When you say, hear, or think of the name Boris Karloff, you immediately think of his classic Universal monster movies: Frankenstein (where he was billed as “?”), The Bride of Frankenstein, and The Mummy. You surely know his voice as the narrator of the Christmas classic How the Grinch Stole Christmas or as the Baron in Mad Monster Party, as the host of the anthology series Thriller, or as the co-star of the notoriously muddled The Terror starring Jack Nicholson. He made a series of thrillers at Columbia, worked with Roger Corman, Vincent Price, Basil Rathbone and Peter Lorre, and appeared on such TV shows as The Wild, Wild West, The Girl from U.N.C.L.E. and The Name of the Game.

But after his success at Universal, Karloff moved over to Warner Brothers for a brief period of time to participate in three films that stretch the meaning of the words “feature length.” Perhaps hoping to break out of the horror cycle Universal had become famous for, Karloff was cast in three films of varying quality that allowed him to showcase his versatility. Now, thanks to the Warner Archive Collection, these mostly forgotten films are available on a new DVD collection, Boris Karloff Triple Feature. With running times averaging about an hour each, the Archive Collection has easily fit three films onto a single DVD for your viewing pleasure.

The lead film on the set is probably the least successful of the three, 1937’s West of Shanghai. Yes, that is Karloff in makeup even more frightening than that of the Frankenstein Monster. Of course, this was an age when white actors were cast in lead roles as Asians and no one batted an eye (and to its credit, the film does feature actual Asian actors in most of the supporting roles), but that makeup is just too much. Unfortunately, it makes him look more cross-eyed than Asian. The plot is a bit of a mess: Karloff stars as Chinese warlord Wu Ten Fang in what is actually an adaptation of the Western The Bad Man. Fang steps in to get involved in control of an oil field that two rival companies are fighting over. There’s also a bit of a murder mystery, a romantic triangle, and the confusing question of Fang’s character. Is he a bad guy, a good guy or just misunderstood? The trailer, the only extra included on the DVD, paints him as a true villain, but he never really comes across that way in the movie. Of the three movies on the DVD, this is the one I would be least likely to watch again.

1939’s Devil’s Island stars Karloff as French brain surgeon Charles Gaudet, wrongly accused of aiding and abetting an escapee from the notorious Devil’s Island prison; a man whom Gaudet testified for in court as not being guilty of his crimes because of a brain disorder. After being shot, the convict’s henchmen contact Gaudet to help him, but the man dies while Gaudet is on trial, taking his only defense to the grave. Gaudet is sentenced to hard labor on Devil’s Island, and after he and a group of fellow inmates are sentenced to death for the assault of a guard, the warden’s daughter is injured in an accident, and only one man can save her life. Gaudet makes a deal to spare the men in exchange for his help, but when the warden goes back on his deal, his own wife aids Gaudet and his men in a daring escape.

Devils’ Island afforded Karloff the opportunity to play a very sympathetic character, and you truly feel for him as he stands in the kangaroo court full of prosecutors looking to hang the original escape plan on Gaudet simply because he did his duty as a doctor. Once imprisoned, Gaudet becomes a bit more hardened, willing to let a child die if his demands aren’t met. Karloff gives a wonderful performance amidst a sea of caricatures (the warden could practically twirl his mustache, for example), and it’s nice to see a strong female character in a film like this. It’s still not a real classic, but it is worth checking out.

My favorite film in the collection is 1938’s The Invisible Menace. What looks to be some sort of war movie turns out to be more of an Agatha Christie style whodunit, sort of like Ten Little Indians, with a group of people on an island, a murder, and everyone is a suspect. Karloff’s ex-con, with his shock of white hair, is the main suspect when it’s discovered the victim had framed him for another crime. No one else has an alibi as they all seem to have been in their quarters alone, reading. There is also a newly wed couple trying to lay low (no women are allowed on the island after dark), but get tangled up in the plot as the only real witnesses to the crime. What sets The Invisible Menace apart from the other two films is the humor in the situations. When everyone says they were alone and reading, it is a funny moment but most of the laughs come from the newlyweds who just want a little privacy, but keep ending up in the middle of things. Karloff, again, does an excellent job of portraying a character who seems menacing but has more than one facet to his character. Of the three movies in the collection, The Invisible Menace is the most watchable and re-watchable.

The three movies on the DVD have not been remastered, and the quality varies from very good to passable. All of them have visible scratches, dust and blotches, but nothing really intrusive to ruin the viewing experience. Audio quality is very acceptable. If you’re a fan of Karloff or classic movies, this collection is definitely worth checking out … for at least two of the three movies. The DVD is available directly from the Warner Archives or from Amazon.com (link below).

This review was based on a retail copy of the Boris Karloff Triple Feature DVD provided to CliqueClack from the Warner Archive Collection.

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With Halloween upon us, what better time to remember three undisputed masters of horror — Vincent Price, Christopher Lee and Boris Karloff. With so many great films between them, and most of them available on home video for your annual enjoyment, there couldn’t possibly be more “lost” films out there, right?

Well, the folks at the Warner Archive Collection have really scraped the bottom of the barrel to bring three forgotten films back to life via their Manufacture on Demand service for Halloween. Unfortunately, neither the Price or Lee films can really be considered “horror,” but the Karloff film does become a bit more shocking and horrific as it barrels towards its conclusion. But are any of these films worthy of becoming Halloween perennials?

Unfortunately, the answer is no.

Vincent Price stars as Gilbert de Quincey, a 19th century adventurer, in Confessions of an Opium Eater. I’ve never really been familiar with this film except for the title, and it really bears little resemblance to the lurid poster artwork featured on the DVD sleeve. In the film, de Quincey arrives in San Francisco in the midst of a Tong war and somehow gets involved with trying to stop the Chinese slave trade, as young women are brought into the country and sold to the highest bidder (and for all the resistance the women put up before going on the block, they sure do put on a good show for the bidders). De Quincey only indulges in smoking — not eating! — opium once during the film, and that is pretty much forced on him while he’s being held prisoner. The film’s most “horrific” moment comes during his opium induced trip … but is it a trip, or did everything he see or do at the time really happen? You’re not really going to care by the time the movie ends because it’s all quite unsettling to witness Price as an action hero, the racial stereotypes and even the self-proclaimed “Chinese midget” (who actually gains viewer sympathy by the end). The film’s biggest sin is that it’s boring and at times unintentionally hilarious, especially the opening scene of women being tossed into a fishing net and transferred to a waiting fishing boat. The best thing that can be said about the film is that the black and white cinematography looks very nice on the DVD, and it’s probably the best looking film overall in the collection. But a Halloween film it is not.

Christopher Lee had a five film run as the diabolical Fu Manchu beginning with 1965’s The Face of Fu Manchu, and again I have no knowledge of any of the films in the series except for Lee’s iconic facial hair. In the first film, Lee barely appears for the bulk of the film, leaving his daughter to do all of his dirty work. The story is actually more about Fu Manchu’s adversary Nayland Smith (Nigel Green) as he tracks down information about the disappearance of a scientist and his daughter, as well as some other crimes that seem to lead back to Fu Manchu … except he witnessed Fu Manchu’s execution at the top of the film, so how can he be behind the plot to destroy the world with a potion so powerful that one drop could kill thousands? Nayland puts all of the pieces together, of course, but without Lee making a bigger impact with his plotting and scheming, the film drags quite a bit. The film fails to make an impression, and it’s a wonder there were four more movies in the series but it must have been much more thrilling at the time. The Archive Collection DVD looks fine, if a little color-faded.

The best film of the three is Michael Reeves‘ The Sorcerers, starring Karloff and Catherine Lacey. Karloff stars as Professor Marcus Monserret, a disgraced hypnotist who, with the help of his wife, sets out to prove he can not only hypnotize someone, but completely control them and experience the feelings of the subject at the same time. The Monserret’s find a young man, Mike (Ian Ogilvy), to use as their subject. When the test is a success, Monserret wants to go public with his findings, and the device they used to hypnotize the man, so that they can help older people like themselves live vicariously through others. Unfortunately, once Mrs. Monserret gets a taste of the exhilaration that comes with controlling Mike, she is consumed with power, forcing Mike to do more and more dangerous and horrific deeds while her husband sits by helplessly. With Karloff in the lead, you expect him to be the one in control so it’s a bit shocking to see him take a back seat as Ogilvy and Lacey take center stage, especially as she turns Mike into a kind of Jack the Ripper in the film’s final act.

Even as The Sorcerers looks the worst for wear of the three with a lot of dust speckles, scratches and color shifting in the film, it’s still more watchable than the other two because you just don’t know where Mike is going to be taken next, and how his friends or the police will solve what is basically a mind crime. Having read about this movie for years, I finally know the source of the one iconic image I’ve always seen of Karloff and Lacey in various books about horror movies. The Sorcerers really isn’t a straight horror film, but it does fit in with the thrillers of the time like Psycho, Peeping Tom, and Frenzy. With this being the second of the three horror films Reeves directed before his untimely death from a drug overdose, one is left wondering what he could have done for the genre as his career flourished.

This review is based on retail copies of the three DVDs provided to CliqueClack by the Warner Archive Collection.

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