Rent Karloff at Columbia (1942)
3.6 of 5 from 57 ratings
6h 40min
- General info
- Available formats
- Synopsis:
One of the most recognisable faces in horror, Boris Karloff (or simply 'Karloff', as he was often billed) has been described as "to the horror movie what Fred Astaire was to the musical". Presented here are the six films he made for Columbia Pictures, a collaboration which produced some of Karloff's finest acting roles. In 'The Black Room', Karloff takes on a dual role as twin brothers in 19th century Europe. One of the twins inherits the family castle and suddenly the local women start disappearing…'The Man They Could Not Hang', 'The Man With Nine Lives', 'Before I Hang' and 'The Devil Commands' form the "Mad Doctor" cycle, a thematically linked series of films where Karloff always plays a doctor whose obsessions inevitably lead them to murder! And finally, 'The Boogie Man Will Get You' is a delightful parody of the "Mad Doctor" films, starring both Karloff and Peter Lorre. - Actors:
- Boris Karloff, Marian Marsh, Robert Allen, Thurston Hall, Katherine DeMille, John Buckler, Henry Kolker, Colin Tapley, Torben Meyer, John Beck, Daniel Joseph Bleifer, John Bleifer, Sidney Bracey, Egon Brecher, Carrie Daumery, Edwards Davis, Victor De Linsky, Abe Dinovitch, Von the Dog, Herbert Evans
- Directors:
- Roy William Neill, Nick Grinde, Edward Dmytryk, Lew Landers
- Producers:
- Wallace MacDonald, Colbert Clark
- Writers:
- Arthur Strawn, Henry Myers, Karl Brown, George Wallace Sayre, Leslie T. White, Harold Shumate, Robert Hardy Andrews, Milton Gunzburg, William Sloane, Hal Fimberg, Robert B. Hunt, Edwin Blum, Paul Gangelin
- Genres:
- Classics, Drama, Horror, Sci-Fi & Fantasy, Thrillers
- BBFC:
- Release Date:
- 03/05/2021
- Run Time:
- 400 minutes
- Languages:
- English LPCM Mono
- Subtitles:
- English Hard of Hearing
- Formats:
- Pal
- Aspect Ratio:
- Full Screen 1.37:1
- Colour:
- B & W
- BLU-RAY Regions:
- B
- Bonus:
- Brand new audio commentaries on 'The Black Room', 'Before I Hang', and 'The Boogie Man Will Get You' with critic Kevin Lyons and author/historian Jonathan Rigby
- Brand new audio commentaries on 'The Man They Could Not Hang', 'The Man With Nine Lives', and 'The Devil Commands' with author Stephen Jones and author / critic Kim Newman
- Extensive stills galleries for each film
- Karloff on the Radio-a selection of radio episodes starring Boris Karloff
- Disc 1:
- This disc includes the following Films:
- The Black Room
- The Man They Could Not Hang
- The Man With Nine Lives
- Special Features - Disc 2:
- This disc includes the following Films:
- Before I Hang
- The Devil Commands
- The Boogie Man Will Get You
- Special Features
More like Karloff at Columbia
Reviews (1) of Karloff at Columbia
on two of the films (spoiler)... - Karloff at Columbia review by Steve
THE BLACK ROOM
Deliciously wicked gothic melodrama with two of Boris Karloff’s very best screen performances. He plays good/bad twins in dispute over a family curse which ordains that the younger Baron will kill the older and so end the wealth and privilege of the dynasty.
And as the tyrannical aristocrat ultimately kills then impersonates his enlightened brother, Karloff completely dominates in his dual role. This is a short, low budget programmer with a minor support cast, though Marian Marsh is appealing as the beautiful heiress coveted by the evil twin.
Yet, the production appears lavish. Roy William Neill extracts maximum value out of the old dark castle in middle Europe, with the downtrodden peasants primed to turn into an angry mob. The black room is the secret dungeon where bad-Karloff discards the bodies.
Quite endearingly the hero turns out to be good-Karloff’s faithful mastiff! Old Hollywood made many of these creepy historical melodramas. Not really horror but with a touch of the macabre and the transgressive, usually with an ostentatious star. Karloff makes this one of the more effective.
THE MAN THEY COULD NOT HANG
Slim, well plotted sci-fi shocker which was one of Boris Karloff’s ‘mad doctor’ cycle at Columbia in the war years. He’s a medical researcher who devises a reversible state of death to enable complicated surgery. Only, when the idiot cops and do-gooders rush in during a procedure, they arrest him for murder. The fools!
Naturally, after the whispering, lisping inventor is hanged, he is revived by his assistant (Byron Foulger) to pursue an elaborate revenge reminiscent of Agatha Christie’s And Then There Were None. But he isn't quite the same. More of a megalomaniac. So further research is necessary.
Yes, science exceeds its ethical frontiers again, though it’s amusing to note that stuff similar to this happens now, even if this laboratory equipment is more steampunk. Karloff is relishable, especially after capital punishment, but the support cast is insipid. He needs an adversary. A Lionel Atwill…
Yet the victims are so annoying, you will soon be rooting for the reanimated crackpot. This is just b-horror hokum, but has endured well, and despite a minor director (Nick Grinde) there is obviously some creativity in the photography and set design. But most of all it’s the star that makes this worth watching.
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