The Silver Screen Oasis

Hey, did anyone record The Ghoul (1933) that is playing now on TCM? I just discovered it was on and missed most of it--darn!

I've never seen this British horror movie, but it looks like an entertaining bit of a comically perverse scary movie with a wonderful cast, led by Boris Karloff, (in aged makeup that makes his Mummy face look well-rested), Cedric Hardwicke, Ernest Thesiger and Ralph Richardson (as a funny cleric). The glorious black and white cinematography by Günther Krampf is absolutely beautiful and the print seems to be pristine. Hope others have seen this and can offer some opinions.

Ernest Thesiger gets his from you know who.

Moira, I'll watch ANYTHING with Karloff, but IMO "The Ghoul" is not one of Boris's finest hours. I found it slow and creaky to the point where (as with my two viewings of "Vampyr") I had to fight to stay awake to see it through. Karloff's role is limited and he is dispatched well before the climax, thus removing from the plot the only element I found worth watching.

On the plus side: Karloff's makeup is sufficiently "ghoulish", the atmosphere following his resurrection is creepy . . . and there is Ernest Thesiger. But overall I'd rate it well below his Universal shockers of the period . . .

I liked this movie and think it is pretty good. Karloff gives a very good performance. He doesn't speak for much of the movie and uses his body, but he gets to move faster than as the Frankenstein Monster, which makes a big difference.

Also, there is a lot of deliberate humor in this film, particularly one female character who knows everything she knows about the Middle East thanks to Rudolph Valentino movies. That was a very interesting subplot.

My only problem with the film is the ending, in which the movie veers away from the supernatural. Apparently this was for censorship reasons, but it is still a disappointment. However, all things considered, this is a very fun film. (Ralph Richardson is in it too.)

I haven't seen this one for a few years, but I liked it as much as many of his other more remembered films of this era: The Old Dark House and The Mask of Fu Manchu before it and The Lost Patrol and The Black Cat after it. The Mummy and Bride of Frankenstein have it hands down of course.