THE BLACK CAT – We Are Movie Geeks

Ten Classic Scary Movies For Halloween

I have known for years, many people will not watch black and white movies, of any kind. It has to be color and no older than 10 years, preferably movies made this year, or last year. I have had people look at me with astonishment when I tell them I not only watch black and white movies regularly but even silent movies. I’ve had people admit they didn’t know movies were being made in 1927, much less 1915.

So for this Hallowe’en, when movie geeks thoughts turn to scary movies here is my personal and eclectic list of great, old, scary movies, filmed in glorious black and white.

10. Nosferatu 1922

The Great Grand Daddy of all Dracula movies, and the template for every vampire movie ever made, the first, one of the best and still creepy, even if you’ve seen it repeatedly. A silent masterpiece by FW Murnau and with the incredible Max Schreck as Graf Orlock looking weasel faced and moving like a big rodent, this vampire is light years from Lugosi’s suave aristocrat or Christopher Lee’s super human woman magnet. Some of the camera tricks have not aged well, but there is nothing camp or silly about Nosferatu. Remade brilliantly by Werner Herzog with the incredible Klaus Kinski playing the Vampire King and the subject of Shadow of the Vampire, a movie about the making of Nosferatu that put forth the idea, what if Schreck was a real Vampire? But accept no substitutes. Radah and I got to see this at the Tampa Theater a few years ago for Hallowe’en, with live organ accompaniment, an unforgettable experience.

9. Haxan 1922

Another silent masterpiece Benjamin Christensen’s still controversial Haxan is deeply disturbing, still creepy and captured images unlike any other film made during the silent era, or any time later for the matter of that. Part documentary, part hallucinatory nightmare Haxan was recut and rereleased as Witchcraft Through the Ages with a music score and narration by the one and only William S Burroughs. Filled with nudity, demons, the very devil himself and horrifying scenes of accused witches on trial and being tortured into confessions, Haxan is one of a kind, and perfect for Hallowe’en.

8. Vampyr 1932

Only marginally a talking picture Vampyr is another one of a kind, deeply disturbing tale of Vampirism told in a hallucinatory, dream like way. Shot through gauze filters with a non actor in the lead role, Vampyr, directed by Carl Theodor Dreyer, is disorienting, creepy and leaves the viewer with a serious feeling of uneasiness. There are no jump out of your seat scares and yet, we are never really sure what in hell is going on; shadows dance on the walls without people being present, living person’s shadows get up and move on their own, point of view changes constantly, characters enter and exit without explanation. Most unsettling, we get an entire sequence of what it would feel like to be buried alive, the view from inside a coffin, while still alive, and being carried to a grave site, in the hypnotic thrall of a vampire. Be forewarned, some people don’t get it. Forest J Ackerman, editor of Famous Monsters of Film land, hated this movie, didn’t think it scary at all, or entertaining. It is referenced constantly throughout Francis Ford Coppola’s Bram Stoker’s Dracula, good enough recommendation for me.

7. Island of Lost Souls 1932

In the 1930s Universal Studios was considered the major producer of horror films. Their movies, if you are a serious movie geek like me, are so familiar they are probably not scary at all anymore. Despite Universal’s dominance of the genre other studios put out some great productions. Paramount Pictures, known for classy musicals produced one of the most disturbing horror movies of the 1930s, Island of Lost Souls, a movie that packed such a punch on its original release it was banned in England and other countries for years. And it still has a powerful, painful effect. Directed by Earl C Kenton and the first film version of HG Well’s Island of Dr. Moreau (Wells hated the film) Island of Lost Souls features an incredible performance by Charles Laughton, obsessed with creating men out of animals and operating on them without using anesthetic. His island is populated with these half man half animal hybrids, among them, most unforgettably Bela Lugosi as Sayer of the Law “What is the Law? Are we not men?” and someone named Hans Steinke as Ouran, another unforgettable character. It is not just the horror in the house of pain or the monstrousness of the animal men, there is a queasy, oppressive atmosphere in the whole film, the jungle itself seems to be alive, even more so than in King Kong. Criterion’s blu ray is incredible, bringing out details, especially in the makeup I had never noticed before.

6. The Black Cat 1934

Another one of a kind horror movie, although made by Universal, the Black Cat is unlike any other film in their various franchises, or any other movie ever made for that matter. Rather than a gothic castle The Black Cat is set in a futuristic house,(it even has digital clocks, in 1934!) built on a fortress from WWI, in the Bauhaus style, and that house is inhabited by Boris Karloff playing a thinly disguised version of Aleister Crowley. Bela Lugosi arrives with a young couple in tow(David Manners and Julie Bishop) who get sucked into the vortex of Karloff and Lugosi’s poisoned history. Lugosi and Karloff were in eight movies together, usually with Karloff in the lead role, once, in The Raven, it was Lugosi’s movie. Here they stand as co equal characters, both of them dangerous, both actors at the top of their form. And masterfully directed by Edgar G Ulmer, who somehow made a movie that deals with necrophilia, cannibalism, Satan worship and God knows what else in 1934! I have watched The Black several times, usually around Hallowe’en and it never fails to make me feel very ill at ease. This is seriously creepy stuff, especially when Lugosi decides it would be a swell idea to skin Karloff alive.

4. Black Sunday 1960

The official first movie directed by Mario Bava (he had a hand in several other films, without credit) Black Sunday still has the power to horrify and frighten. A witch (Barbara Steele) is tortured and put to death in a blasted looking landscape, where the sun never seems to shine. She vows revenge and comes back years later, along with her walking dead servant and proceeds to wreck all manner of carnage and mayhem. Her main concern is taking over the life of her look alike descendant (also Steele). Bava has several masterpieces on his resume, this is one of them. Drenched in gothic atmosphere, as only Bava could produce, Black Sunday is still genuinely scary stuff. The servant Javutich crawling up out of his grave is still the stuff of nightmares.

3. Psycho 1960

A game changer is ever there was, Hitchcock’s film was not just the template for every psychotic slasher movie that came out over the years it changed the way we see movies. If it’s a scary movie we expect that no one is safe. No one had ever killed off the major character in any movie previously, certainly not from a major film maker. And Hitchcock’s genius shines in every frame, no matter how many times it is seen the shower scene still is shocking, the entire movie has an uneasiness, even the mundane scenes at the beginning have an edge. And the famous all strings music by Bernard Herrmann can still put you in a nervous frame of mind. A classic and still scary after all these years.

2. Carnival of Souls 1962

A one of a kind regional movie, made by people who made classroom and training films, on a very low budget with non actors, except for the lead actress Candice Hilligoss, (who is brilliant.) Carnival of Souls is not terrifying, but again, it will put you in an uneasy frame mind that can last for days. A major influence on George Romero Carnival is yet another movie, even if you know the ending, is worth revisiting many times. All of the scenes at the old Salt Air Pavilion in Utah are literally haunting. A text book example of what can be done on a low budget, if you have some talent. I first saw Carnival of Souls on Zone 2 in 1965, a local St. Louis tv show with a Horror Host played by Jack Murdock , scared me half to death.

1. Night of the Living Dead

The other game changer on this list. We have George Romero and his underpaid crew to thank for all the zombie movies that have come out since 1968, including the Walking Dead. And yet another regional film made by people who made industrial and corporate training films, as well as sports documentaries, Night of the Living Dead may shock you, it may horrify you, so if you are the least bit faint hearted, well, we warned you!

And, as I said this is a very personal list, I have to give honorable mentions to the original The Haunting, The Thing From Another World, Creature from the Black Lagoon, The Brain that Wouldn’t Die, all of the Val Lewton series made at RKO in the 1940s, The Mummy’s Hand, Bride of Frankenstein and, what the hell, I love them all, whether they are still scary of not!

And a very Happy Hallowe’en to you all!

The Final Years of King Baggot – From the ‘King of the Movies’ to Bit Player

The King Baggot Tribute will take place Wednesday September 28th at 7pm at Lee Auditorium inside the Missouri History Museum (Lindell and DeBaliviere in Forest Park, St. Louis, Missouri). The 1913 silent film IVANHOE will be accompanied by The Rats and People Motion Picture Orchestra and there will be a 40-minute illustrated lecture on the life and career of King Baggot by We Are Movie Geeks’ Tom Stockman. A Facebook invite for the event can be found HERE

Here’s a look at the final phase of King Baggot’s career.

King Baggot, the first ‘King of the Movies’ died July 11th, 1948 penniless and mostly forgotten at age 68. A St. Louis native, Baggot was at one time Hollywood’s most popular star, known is his heyday as “The Most Photographed Man in the World” and “More Famous Than the Man in the Moon”. Yet even in his hometown, Baggot had faded into obscurity. A look at the films that Baggot appeared in after the silent period ended may help explain how one can go from immense fame and the back to anonymity.

Baggot appeared in at least 200 silent motion pictures between 1909 and 1921, ruling the international box-office during much of that period. In 1913, IVANHOE and DR. JEKYLL AND MR. HYDE, both starring Baggot, were Universal Studio’s two top-grossing films. By 1912 he was so famous that when he took the leading part in forming the prestigious Screen Club in New York, the first organization of its kind strictly for movie people, he was the natural choice for its first president. Baggot wrote 18 screenplays and directed 45 movies from 1912 to 1928 including TUMBLEWEEDS (1925), an enormously popular and influential western starring William S. Hart. Baggot directed his last film, ROMANCE OF A ROGUE, in 1927 when he was 48 years old. At this point, the career of the man who had been Universal’s first star and a solid, often brilliant director came screeching to a halt.

King Baggot in THE CORSICAN BROTHERS (1915)

There was series of events around this point in Baggot’s life that may help explain his sudden exit from stardom. Baggot’s alcoholism was well-documented and out of control and his wife of 18 years, Ruth Baggot, filed for divorce in 1930. Universal head Carl Laemmle, responsible for much of Baggot’s success, was in declining health by the late 1920s and less involved in the studio’s decisions. But it was the introduction of sound which, though it led to a boom in the motion picture industry, had an adverse effect on the employability of many Hollywood actors. Stars with heavy accents or otherwise discordant voices that had previously been concealed were particularly at risk. The careers John Gilbert, Norma Talmadge, Clara Bow, and others declined quickly with the advent of sound, ostensibly because their speaking voices didn’t match the image that audiences had of them, though other issues may have been at hand, such as salary disputes and clashes with studio executives. King Baggot however did not have that problem. Stage-trained, his speaking voice was strong and resonant, yet still, no one was beating down his door to hire him as an actor or as a director. To make matters worse, he was arrested in June of 1930 for driving while drunk. He was fined $50 for the offense and the Los Angeles Times ran a story about the scandal.

By the early ‘30s, the great depression had hit and millions were out of work, including King Baggot. After doing nothing for a year, his old studio Universal hired him back – but as a character actor in bit parts. The first film from this stage of his career was THE CZAR OF BROADWAY, which starred Betty Compson, an actress successful in making the transitions from silent to talkies. Baggot was listed sixth in the cast and had several lines. His next supporting role was in ONCE A GENTLEMAN (1930) starring Edward Everett Horton. Also in a small part was Francis X. Bushman, another major silent star who had once rivalled Baggot as the most popular leading man in America. In 1931 Baggot had speaking roles in SWEEPSTAKES for RKO Studio and SCAREHEADS for Richard Talmadge Productions. These were small roles but at least he was given lines to read. In 1932, Baggot landed his best speaking part in Monogram’s POLICE COURT. It was ironically the story of a once-famous screen actor caught in the downward spiral of alcoholism. King played the part of Henry Field, a movie director. POLICE COURT can be viewed in its entirety online HERE (King Baggot shows up around the 13-minute mark and has several lines throughout a sequence that runs about 5 minutes.)

http://free-classic-movies.com/movies-03f/03f-1932-02-20-Police-Court

As Movie Director Henry Field in POLICE COURT (1932)

Also in 1932, King Baggot appeared in GIRL OF THE RIO as a hotel maître d’, George Cukor’s WHAT PRICE HOLLYWOOD as a studio head, and HELLO TROUBLE for Columbia Pictures. These were bit parts with just a line or two of dialog.

WHAT PRICE HOLLYWOOD (1932)

In the 1932 comedy short THE BIG FLASH starring Harry Langdon, Baggot played “Mr. Hinkle” in the opening scene.

King Baggot in THE BIG FLASH (1932)

In 1933, King Baggot and his former leading lady Florence Lawrence were given small roles in the drama SECRETS, which was to be the final film to star Mary Pickford, who had starred opposite Baggot many times earlier in her career.

King Baggot had a one-scene speaking role in THE DEATH KISS in 1933, a film that reunited three of the stars of Universal’s 1931 triumph DRACULA; Bela Lugosi, David Manners, and Edward Van Sloan. THE DEATH KISS can be viewed online HERE. Baggot’s scene comes at about the 31-minute mark. THE DEATH KISS is now available on Blu-ray from Kino Classics

1934 was a good year for King Baggot – he managed to be cast in seven films for Universal. BELOVED was a large-scale musical starring John Boles and Gloria Stuart. The cast was a large one and included many old silent players.

Baggot’s most significant cameo in 1934 was in the Universal horror film THE BLACK CAT, which was the first pairing of the studio’s horror kings Boris Karloff and Bela Lugosi. Baggot, who had starred in Universal’s very first horror film, DR. JEKYLL AND MR. HYDE 21 years earlier, appeared in THE BLACK CAT as one of the Satan worshippers who show up at Karloff’s castle near the end of the film.

King Baggot with Bela Lugosi in THE BLACK CAT (1934)

Producer Carl Laemmle and Universal clearly had fun casting these ‘cultists’. None had lines and they all appear just briefly but some of them include:
– Paul Panzer, who appeared in hundreds of films as far back as 1905, but is probably best known for playing villains in silent serials like THE PERILS OF PAULINE and THE EXPLOITS OF ELAINE.
– John George, a dwarf who acted in films from 1918 to 1960 and appeared with Lon Chaney in THE UNKNOWN (as Alonzo’s assistant Cojo).
– Symona Boniface, who appeared in many comedy shorts in a career that lasted from 1925 to 1956. She appeared opposite the Three Stooges several times including the shorts ‘An Ache in Every Stake’, ‘A Plumbing We Will Go’, and ‘Pardon my Scotch’
– Virginia Ainsworth – who appeared in many silent films
– Lois January – an actress who played the manicurist in THE WIZARD OF ZO who sings to Dorothy that “we can make a dimpled smile out of a frown” one of her last roles was in the “Bad Medicine” episode of KOLCHAK: THE NIGHT STALKER
– Harry Walker – who was one of the crewmen in KING KONG

with Boris Karloff in THE BLACK CAT

Other wordless roles for Baggot in 1934 were as a policeman in LOVE CAPTIVE also with Gloria Stuart, an episode of the Buck Jones serial THE RED RIDER, CHEATING CHEATERS with Fay Wray, ROMANCE IN THE RAIN (as Milton McGillicuddy), as a priest in FATHER BROWN, DETECTIVE, a doorman in I’VE BEEN AROUND, and as an airplane inspector in TAILSPIN TOMMY.

Worked picked up significantly for Baggot in 1935 as he officially settled in to his new career as a wordless ‘bit player’. He was a gambler opposite Bing Crosby and W.C. Fields in MISSISSIPPI, a policeman in both A NOTORIOUS GENTLEMAN and IT HAPPENED IN NEW YORK, and a druggist in THREE KIDS AND A QUEEN. Baggot was in the serials CALL OF THE SAVAGE, CHINATOWN SQUAD, and THE ADVENTURES OF FRANK MERRIWELL, walked through a lobby in NIGHT LIFE OF THE GODS, and had bits in SHE GETS HER MAN, and DIAMOND JIM. The most famous film of 1935 Baggot appeared in was the Marx Brothers classic A NIGHT AT THE OPERA. Unbilled, King Baggot is in the scene where the Marx Brothers impersonated aviators and wore beards at the docks in New York. Baggot is one of the dignitaries and there exists a great on-set photo of him posing with Groucho, Chico, and Harpo looking quite distinguished in his top hat and tails.

With The Marx Brothers in A NIGHT AT THE OPERA (1935)

Watching DVDs of these films today, it’s often difficult to spot King Baggot, if he can be found at all. Much fanfare greeted the announcement of Universal’s epic SAN FRANSCICO in 1936 with the studio announcing the participation of many of their silent stars, including King Baggot, Rhea Mitchell, and Florence Lawrence, but because the cast was huge and their parts so tiny, it’s impossible to spot any of them. Press blurbs in 1936 announced Baggot would be in THE DEVIL DOLL, WE WENT TO COLLEGE, and MAD HOLIDAY, but he’s nowhere to be found in the final prints of those either.

1935 publicity photo from MGM announcing that the studio had hired ‘noted stars of yesterday’ – King Baggot is second from the left.

He can be identified easily in 1937 when he earned several close-ups as a race track official in another Marx Brothers comedy, A DAY AT THE RACES.

King Baggot in A DAY AT THE RACES (1936)

That year he also appeared as a customs official opposite Dick Powell and Luise Ranier in THE EMPEROR’S CANDLESTICKS and as a witness to an accident in TORTURE MONEY, a two-reel short that was part of the Crime Does Not Pay series.

King Baggot in the 1937 serial CRIME DOES NOT PAY

King Baggot made no more screen appearances for the next three years. In 1941 he played a doorman in COME LIVE WITH ME starring Jimmy Stewart and Hedy Lamarr. In 1942 he could be seen applauding in several audience scenes in the Mickey Rooney-Judy Garland musical BABES ON BROADWAY. He was an unbilled extra in GRAND CENTRAL MURDER, a court police officer in HER CARDBOARD LOVER starring Norma Shearer and Robert Taylor, an old miner in JACKASS MAIL, and ‘man on the street’ in TISH starring Marjorie Main and Zasu Pitts. In 1945 he could be seen in ABBOTT AND COSTELLO IN HOLLYWOOD as a patron who walks by Lou Costello in a barbershop at the film’s beginning and played ‘Man at Graduation Ceremony’ in THE SECRET HEART. He’s not hard to recognize as a courtroom spectator in THE POSTMAN ALWAYS RINGS TWICE in 1946 though he never shares the screen with John Garfield or Lana Turner.

King Baggot in ABBOTT AND COSTELLO IN HOLLYWOOD (1945)

King Baggot’s final screen appearances were in 1947 when he played a bank employee in MY BROTHER TALKS TO HORSES, a man in the audience in MERTON OF THE MOVIES, and a man at the coat check counter in the musical GOOD NEWS. Publicity notes for the 1946 film THE YEARLING stated that star Gregory Peck would be joined by Baggot, cast in his ‘comeback’ role as ‘Pa Weatherby’ but the final film features neither Baggot or a character by that name.

King Baggot as a courtroom spectator in THE POSTMAN ALWAYS RINGS TWICE (1947)

When King Baggot died, there were no tributes from his peers, no splashy funeral procession, or major headlines trumpeting his death. He was buried at Calvary Cemetery in Los Angeles, CA, interred with a flat stone that reads simply “King Baggot”. The one-time King of Hollywood, the handsome Irish boy from St. Louis, may have left this world as insignificantly as he entered it, but he certainly made his mark.

From the ‘King of the Movies’ to Bit Player – the Final Years of King Baggot

The King Baggot Tribute will take place Friday, November 14th at Webster University’s Moore Auditorium beginning at 7pm as part of this year’s ST. Louis Intenational FIlm Festival. The program will consist a rare 35mm screening of the 1913 epic IVANHOE starring King Baggot with live music accompaniment by the Rats and People Motion Picture Orchestra. IVANHOE will be followed by an illustrated lecture on the life and films of King Baggot presented by Tom Stockman, editor here at We Are Movie Geeks. After that will screen the influential silent western TUMBLEWEEDS (1925), considered to be one of King Baggot’s finest achievements as a director. TUMBLEWEEDS will feature live piano accompaniment by Matt Pace.

Here’s a look at the final phase of King Baggot’s career.

King Baggot in THE CORSICAN BROTHERS (1915)

http://free-classic-movies.com/movies-03f/03f-1932-02-20-Police-Court

As Movie Director Henry Field in POLICE COURT (1932)

WHAT PRICE HOLLYWOOD (1932)

In the 1932 comedy short THE BIG FLASH starring Harry Langdon, Baggot played “Mr. Hinkle” in the opening scene. It can be watched in its entirety here on youtube.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pJztMQ8F-FQ

King Baggot in THE BIG FLASH (1932)

https://archive.org/details/The_Death_Kiss

King Baggot with Bela Lugosi in THE BLACK CAT (1934)

with Boris Karloff in THE BLACK CAT

With The Marx Brothers in A NIGHT AT THE OPERA (1935)

1935 publicity photo from MGM announcing that the studio had hired ‘noted stars of yesterday’ – King Baggot is second from the left.

He can be identified easily in 1937 when he earned several close-ups as a race track official in another Marx Brothers comedy, A DAY AT THE RACES.

King Baggot in A DAY AT THE RACES (1936)

King Baggot in the 1937 serial CRIME DOES NOT PAY

King Baggot in ABBOTT AND COSTELLO IN HOLLYWOOD (1945)

King Baggot as a courtroom spectator in THE POSTMAN ALWAYS RINGS TWICE (1947)

When King Baggot died, there were no tributes from his peers, no splashy funeral procession, or major headlines trumpeting his death. He was buried at Calgary Cemetery in Los Angeles, CA, interred with a flat stone that reads simply “King Baggot”. The one-time King of Hollywood, the handsome Irish boy from St. Louis, left this world as insignificantly as he entered it.

Top Ten Tuesday – The Best of Boris Karloff

Article by Jim Batts, Dana Jung, and Tom Stockman

No other actor in the long history of horror has been so closely identified with the genre as Boris Karloff, yet he was as famous for his gentle heart and kindness as he was for his screen persona. William Henry Pratt was born on November 23, 1887, in Camberwell, London, England. He studied at London University in anticipation of a diplomatic career; however, he moved to Canada in 1909 and joined a theater company where he was bit by the acting bug. It was there that he adopted the stage name of “Boris Karloff.” He toured back and forth across the USA for over ten years in a variety of low-budget Theater shows and eventually ended up in Hollywood. Needing cash to support himself, Karloff landed roles in silent films making his on-screen debut in Chapter 2 of the 1919 serial The Masked Rider. His big break came when Howard Hawks cast him as a creepy convict in THE CRIMINAL CODE in 1930. Producers at Universal were looking for an actor to play the monster in their upcoming adaption of Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein. Their main horror star Lon Chaney had died the year before and Bela Lugosi, starring in their hit DRACULA, turned down the role, so Karloff was offered the part. FRANKENSTEIN became an enormous success for the studio, and for its newest star whose name was not revealed until the final credits of the picture, and then only as “KARLOFF”. The role made Karloff a major box-office draw, the king of horror, heir to Lon Chaney’s throne, and he followed it up with THE MUMMY, THE MASK OF FU MANCHU, THE OLD DARK HOUSE, THE GHOUL, TOWER OF LONDON, and of course two sequels as the monster: BRIDE OF FRANKENSTEIN and SON OF FRANKENSTEIN. His star never faded and for the next several decades he reigned as Hollywood’s undisputed horror king. In the 1960’s, he teamed up with Roger Corman , Vincent Price and Peter Lorre for THE RAVEN and with Price and Lorre again for COMEDY OF TERRORS. Karloff continued working up until the very end, even while physically impaired and infirm, often performing from a wheelchair or with a cane. His last involvement of consequence came in 1968 with the critically acclaimed TARGETS. Karloff was well known as a genuinely kind and gentle soul off the screen.

Boris Karloff appeared in over 200 films in his five decades as an actor and here, according to We Are Movie Geeks, are his ten best:

10. THE DEVIL COMMANDS

One of Karloff’s least-known films until it became a staple of late-nite TV–and DVD – decades later, this taut thriller also boasts one of his most compelling performances. In THE DEVIL COMMANDS, Karloff portrays Dr. Julian Blair, at first glance a “mad scientist” type whose personal tragedy leads to experiments combining scientific method and the occult. But in Blair’s obsession to communicate with his dead wife, Karloff once again creates a character who is at once extremely sympathetic and a bit scary. And unlike similar roles requiring tons of makeup, here Karloff wears none, so the intensity of his anguish, and yes, his madness, becomes almost heartbreaking. Even though it was a Columbia B-feature, DEVIL COMMANDS rarely shows it. Director Edward Dmytryk (who later moved to the A-list to direct Bogie in THE CAINE MUTINY and Gable in SOLDIER OF FORTUNE), working with a solid supporting cast, fills the spare 65 minute running time with eerie narration and hypnotically creepy laboratory scenes. By the time the villagers storm the castle– I mean, home– of the scientist, we know we’ve been treated to Hollywood studio production at its best, with one of the great unsung performances by a screen legend.

9.THE SORCERORS

Boris Karloff was 80 in 1967 when he starred in THE SORCERORS, his last film shot in his native land of England. The story, adapted from John Burke’s novel, follows an aging couple, Marcus and Estelle Monserrat (Karloff and Catherine Lacey), inventors of a device that allows them to control the minds of others and vicariously experience the world through their eyes. They focus on a swinging young Londoner Michael (Ian Ogilvy) to experiment on. As the Monserrats play audience to his living scenarios, they soon add violence and crime to the mix. As Estelle goes crazy with power; she begins making Michael steal furs for her, then leads him to murder. Karloff’s Marcus is the film’s moral center and the actor delivers his last great starring performance. Ancient, arthritic, stumbling on a wooden cane behind white hair and wild eyebrows, he is sadly forced to watch as his device is perverted by the woman he loves. Despite the film’s low-budget, its hip psychedelic Swinging Sixties look provides some definite eye candy (and Susan George in a mini-skirt). The mix of 60’s period atmosphere and music with sci-fi concepts is exciting and the shocks are frightening. THE SORCERORS was directed by 23-year old Michael Reeves and while his next film, the Vincent Price classic WITCHFINDER GENERAL, is considered his masterpiece, THE SORCERORS is outstanding as well, though a bit tough to find (it’s MIA on DVD in the U.S.). In February of 1969, just nine days before director Reeves died of a (possibly intentional) drug overdose at age 25, Karloff passed away at 81.

8. THE RAVEN

“I like to torture!” says Bela Lugosi in THE RAVEN (1935), a great film full of painful devices, secret rooms, disfigured murderers and damsels in distress. Lugosi plays Dr. Richard Vollin, a famed plastic surgeon obsessed with Edgar Allen Poe. Boris Karloff is Edmond Bateman, a criminal that comes to Dr. Vollin for a change of appearance. Vollin disfigures him in order to blackmail him into helping torture another doctor. THE RAVEN runs just 61 minutes hardly lets up for a second, from the car crash which sets the plot in motion, to the exciting climax which takes place in Vollin’s torture chamber. Though the gruesome make-up gave Karloff another monstrous role, THE RAVEN really belongs to Lugosi and the great joy of the film is watching the glee with which the Hungarian actor relishes the sadism in the role. Whether pining for a lost love, skinning his nemesis alive, or using his devices like the pendulum and the room where the walls start closing in, Lugosi is arrogant, imposing, and insane and it may be his most unhinged performance. Karloff, unusually, is the weaker of the duo this time out. His Bateman is a slow-witted, relatively dim, character. It is sad that Lugosi’s career started its slow downfall after THE RAVEN and that he was overshadowed by his “rival” Karloff, due to his own limitations and poor career choices. Karloff would go on to star in another film called THE RAVEN in 1965 opposite Vincent Price and Peter Lorre, a Roger Corman-directed film that just barely failed to make this list.

7. THE MUMMY

Noted German cinematographer (METROPOLIS, DRACULA) Karl Freund made his American directing debut with THE MUMMY, a classic tale that, unlike Universal’s other monster films, had no literary origins. Influenced in part by its horror predecessors, but more so by the huge popularity of anything Egyptian at the time (the excavation of King Tut’s tomb had been completed just a few years earlier), THE MUMMY remains one of Karloff’s greatest roles. Already so popular he was billed on the movie’s poster by last name only (as “Karloff the Uncanny”), his performance as Imhotep is one of horror cinema’s most accomplished creations. Even hindered by strenuous full-body makeup that took up to 8 hours (!) to apply, Karloff’s physicality exudes an otherworldly menace in his scenes as the title character. And as the unbandaged Imhotep, his penetrating gaze and understated delivery overcome lesser but no less restricting makeup applications to make the character almost sad in his desperate attempts to reclaim his lost love. Due in large part to Karloff’s haunting portrayal, the Mummy character proved so popular that it spawned not only many sequels from Universal , but a Hammer Films series, an Abbot & Costello entry, several Mexican films (remember the Aztec Mummy?), and the recent trilogy.

6. BLACK SABBATH

Boris Karloff served as the master of ceremonies for the memorable 1963 anthology BLACK SABBATH and performed as a vampire in the film’s third and final vignette. In â€œThe Wurdulak“Â, Karloff is excellent as Gorka, the vampire-hunting patriarch in rural Russia who returns home just minutes after his self-imposed deadline for being allowed to live. But his family loves him too well to kill him, much to their peril, and they soon fall victim to his thirst. The suspense in this moody and atmospheric story, directed by Italian horror maestro Mario Bava (his sole collaboration with Karloff), builds steadily as it proceeds, and there is an ever-increasing sense of inevitable doom. Bava throws in a lot of mist, baying dogs, glowing color,and creaking doors here, all splendidly amplified at the proper moments to add to an increasing sense of claustrophobia. In his only role as a vampire,, Karloff created one of his more memorable characters which, at this late phase in his long career, demonstrated his professionalism and commitment to the horror genre. The DVD of BLACK SABBATH available from Anchor Bay is the original Italian language version (“I Tre volti della paura“, which means “The Three Faces of Fear” ) which not only has the three stories in a different order than the American release but the viewer is unable to hear Karloff’s real voice (dubbed here). But unlike the U.S. cut, it ends with Karloff atop a phony horse facade as Bava withdraws from a closeup to a startling wide shot of Karloff surrounded by props and a group of small Italian men waving phony tree branches past his face. Bava was offered BLACK SABBATH after the success of BLACK SUNDAY (1960), his first big hit for American International Pictures, and Karloff was part of the deal. BLACK SABBATH is almost 50 years old but it still has the power to terrify.

5. TARGETS

In TARGETS, his last American film role, Karloff comes the closest to playing himself. As the retiring (and similarly-named) horror actor Byron Orlok, Karloff radiates a warmth and sincerity in every scene, whether dealing with fans, friends, or snarky business people. Written (with uncredited help from Samuel Fuller) and directed (his debut) by Peter Bogdanovich, TARGETS is actually two stories that rather brilliantly converge at a drive-in theatre. In one half of the movie, Bogdanovich uses a stark, documentary-style– with no musical score – ”to portray the modern horror story of a Charles Whitman-inspired sniper killing random innocents. The other part of the film is more or less a loving tribute to Boris Karloff, using clips from his films CRIMINAL CODE and THE TERROR, along with references to his long and storied career. Much has been written about the film’s themes juxtaposing the greatest horror movie icon against the violent real-life monsters of today, but in the end, as the London Times stated, it’s a movingly appropriate farewell to a great star.

4. THE BODY SNATCHER

With this performance Karloff proved that he didn’t require an elaborate make-up job to portray a truly scary, sinister character. Of course he’s aided here by the inspired direction of Robert Wise and the expertise of producer Val Lewton ( this, along with Karloff inÂ ISLE OF THE DEAD and BEDLAM, would be the final jewels in Lewton’s horror legacy at the RKO Studios that began with THE CAT PEOPLE ). The film is based on a short story by Robert Louis Stevenson and very much inspired by the story of Burke and Hare, the legendary grave robbers. Karloff is John Gray, a cabman who moonlights as a procurer of corpses for medical study, exclusively for “old pal ” Dr. MacFarlane. Gray is seething menace as he taunts ‘Toddy’ on his nightly visits to the kindly physician’s practice. Seems Gray never gave up Toddy’s name when he was arrested and served time many years ago for his special services. Now the old ghoul will never let the doc forget it! And if there’s not enough of the newly deceased to collect, then John’s got no problem taking the initiative. In one of the great Lewton/ Wise sequences, Gray’s coach clip clops down the cobble road toward a blind street singer. Out of frame, the hoof beats stop, and her voice is abruptly silenced. Later the doc’s simple-minded servant Joseph ( Bela Lugosi ) unwisely decides to blackmail Gray. A friendly drink becomes a great cat-and-mouse game as Gray entertains Joseph by singing an old melody with a killer finish. This would be the last time the two horror icons ( and some say rivals ) would share the screen. Karloff would continue on through the horror rebirth of the 1960’s, while Lugosi, after donning his Dracula cape in ABBOTT AND COSTELLO MEET FRANKENSTEIN, would end his days as the big draw in Ed Wood, Jr. low-budgeters. The entire cast is superb, but this is a real showcase for Boris. In THE BODY SNATCHER, Karloff is the ultimate bogey man in one of his last truly great horror films of Hollywood’s Golden Age.

3. FRANKENSTEIN

Ah, the film classic that made Karloff an over night sensation ( this after more than 70 screen appearances ). And he’s not even listed in the cast credits ( ” The Creature…? ). No photos of him in makeup were released prior to the film’s opening save for a publicity still of Karloff ( his visage hidden by a burlap sack ) being lead to the set, hand in hand, by the guru of grease paint, Jack Pierce. And what an impact he made in the finished film after slowly turning to the camera ( followed by close-up jump-cuts ). No wonder there were reports of patrons fainting in the aisles. But then Karloff’s acting skills truly kicked in. He was able to connect emotionally with audiences. They looked past the putty and powder, the bolts and scars, and sympathized with this flat-topped, pathetic hulk. The monster reaches for the sunlight like a curious child before being tormented by the cruel Fritz. This was a creature more worthy of pity than fear. That is until he lashes at those who would harm him, to the point of punishing his creator, Henry Frankenstein ( Karloff’s so powerful that most people assumed that the monster’s name was simply Frankenstein ). With the film’s restoration in recent years, we see the monster’s despair at the conclusion of the lakeside scene with the little girl and her daisies. Director James Whale along with Pierce created an immortal movie monster and firmly placed Boris Karloff in the pantheon of screen icons.

2. THE BLACK CAT

This tale of American honeymooners (David Manners and Julie Bishop) trapped in the Hungarian home of a Satan- worshiping priest has nothing to do with Edgar Allen Poe’s story. THE BLACK CAT (1934) is about evil, madness, necrophilia, and obsession. It’s the first and best of the eight collaborations between Boris Karloff and Bela Lugosi and both actors are at the top of their game here. This is one film where both actors dish out pure magic and madness for the fans, and there’s not one moment of disappointment anytime either of them are on screen. Every moment they are shown together is intense, whether it’s in the strange, cruel dialog or the brawl between the two in the finale. In 65 minutes, Edgar G. Ulmer proves his potential as a fantastic visual director (his next most famous film was the 1945 noir DETOUR). The introduction of Karloff and Lugosi’s characters (Hjalmar Poelzig and Vitus Werdegast – those names!) is brilliant, as are the secrets that are revealed as the film progresses. For a very long time, you’re not sure which one of them is good or crazy, or if both of them are in fact, completely insane. The scene of Karloff walking through his dimly lit dungeon lair underneath his mansion is the most eerie moment in THE BLACK CAT. The actor walks slowly, holding a black cat firmly in his arms petting it ever so gently, going up to each glass coffin staring at his female corpses as if they were the most beautiful forms of art ever conceived. With its unique art deco design and costumes, THE BLACK CAT is one of the very best from Universal’s Golden Age.

1. BRIDE OF FRANKENSTEIN

” Warning! The monster demands a mate “, so screamed the movie posters. But truthfully, audiences demanded a sequel to the 1931 classic. And boy, did Universal ( with original director James Whale at the helm ) deliver! Colin Clive was back as the tortured Dr. Henry Frankenstein, and, more importantly, so was his lumbering creation played by Karloff ( that’s how he’s listed in the credits, no Boris, but it’s quite a step up from ” ? ” ). The fire from the previous film’s finale has taken its toll on the creature, and makeup wizard Jack Pierce augments his classic original designs with several painful-looking burn scars. This may amp up the audience sympathies for the monster even as he murders an old enemy in the film’s opening scenes. Soon pathos is emphasized over horror as the creature embarks on a series of encounters in the forest ( particularly a long stay with a lonely, blind hermit who educates him ). This leads to another of the poster’s tag lines, ” The monster speaks ” ( supposedly Karloff was none too keen on this development ). Soon those pesky villagers and constables destroy his peace and capture him ( there’s much crucifixion imagery as he’s subdued ). Later he meets the delightfully wicked Dr. Pretorius ( the great Ernest Thesiger ) , who promises to make a mate for him if he helps persuade poor Henry to collaborate ( they even enjoy a couple of cigars ). Then the monster becomes an enforcer ( as he would continue to be in many lower-budgeted follow-ups ) until he meets his bride. Her rejection of him shocks the creature ( his attempts to connect with her by caressing her hand are heart-wrenching ). Ultimately his nobility shines through in the explosive final scenes. Although he would wear those bulky boots on screen one more time, BRIDE OF FRANKENSTEIN was Karloff’s greatest performance as the creature. And the film is on the short list of the very best sequels ever produced.

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