE DEVIL COMMANDS (also released earlier), before finding success on Broadway in ARSENIC AND OLD LACE. He was too busy to join the film adaptation of ARSENIC, but happened to be free in 1942 for Columbia's knock-off project THE BOOGIE MAN WILL GET YOU, once again teaming Karloff with Lorre. In an old New England inn, crazy Prof. Billings (Karloff) is experimenting on dim-witted traveling salesmen who happen by in an attempt to create a superman to fight the Nazis. Daffy antique hound Winnie Slade (Jeff Donnell) buys the inn on an impulse, agreeing to let Billings and a couple of other loons stay on, but her ex-husband Bill (Larry Parks) shows up to interfere. When Bill finds Billings' latest "martyr" in the cellar lab, local sheriff (and everything else) Dr. Lorencz (Lorre) is called in, but he ends up going into a partnership with Billings instead of arresting him. Lighthearted mayhem ensues, and while not much of it is particularly funny, it's a decent 66-minute diversion for fans of Karloff and Lorre.

Sony is issuing this quartet for the first time on DVD in a no-frills 2-disc set without even a chapter menu to boast of. However, all four are given English subtitle options, and fine transfers, except for one section in the middle of BEFORE I HANG which shows quite a bit of grain and looks like it was cut in from another source print.

Copyright © 2006 Brian Thomas, author of the massive book VideoHound's DRAGON: ASIAN ACTION & CULT FLICKS.
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