ENDED |
(1931, JAMES WHALE) “It’s alive! It’s
alive!” Colin
Clive’s Henry Frankenstein (“Crazy, am I? We’ll see
whether I’m crazy or not!”) determines to create life
itself, but proper brain procurement proves the sticking
point. Karloff poignantly
conveys the Monster’s
own humanity and terror
beneath Jack Pierce’s
memorably grotesque
makeup. |
(1932, CHARLES BRABIN)
Rampant sadomasochism, galloping nymphomania (from an Asianized Myrna
Loy), and unashamed racism abound in this extravagant fantasy, starring
Karloff as the deranged “yellow devil” of the title. “Bombastic
pulp at its purple best.” – Chicago Reader. |
RETURN TO TOP. (1935, JAMES WHALE) “To a new world of
gods and monsters!” Karloff’s Monster learns from the blind hermit
to enjoy a good smoke and speak (“friend good, fire bad”);
Elsa Lanchester alternates doom-laden pronouncements as author storyteller
Mary Shelley and shrieks as the crazily-coiffed Bride; and Ernest Thesiger’s
avatar of camp Dr. Pretorius rhapsodizes over his bottled homunculi,
in Whale’s ghoulishly humorous masterpiece.
(1932, KARL FREUND) After discovering the 3,000 year
old mummy of Imhotep, buried alive for loving a pharaoh’s daughter,
Bramwell Fletcher starts reading aloud the Scroll of Thoth — big
mistake!, as the now de-mummified Karloff comes back for Zita Johann, the
unluckily spitting image of Boris’ last love. |
RETURN TO TOP. (1935, LEW LANDERS) “Yes, I like to torture,” gleefully
admits surgeon and Poe obsessive Bela Lugosi, even as, rebuffed from
wedding the girl of his dreams, he plans a dinner party for her dad.
While scarred killer Karloff, asked why he had to jam a blow torch into
a man’s face (!), explains that “Sometimes you can't help
things like that.” So gruesome that the U.K. henceforth
banned horror movies altogether!
(1931, ROWLAND V. LEE) Prohibition-era Romeo and Juliet,
as lovers Robert Young and Constance Cummings plan for nuptials, despite
blood feud between their beer baron fathers, Leo Carrillo’s Capone-like
Mike Palmero and, in his last role before the Monster, Karloff’s
Tony Ricca. (1931, CHRISTY CABANNE) Cub reporter Regis Toomey never
gets a break, until he gets hot on the trail of a crooked politician and
his scaaaary henchman, played by. . . who else? Karloff’s “look” prompted
James Whale to cast him as the Monster. |
RETURN TO TOP. (1934, EDGAR G. ULMER) “I’m going to tear
the skin from your body — slowly — bit by bit!” In
his Bauhaus-gone-mad mansion, Karloff’s Poelzig slates honeymooner
Jacqueline Wells for sacrifice in a black mass, but Bela Lugosi, back
from 15 years in a Russian slammer and widowerhood thanks to Boris, has
plans for a skin game of his own. |
(1932, JAMES WHALE) Stranded by torrential rains,
Raymond Massey, Gloria Stuart, and Melvyn Douglas find refuge in a looming
mansion, to be greeted by hulking mute butler Karloff, broadly-accented
Charles Laughton and head-of-the-household Ernest Thesiger, presiding
over the dinner party from Hell. This Library of Congress print is superior
to previous theatrical and video versions.
|
(1945, ROBERT WISE) In 19th century Scotland, pioneer
anatomist Henry Daniell finally tires of cab driver/grave robber Karloff’s
taunts, but then finds he may have gone a corpse too far. Produced by
Val Lewton. RETURN TO TOP. |
(1934, JOHN FORD) Taking a wrong turn in the Mesopotamian
Desert, swaggering sergeant Victor McLaglen and his men — including
John the Baptistwannabe Karloff — carry on, despite sweltering
heat and attrition due to those unseen Arab snipers. Produced by King
Kong’s Merian C. Cooper. (1931, HOWARD HAWKS) Stogie-chomping prison warden
Walter Huston wrings endless variations on “Yeah,” as he
finds Phillips Holmes, the nice kid he put away as D.A., has fallen for
his daughter — but fellow con Karloff’s knife puts rehabilitation
on the back burner. |
RETURN TO TOP. (1968, PETER BOGDANOVICH) Karloff’s veteran
horror star Byron Orlok is ready for the old actor’s home, but
not before one last personal appearance at a drive-in, where sniper Tim
O’Kelly
plans to show off his own brand of terror. Bogdanovich’s official
debut, written to fulfill a picture Karloff owed producer Roger Corman. “Old
and new are fused in a magnificent coup de théatre to touch a
genuinely raw, modern nerve.” – Phil Hardy, Encyclopedia
of Horror Movies. |
(1958, ROBERT DAY) In Victorian
England, novelist Karloff, investigating the case of the Haymarket Strangler — sent
to the gallows twenty years prior for a series of gruesome murders — discovers
that the Strangler was actually. . . |