While it's undeniable that Boris Karloff's vehicles went slowly downhill in quality after 1936, there's still enough quality movies there to scratch out a top ten list.
1. THE BODY SNATCHER, It can stand proudly with the bulk of Karloff's 1931-36 work in quality, and Cabman Gray was a great role for Boris.
2. TARGETS. The last great Karloff movie. The "Appointment in Samarra" scene shows that Boris' dramatic talents were undimmed even if his body was failing
3. SON OF FRANKENSTEIN. Boris' last hurrah as The Monster in a serious appearance doesn't give him the opportunities Whale's film did, but he's still on good, frightening form here.
4. BLACK SABBATH. Karloff's performance as Gorka in the Wurdalak segment is the last time in his career that he's truly scary.
5. THE DEVIL COMMANDS. In the final serious Columbia Mad Doctor film, his Dr. Julian Blair is arguably his best performance in this series, desperate to contact his wife from beyond the grave and manipulated by Anne Revere's phony psychic.
6. TOWER OF LONDON. Though secondary to Basil Rathbone's Richard III, Boris is memorable as Mord the Executioner, and share excellent chemistry with Rathbone.
7. THE MAN WITH NINE LIVES. In the second Columbia Mad Doctor entry, Karloff's Dr. Kravaal simply refuses to act like a madman through most of his footage...a greedy relative ruined his work and DROVE him to his first deliberate killing, and although he is using human guinea pigs, he doesn't actually want any of them to actually die, and said guinea pigs are played as such jackoffs it's hard to feel sorry for them. Then, he runs out of jackoffs and starts in on heroine Jo Ann Sayers, FINALLY coming off as a little mad. But he's proven right and the question is raised: Should you ignore the methods used to achieve the goal when the goal could save millions of lives.
8. BEDLAM. While not quite up to THE BODY SNATCHER, Karloff is still on fine form as the sadistic Master Sims, in charge of the title mental hospital.
9. THE HAUNTED STRANGLER. While the pickings are rather slim, Karloff's semi Jekyll and Hyde performance is the best of his 1950s efforts.
10. THE MAN THEY COULD NOT HANG. Karloff is alternately sympathetic and sinister as Dr. Savaard, who has pioneered an artificial heart but uses a human guinea pig and is arrested before he could revive said guinea pig and is hung. His assistant revives him, and he seeks revenge against the judge and jury members who voted for his death. Unlike the next entry in the series, most of said targets are actually well meaning people who thought they were doing right (jury foreman Dick Curtis excepted), and Savaard IS called out for cheapening his invention by using it for revenge.
Honorable mentions: THE SORCERERS, the 1963 THE RAVEN, THE COMEDY OF TERRORS, CORRIDORS OF BLOOD.
1. THE BODY SNATCHER, It can stand proudly with the bulk of Karloff's 1931-36 work in quality, and Cabman Gray was a great role for Boris.
2. TARGETS. The last great Karloff movie. The "Appointment in Samarra" scene shows that Boris' dramatic talents were undimmed even if his body was failing
3. SON OF FRANKENSTEIN. Boris' last hurrah as The Monster in a serious appearance doesn't give him the opportunities Whale's film did, but he's still on good, frightening form here.
4. BLACK SABBATH. Karloff's performance as Gorka in the Wurdalak segment is the last time in his career that he's truly scary.
5. THE DEVIL COMMANDS. In the final serious Columbia Mad Doctor film, his Dr. Julian Blair is arguably his best performance in this series, desperate to contact his wife from beyond the grave and manipulated by Anne Revere's phony psychic.
6. TOWER OF LONDON. Though secondary to Basil Rathbone's Richard III, Boris is memorable as Mord the Executioner, and share excellent chemistry with Rathbone.
7. THE MAN WITH NINE LIVES. In the second Columbia Mad Doctor entry, Karloff's Dr. Kravaal simply refuses to act like a madman through most of his footage...a greedy relative ruined his work and DROVE him to his first deliberate killing, and although he is using human guinea pigs, he doesn't actually want any of them to actually die, and said guinea pigs are played as such jackoffs it's hard to feel sorry for them. Then, he runs out of jackoffs and starts in on heroine Jo Ann Sayers, FINALLY coming off as a little mad. But he's proven right and the question is raised: Should you ignore the methods used to achieve the goal when the goal could save millions of lives.
8. BEDLAM. While not quite up to THE BODY SNATCHER, Karloff is still on fine form as the sadistic Master Sims, in charge of the title mental hospital.
9. THE HAUNTED STRANGLER. While the pickings are rather slim, Karloff's semi Jekyll and Hyde performance is the best of his 1950s efforts.
10. THE MAN THEY COULD NOT HANG. Karloff is alternately sympathetic and sinister as Dr. Savaard, who has pioneered an artificial heart but uses a human guinea pig and is arrested before he could revive said guinea pig and is hung. His assistant revives him, and he seeks revenge against the judge and jury members who voted for his death. Unlike the next entry in the series, most of said targets are actually well meaning people who thought they were doing right (jury foreman Dick Curtis excepted), and Savaard IS called out for cheapening his invention by using it for revenge.
Honorable mentions: THE SORCERERS, the 1963 THE RAVEN, THE COMEDY OF TERRORS, CORRIDORS OF BLOOD.
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