Reviews of movies with Boris Karloff.
Monday, June 2nd 2008
Grade: A-
Synopsis: A young man’s shooting spree coincides with an aging film star’s (Boris Karloff) retirement.
Though star Boris Karloff would go on to make several low-budget Mexican horror films, he liked to refer to Targets as his final film, and for good reason; it’s a near perfect bookend to his lengthy career.
The script by director and co-star Peter Bogdanovich has Karloff basically playing himself, an aging genre icon contemplating retirement in the face of a movie-going crowd he no longer recognizes. Bogdanovich’s use of stock footage from Karloff’s old films is a nice touch (albeit one mandated by producer Roger Corman) made better by his decision to reference the films by title, allowing him to point out one of Karloff’s lesser-known career highlights, his collaboration with Howard Hawks in The Criminal Code (1931). MORE »
Posted at 10:29 AM in Movie Reviews and Boris Karloff.
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Tuesday, February 26th 2008
Grade: D+
Synopsis: Dick Tracy (Ralph Byrd) tries to foil a criminal (Boris Karloff) who robs banks with a paralyzing gas.
Dick Tracy Meets Gruesome is watchable thanks to a deliciously cold performance from star Boris Karloff.
Karloff is a tour de force, stopping at nothing to get what he wants, and killing anyone who gets in his way. Never mind the cheesy freeze-frame effect director John Rawlins uses for the nerve gas, Karloff makes up for it by doing a drive by on a woman! Don’t let the supporting cast’s shabby acting get you down, Karloff overcomes it by cremating a flunky!
Karloff is so good, you end up rooting for him over Tracy, which isn’t that hard considering Ralph Byrd seems more like a poor man’s Pat O’Brien than a star in his own right. Byrd simply can’t carry the picture the way Karloff can, and it’s a shame, as watching Karloff’s Gruesome go toe to toe with an equally charismatic Tracy would have been something special. Still, at just over an hour, there’s not much time for regret. MORE »
Posted at 2:20 PM in Movie Reviews and Boris Karloff.
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Monday, February 25th 2008
Grade: C+
Synopsis: During the first Balkan War, a Greek general (Boris Karloff) finds himself quarantined on an island and at war with a plague that may, or may not, be caused by a demon.
Isle of the Dead is an above average thriller thanks in large part to a great performance by Boris Karloff.
Karloff shines as a disciplined general who’s spent his spent his entire life waging and winning wars, and now, faced with an enemy he can’t shoot or stab, he’s lost. The script by Ardel Wray does a wonderful job of crafting the character as a believable, relatable, man, and Karloff conveys volumes in a single world-weary glance. As the film unfolds, you go from fearing, to respecting, and eventually pitying, Karloff’s character; no small feat for a performer, but one Karloff pulls off with ease. MORE »
Posted at 4:23 PM in Movie Reviews and Boris Karloff.
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Monday, February 25th 2008
Grade: D+
Synopsis: While visiting his girlfriend in England, a young American (Nick Adams) discovers her father’s (Boris Karloff) obsession with a radioactive meteorite.
Die, Monster, Die! is very reminiscent of one of star Boris Karloff’s earlier films, The Invisible Ray (1936). Both center on a radioactive meteorite, both feature a glowing Karloff, and, unfortunately, both are very talky.
Loosely based on a story by H.P. Lovecraft, the setup has a lot of potential. Karloff does a great job playing the crippled heir of a corrupt and evil family (a character not too far removed from Poe’s Roderick Usher) who discovers a radioactive meteorite with the power to mutate plants and animals. Unlike The Invisible Ray, which spent half the film getting to this point, Die, Monster, Die! opens with Karloff’s character already knee deep in meteorite obsession, only to go absolutely nowhere. MORE »
Posted at 2:19 PM in Movie Reviews and Boris Karloff.
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Friday, February 22nd 2008
Grade: B
Synopsis: Assorted travelers find themselves stranded in a gloomy old house during a flood.
The Old Dark House is a wonderful light-hearted thriller, packed with atmosphere and great performances.
Granted, the script is a little thin in terms of plot, but director James Whale compensates by packing the film’s 72-minute running time with atmosphere, and stocking the cast full of great performers.
Top-billed Boris Karloff is suitably menacing as the butler Morgan in a performance that would later inspire the creation of Lurch from the Addams Family, and Brember Wills is truly frightening as Karloff’s character’s deranged brother. Rounding out the titular house occupants are Ernest Thesiger and Eva Moore, who manage to seem very creepy without going over the top, and Elspeth Dudgeon who plays the family patriarch and is world of atmosphere unto herself. MORE »
Posted at 6:30 PM in Movie Reviews and Boris Karloff.
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