Probably too late to post this, now, but I'll put it up in case there are any all-nighters or early-risers out there.
11 Karloff features, beginning at 6 a.m Eastern, with BEHIND THE MASK (1932), and ending with the excellent ISLE OF THE DEAD (which Martin Scorsese just tagged as one of the greatest horror movies of all time).
The movies:
BEHIND THE MASK (1932)
THE MASK OF FU MANCHU (1932)
THE GHOUL (1933)
THE BLACK ROOM (1935)
THE WALKING DEAD (1936)
THE MAN THEY COULD NOT HANG (1939)
THE MAN WITH NINE LIVES (1940)
BEFORE I HANG (1940)
THE APE (1940)
THE DEVIL COMMANDS (1941)
ISLE OF THE DEAD (1945)
I haven't seen THE GHOUL (which sounds like a MUMMY ripoff, made right on the heels of THE MUMMY) or BEHIND THE MASK (where it sounds like Karloff has only a bit part, but it is supposed to feature Edward Van Sloan as a mad scientist). My favorite, of the rest, is definitely THE MASK OF FU MANCHU. It's insanely over-the-top, and, as a pre-Code horror, lurid as hell. What would have been vicious "yellow peril" racism in the early 20th century is, today, just another of its goofy comic-book elements. Boris tended to play sympathetic villains; here, he's pure, unvarnished evil, and revels in it. Myrna Loy's part, as his daughter, is also a keeper. Like ISLAND OF LOST SOULS, MASK is very much like an Jesus Franco film (though, unfortunately, not like his Fu Manchu movies).
---
"The Dig"
http://cinemarchaeologist.blogspot.com/
11 Karloff features, beginning at 6 a.m Eastern, with BEHIND THE MASK (1932), and ending with the excellent ISLE OF THE DEAD (which Martin Scorsese just tagged as one of the greatest horror movies of all time).
The movies:
BEHIND THE MASK (1932)
THE MASK OF FU MANCHU (1932)
THE GHOUL (1933)
THE BLACK ROOM (1935)
THE WALKING DEAD (1936)
THE MAN THEY COULD NOT HANG (1939)
THE MAN WITH NINE LIVES (1940)
BEFORE I HANG (1940)
THE APE (1940)
THE DEVIL COMMANDS (1941)
ISLE OF THE DEAD (1945)
I haven't seen THE GHOUL (which sounds like a MUMMY ripoff, made right on the heels of THE MUMMY) or BEHIND THE MASK (where it sounds like Karloff has only a bit part, but it is supposed to feature Edward Van Sloan as a mad scientist). My favorite, of the rest, is definitely THE MASK OF FU MANCHU. It's insanely over-the-top, and, as a pre-Code horror, lurid as hell. What would have been vicious "yellow peril" racism in the early 20th century is, today, just another of its goofy comic-book elements. Boris tended to play sympathetic villains; here, he's pure, unvarnished evil, and revels in it. Myrna Loy's part, as his daughter, is also a keeper. Like ISLAND OF LOST SOULS, MASK is very much like an Jesus Franco film (though, unfortunately, not like his Fu Manchu movies).
---
"The Dig"
http://cinemarchaeologist.blogspot.com/
