Bela
and Boris Together Again!
By
Kristin Battestella
What’s
not to love when that diabolical duo Bela Lugosi and Boris Karloff get together
for a macabre good time? Here’s a dash of Boris, a pinch of Bela, and a whole
lot of early Hollywood Mayhem!
Black
Friday – Friday the 13th
themes, spinning newspapers, old time prisons, last rites, and dead man walking
scares for Doctor Karloff start off this 1940 genre bender before a shocking
flashback plot, seriously sweet roadsters, intense murder scenes, cool hidden
panels, stylish fedoras, and fabulous frocks. The narration and inter
title-esque notes onscreen match the brain swapping surgery montage, high-end
trains, classy locales, and swanky music – despite the wild medicine making the
revenge possible, this feels like a thriller not a dated B sci-fi production.
Who are the men in pursuit? Where’s the money? The dramatic music and Jekyll
and Hyde personality transformations may be over the top or confusing to some
but the fun is in guessing the next victim amid the rooftop shootouts and dames
in peril. Though he’s a sinister gangster, Lugosi has very little screen time.
He delivers his lines just fine with the right criminal pacing and threat, but
his accent does seem too out of place and unexplained. Good time here aside, one
does wonder what might have been had Lugosi played the mastermind doctor and
Karloff gotten his murderous switch on as originally intended. This kind of
crossover could have easily fallen into a woeful mix of abdominal science and cliché
cops and robbers, but if Lugosi’s incongruous suave is the only complaint, then
hot damn!
The
Invisible Ray – Bela and Boris
team for this 1936 science fiction 80 minutes – complete with a fun disclaimer
suggesting that scientific fact was once thought of as the fantastics we are
about to see. Add a stormy introduction, creepy old ladies, wild electricity,
misunderstood demonstrations, and a cool mix of old world interiors with crazy
science devices and the mood is set. The pretty ingénues and similar men are a
bit standard and their love triangle distracts somewhat from our horror
maestros, but the romance could be worse. Though he’s rocking a sweet goatee,
we don’t see Lugosi as Dr. Benet as much as mad scientist Karloff. However,
their neat Freud and Jung differences and reluctant but respectful allied
approach is a treat. Yes, the talk of catching rays of light from Andromeda is
preposterous, but our boys are so earnest in their cause that the audience goes
along with the newspaper headlines, cool welding masks, and sizzling laboratory
sounds. Some expert viewers may dislike all this faux jargon hooey in addition
to the stereotypical tribal designs and the cliché safari scenes, but the old
time science remains likeable as does pleasant outdoor footage and the
radioactive, vengeful, and literally glowing Karloff.
The
Raven – He’s hamming it up and
quoting death as his talisman – Bela Lugosi is creepy as ever behind his
doctor’s mask and a suave god complex for this 1935 Poe based hour. The
bearded, raspy, demented looking Boris Karloff (also of the unrelated 1963 mash
up of the same name with Vincent Price and Peter Lorre) is trying to reform his
criminal ways, but Lugosi’s twisted doctoring wrenches that! This quick plot
wastes no time thanks to car accidents, desperate medicine, titular quotes, mad
love, and torture gear. Though not a full on, proper adaptation of the famed
poem, great shadows, interiors, organ music, furs, fedoras, and screams accent
the obsessed with Poe layers and madcap style. A large ensemble can make it
tough to tell who is who, and we don’t see much of the Poe-esque devices or
their violence compared to the torture porn we expect today. However, the time
here is steeped in an entertaining interwar gothic atmosphere – the wild
contraptions are fun yet there are poignant moments and comeuppance amid the
haunted house attraction mayhem. Edgar aficionados and fans of the cast will
enjoy the uncanny charm here.
This
trio appears on The Bela Lugosi Collection release, a double sided single disc
also featuring Murders in the Rue Morgue and
The Black Cat, which we’ve previously
reviewed here. Ironically, this set in itself is more like a Lugosi and Karloff
twice the fun gathering. Four of the five features celebrate the duo – and sometimes
there’s a lot more Boris than Bela. Not all the titles are horror-centric,
either but showcase more pre-war science fiction designs. I nitpick and there are
no features, but The Bela Lugosi Collection is an affordable video with heaps
of Poe inspiration. The short runtimes are perfect for an entertaining marathon,
and there’s really no excuse not to watch!
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