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I would
love to be one of those movie geeks who explain that the
first time they saw a Hollywood legend like Boris
Karloff was in a movie only five people have seen for
years, and I explain the details of the plot and make
you feel bad for not having watched it and give you some
impression of my knowledge of movies because you have
yet to see it or can't even find it. But no. My first
time ever coming close to Boris Karloff's insane
greatness was during "The Grinch That Stole Christmas."
Yes, it was "The Grinch," a half hour animated movie
animated by Chuck Jones that played on television every
single year. Not very impressive? I don't care. When we
were kids my brother and I used to get in the spirit of
the holiday and would watch the Christmas specials
played on television every year and one of them was Dr.
Seuss' special which was one of the few times a year we
heard The Uncanny Karloff riff about the green ogre who
stole Christmas from people who didn't need material
possessions to enjoy the holiday.
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Watching
them enjoy the day even without the gifts
showed him Christmas was about much more
than presents and decorations and it was
Karloff who taught me that every year. For a
long time Boris Karloff lived on through
clips from television shows and movies until
years later well in to my movie fandom that
I was finally able to see "Frankenstein" and
"Bride of Frankenstein," arguably two of the
greatest horror films ever made, both of
which were headlined by Karloff who managed
to take what isn't entirely a faithful
variation on the monster and turns him in to
a tragic and menacing individual forced in
to a world he wanted nothing of, and slowly
realized throughout both films that the
world is filled with people much scarier and
violent than he is.
I love the
story of Karloff going to lunch on the
Universal lot in his monster costume only to
scare and upset many of the customers at the
food court. It's amazing how much monstrous
make up has evolved. When you look at it now
it's not very disturbing, but Karloff
implemented much of his own skill and acting
prowess to give the monster that added
personality that would make him a being of
carnage who you empathized for but stepped
lively around. As we was in "Frankenstein"
in the famous drowning sequence, the Monster
is without knowledge of his own strength or
the limits of humanity, so while he is a
dangerous and murderous being, he's that way
because he really doesn't know better.
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Only
when he experiences human cruelty can he manage to
understand that every action has a consequence and he
begins to obtain an intelligence and awareness about him
that make him an even deadlier force of nature that Dr.
Frankenstein is incapable of comprehending. The
Frankenstein Monster is something of a self-loathing
being who is truly aware of how ugly he is and hopes for
the world to be accepting of him. When he learns he's
impossibly unfit for a world filled with monsters as
gruesome as he is he devises his own form and becomes
something of a thinking villain who orders Frankenstein
to build him a bride. It's when this ugly creation
rejects him, does he really know that the only solace he
can seek is death, a darkness that once cradled him like
a womb before being horribly pushed in to our own where
he never asked for entrance. He also learns that you
simple can not build or create love no matter how
god-like you may be, because like him and his doomed
bride, it is unnatural. "The Bride" is arguably the
better of the Universal films, and I consider it better
than its predecessor if only because it allowed Karloff
to emote more as the monster where another actor would
feel confined in the make-up. The speaking, the emoting
and the invoking of emotions feel like Karloff working
his way in to this beast.
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to be topped or as defined within the hands
of Karloff. Oddly enough the role, as many
know, was turned down by Bela Lugosi who
dismissed the potential for the monster as
being too quiet and not dramatic enough.
Years later he regretted this decision when
he saw that the best actors can take a great
role of any ilk and turn it in to an iconic
presence. Though Bela Lugosi was a skilled
theatrical performer, his hubris was his own
undoing in potentially portraying two truly
iconic horror monsters. Sadly it was too
little too late once he portrayed the
Monsters in "Frankenstein vs. The Werewolf."
Boris Karloff was always a man in the same
vein as Vincent Price and Lon Chaney, a man
of many faces and ranges and personalities
who could portray eccentric, menacing, and
tragic whenever he pleased, and still be
able to retain much of his gravitas on
screen. |
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I often
get lambasted for saying so, but I'm not really a fan of
"The Mummy," another iconic role from Karloff in a
variety of many that gave the man an opportunity to be
both the villain and the monster at the same time. As
Imhotep he was a crafty and slimy madman, and as the
mummy he was a manifestation of that evil that blossomed
in to a role that would forever influence future
incarnations and was later taken on by Lon Chaney Jr.
While Chaney was yet another truly legendary performer,
he could never really capture the air of class Karloff
instilled in his villains, nor could he properly mimic
the personal stamp Karloff placed on the Mummy.
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As many
know, Karloff went on to star in a gallery
of Edgar Allen Poe movies, and continued
winning the hearts of horror and Goth buffs
with his depictions in movies like "The
Raven," and "Die, Monster, Die!" and of
course also went on to one of the best
horror anthologies ever made, "Black
Sabbath." His role as the commanding
patriarch of a farm family who comes home
completely vampirized and demanding of his
children's allegiance even after admitting
to being hungry for their blood is a very
morbid story of true loyalty and weakness in
the face of undeath. In an already
horrifying horror movie, Boris Karloff's
final segment stands out among the strong
stories possessing a power and mercilessness
with a new evil he's fully embraced and is
intent on taking the innocence of his family
around him at the mercy of his hunger.
And while also
considered one of the weakest of the Abbot
and Costello outputs, I had a blast with
"Abbot and Costello Meet The Killer, Boris
Karloff," if only for the allusions toward a
latter day confrontation between a horror
heavyweight and the two bumbling friends
after "Meet Frankenstein" where the monster
was played by Glenn Strange. The Frankenstein
never quite maintained his humanity and
depth once Strange took hold of the mantle, and
not even Christopher Lee could hold a candle
to Karloff's own portrayal of the monster. I
enjoyed Karloff attempting to hypnotize
Freddie Phillips in to throwing himself out
of a window, and failing colossally. |
In a
world where horror icons are slim and relegated to
shelve cloggers on video stores that are easily
forgotten by the masses, Boris Karloff is one of the
more enduring iconic faces who possesses a sense of
menace to him while also offering a gentlemanly quality
to him that keeps him someone you'd want at arm's
length. All the while, Karloff implements much of his
talents for critical acclaim, the theater, and the
occasional amusing event such as "The Grinch." Don't
knock it, it introduced me to Boris, and I owe a debt to
it for opening the door to the Uncanny Boris.
Happy
birthday, Boris. |
