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6
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6 |
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10
= Highest Rating |
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Guest
Review by Lyle
Horowitz |
With
the success of such films as Frankenstein
(1931) and The Mummy (1932), Boris
Karloff became an instantly recognizable horror icon. The
Ghoul, an English film released in 1934, was apparently
an attempt to follow in The Mummy's
profitable footsteps.
This
was the first U.K. film to be labeled "horrific" — it was supposedly
banned in Britain for several years due to a scene of self-mutilation,
in which Karloff carves an Egyptian glyph into his chest with
a dagger. Considered lost for many decades, in recent years
shoddy bootleg copies of The
Ghoul
have popped up here and there on VHS. Now, thankfully, MGM has
restored this black and white gem with an absolutely fantastic-looking
DVD transfer.
The film concerns Professor Morlant (Karloff),
an eccentric Egyptologist who's gravely ill with heart disease.
On his deathbed he demands that his butler, Laing (Ernest Thesiger),
insure that he's buried with an ancient jewel called the Eternal
Light. Morlant believes that this fabled artifact will resurrect
him from the dead; his patron god Anubis will then make him
immortal. Following his master's instructions — and despite
his own trepidation — Laing binds the jewel in Morlant's hand
with a bandage. Upon Morlant's death the body is interred in
an Egyptian-themed tomb, placed in an unlocked sarcophagus according
to the professor's wishes. Morlant's shady solicitor (Cedric
Hardwicke) knows his late employer paid £75,000 for the
Eternal Light not long before his demise, while an Arab true-believer
(D.A. Clarke-Smith) and a con man (Harold Huth) are also eager
to get their hands on it. Complicating their schemes are the
deceased's only living heirs (Dorothy Hyson, Anthony Bushell),
who show up at Morlant's gloomy mansion to learn what he's bequeathed
them. The Eternal Light is promptly stolen... And true to his
warning, Morlant rises from the tomb, zombie-like, in search
of the missing jewel.
The
Ghoul
has a particularly substandard reputation in the eyes of many
horror fans. I disagree. While not a classic (and the ending
is actually something of a cheat), it certainly isn't terrible.
The film could perhaps best be described as a mix of The
Old Dark House and The Mummy
— an above-average, atmospheric
thriller which features the always watchable Boris Karloff in
an interesting performance. Thesiger (Bride
Of Frankenstein's Dr. Pretorious) and Hardwick are excellent
in their supporting roles. Is the movie great? No. But it's
certainly better than the reputation it has garnered over the
years. Karloff has appeared in much, much worse.
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| Although
the disc lacks extras (not even a trailer), the digital transfer
of this 70-year old black and white film is absolutely amazing
—
on a par with
those for the Citizen Kane and Casablanca
DVDs! Likely it's due more
to luck, rather than any painstaking restoration work, that The
Ghoul looks so incredible. The original negative must've
been stored in near-perfect conditions. Some scenes look as if
they were filmed recently! The audio, too, is very clean, free
of any distortion or static.
I must
address the cover art, however... It's wretched. A rarely-seen
Karloff film from the Golden Age is packaged like a 1996 cable
TV movie starring John Stamos. (Ugh!) Considering that the film
was lost for some time, I didn't expect any extras. For a price
as low as $10 (in some brick and mortar stores, if you can find
it), this disc is easily worth purchasing.
If you're
a fan of Boris Karloff and/or the classic Universal monster films
of the 1930s and '40s, be sure to pick this one up. 10/01/03 |
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