Following on from their sets devoted to Bela Lugosi and Karloff at Columbia, Eureka are bringing out three more movies featuring Boris Karloff. From the title and artwork you'd think you were buying a set of horror movies, but actually none of what's included here is what one might consider typical horror product of the period. That said if you're a fan of crime thrillers, swashbucklers and light opera with a sinister edge these might be just the ticket. Here's what you get:
Night Key (1937)
How NIGHT KEY came to be considered a horror film is one of the many things covered in the accompanying commentary track by Kevin Lyons and Jonathan Rigby, one which also discusses the careers of many of the actors (including pointing out bit part players!), the situation Universal was in at the time the film was made, and about how and why Universal's classic monster movies ended up being re-released by RealArt in the late 1940s and early 1950s.
As for NIGHT KEY itself, it's a very enjoyable crime melodrama in which Boris Karloff has been cheated out of the profits of a security system he's invented by (now very rich) Samuel S Hinds. But Boris has now invented a new one that threatens to supercede the old and put Hinds out of business. So Hinds swindles him again and Boris becomes 'Night Key', breaking into properties 'protected' by Hinds' old system and leaving the message 'What I Create I Can Also Destroy'. Of course it's not long before local gangsters become aware of Boris & his device and they're keen to get their hands on it. Don't go into this one expecting horror and you'll have a brisk, breezy and highly entertaining time with it. As well as the commentary the disc also includes still galleries and a trailer.
The Climax (1944)
It takes a bit of effort to get worked up over THE CLIMAX, Universal's follow-up to their sumptuous 1943 production of THE PHANTOM OF THE OPERA (the one with Claude Rains) and shot on the sets of that film to help recover some of the cost of it. On the plus side we have Boris Karloff top-lining as a doctor who has murdered his opera diva wife ten years before, keeping her body preserved in the kind of situation we'd see multiple times over in the Corman/Poe pictures of twenty years hence. When a young singer (Susanna Foster) reminds him of his dead wife, he becomes obsessed with having her sing only for him.
On the minus side (depending on your tastes) we have a lot of singing. If you're a fan of light opera then this may be right up your street but if you're not then you'll be finding your finger straying to the fast forward button. Otherwise the Technicolor photography is glorious and we also get to see Turhan THE MUMMY'S TOMB Bey pretending to play the piano, but in the end THE CLIMAX is one for forgiving fans of the period. Messrs Lyons and Rigby return for commentary duties and turn the film into one that's more worth watching with the commentary on than off as the running time passes somewhat faster with their aid.
The Black Castle (1952)
Less a horror film and more a swashbuckling Boys' Own Adventure (as these kinds of stories used to be known), THE BLACK CASTLE gives us dashing hero Richard Greene, off to investigate the dastardly doings of an evil count in the depths of the Black Forest. Director Nathan Juran manages a nicely atmospheric opening with this one, and Joseph Gershenson makes sure there's lots of familiar Universal library music on the soundtrack. Even so, you'd be hard pushed to call this a horror film, even with the presence of Karloff as the Count's physician and a rather demeaning minor role for Lon Chaney, Jr. On the other hand if you're a fan of sword fights, panther wrestling and a pit filled with alligators this will pass the time very nicely indeed.
Stephen Jones and Kim Newman provide the commentary for this one and, like all their commentaries, not a second is wasted and at points they almost talk over each other in their enthusiasm to share as much information and opinion as possible. As with THE CLIMAX, I found THE BLACK CASTLE to be a more enjoyable watch with the commentary switched on than off so it's good to have it on here.
Universal Terror: Karloff In... is out as a two-disc Blu-ray set from Eureka on Monday 18th July 2022
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