Boris Karloff
Boris Karloff: The Rest of the Story takes a deeper look at the life and career of Boris Karloff, from 1931 to 1969, exploring films such as The Ghoul, The Walking Dead (1936), Charlie Chan at the Opera (1936), the Mr Wong series, The Climax (1944), Lured (1947), The Strange Door (1951), Grip of the Strangler and Corridors of Blood(1958), The Comedy of Terrors (1963), The Curse of the Crimson Altar (1968), the Mexican quartet, some of his major TV appearances (The Girl From U.N.C.L.E., Wild Wild West, I-Spy) as well as taking a deep look at his often ignored Broadway career in the 1940s and 50's. There is also much time devoted to Karloff's more personal side and his relationship with his daughter, Sara.
Documentry on the career of Jack Pierce, a make up man from the Golden Age of Hollywood, most remembered for creating the looks of various classic monsters such as Frankenstein, The Mummy, and the Wolf Man
Uncensored. Laugh along with Hollywood's brightest stars in this hilarious compilation of bloopers from some of the biggest movies in history . You'll see stars such as Humphrey Bogart, Lauren Bacall, Lucille Ball, Bob Hope, Ronald Reagan, Marlene Dietrich, Boris Karloff, Edward G. Robinson, Errol Flynn and more. They're not so perfect after all when these flubbed moments are caught on film!
In this experimental film, British actor Boris Karloff (1887-1969) embodies over 170 characters, experiencing a schizophrenic horror trip in which he faces versions of himself in different masks, at different ages, of different genders and races. As Karloff’s career spans over 50 years, from the silent era to modern-day cinema, A Masque of Madness allows us to witness the aesthetic and technical developments of the medium in one single film.
Crime writer Ian Rankin investigates The Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde. Starting with Robert Louis Stevenson's nightmare in September 1885, Rankin traces the roots of this story, which stretches back to Stevenson's childhood. Grave-robbers, hallucinatory drugs and prostitution all play their part in the disturbing account of Henry Jekyll's double-life, as Rankin's journey takes him into the yeasty draughts and unlit closes of the city that inspired the tale - Edinburgh.
On Valentines Day, 1931, Universal Pictures released the film Dracula - the first true horror movie. Its worldwide success catapulted the film's lead actor, Romanian-born Bela Lugosi, to overnight stardom. "Bela Lugosi: The Fallen Vampire" traces the life and career of this mysterious man whose name became synonymous with the evil, yet magnetically compelling Count Dracula. Using archival still and film clips as well as interviews with film historians, actors and Lugosi himself, the special chronicles the meteoric rise and then precipitous decline of a talented yet tragic man who forever changed the face of horror films.
Film historians, and producer Richard Gordon, talk about the horror movie career of cult star Boris Karloff.
Film historians, and producer Richard Gordon, talk about the horror movie career of cult star Bela Lugosi.
Made by re-editing a deteriorated nitrate print of The Bells (1926), starring Lionel Barrymore and Boris Karloff, this work shows the fragility of the film image while foreshadowing the Holocaust.
Documentary featured on the Classic Monster Collection and Monster Legacy Collection for The Mummy (1932).
The history of Frankenstein's journey from novel to stage to screen to icon
Richard Dreyfuss hosts a celebration of the 80 year history of Universal Studios. Founded as IMP by Carl Leammle to oppose Edison's Motion Picture Tust, it soon grew under the leadership of 21 year old production head Irving Thalberg with classic silents from artists like John Ford, Erich Von Stroheim, and Lon Chaney and prospered further in the Sound Era under the leadership of Carl Leammle Jr. with such classics as "All Quiet on The Western Front," "Showboat," and the studio's signature monster franchises, "Frankenstein" and "Dracula."
Documentary about zombie and mummy movies hosted by Christopher Lee.
This tribute to Myrna Loy is organized chronologically with a few photographs, many film clips, a handful of personal appearances, and a detailed commentary delivered on camera by Kathleen Turner. Turner walks us through Loy's career as a dancer and an actress miscast as an exotic. She comes into her own as a grown-up women: shrewd, funny, decorous, and sexy - in "Manhattan Melodrama" and "The Thin Man." Her volunteer work during World War II, later stage work, and progressive politics come in for admiration as well. It's her style - seen best in her roles as a wife of charm and independence - that's captured and celebrated here.
The nephew of a librarian must go collect a 200 year old book, "The Book of Ulthar." that should have never been checked out by the Evil Count Orlock cause one of the spells in it could bring about the end of the world. During his trip to the castle, he meets Marissa, a gorgeous rock star and heir to the castle's fortune. There they must confront the only other heir to the fortune and the book, Uncle Byron; and Uncle Byron and his 3 adopted nieces all have very, very, very broad smile.
A collection of bloopers and outtakes from an enormous selection of Hollywood classic productions spanning from the 1930s through the 1980s.
Period music, film clips and newsreel footage combined into a visual exploration of the American entertainment industry during the Great Depression.
Relatives of a recently deceased man meet at his eerie castle for a reading of the will. They encounter a sinister piano player who turns out to be a toy maker, and his toys are imbued with murderous intentions.
The inhabitants of a small, remote island have been practicing voodoo rites and worshipping an evil priest named Damballah for years, but the local law officials generally turn a blind eye to this death cult's bizarre activities. Captain Labesch arrives from the mainland, determined to crack down on the island's lawlessness and clean up the ineffectual, hard-drinking police force. He appeals for assistance from wealthy plantation tycoon Carl Van Molder, who owns nearly half of the island and wields a great deal of influence over the population. Van Molder has made the study of parapsychology his life's work and believes in the secret powers of the mind. He warns Labesch not to interfere with this forgotten island's ancient ways. Also visiting is Van Molder's niece, Annabella, a temperance crusader who wants her uncle to help fund the International Anti-Saloon League. She falls in love with handsome police lieutenant Andrew Wilhelm
In the late 1800's, Boris Karloff has discovered a way to use nuclear power. He creates a beam weapon and blows up a big rock. Outer space aliens are scared and one alien who looks a lot like James Cameron with a big fake nose only this one isn't fake lands and brings other aliens who take over the bodies of Karloff and his assistant. The assistant is a Jack the Ripper style killer who has done a few nasty murders which have riled the townsfolk. The body-snatched bodies become radioactive and start killing flowers and other stuff (but don't die themselves) and some stuff happens and in the end Karloff destroys the beam weapon equipment (and his lab and house), then the aliens leave and warn us that if anyone ever does it again there will be trouble.
A blind sculptor works on his magnum opus unaware that the skeletons he has been using for armatures are the remains of the victims of his evil wife and that he is the next target.
The frightening Boris Karloff 60s thriller with Karloff as a demented doctor using torture for scientific experiments.
When his brother disappears, Robert Manning pays a visit to the remote country house he was last heard from. While his host is outwardly welcoming - and his niece more demonstrably so - Manning detects a feeling of menace in the air with the legend of Lavinia Morley, Black Witch of Greymarsh, hanging over everything.
Peter Bogdanovich’s startling debut feature is both a brilliantly constructed thriller and a disturbingly prescient look at the rise of mass shootings in America. In his last serious dramatic role, Boris Karloff plays a version of himself: a washed-up horror actor whose fate intersects with a psychotic sniper (Tim O’Kelly) on a killing spree.
When Dr Frankenstein decides to retire from the monster-making business, he calls an international roster of monsters to a creepy convention to elect his successor. Everyone is there including Dracula, The Werewolf, The Creature, Dr Jekyll & Mr Hyde and many more. But Frankenstein's title is not all that is at stake. The famous doctor has also discovered the secret of total destruction that must not fall into the wrong hands!
Former CIA man, Bill Fenner, now a downbeat, loner journalist, is sent to Venice to investigate the shock suicide bombing by an American diplomat at a peace conference.
The great hypnotist Professor Montserrat has developed a technique for controlling the minds, and sharing the sensations, of his subjects. He and his wife Estelle test the technique on Mike Roscoe, and enjoy 'being' the younger man. But Estelle soon grows to love the power of controlling Roscoe, and the vicarious pleasures that provides. How far will she go, and can the Professor restrain her in time?
A fictional account of a teen-aged Hans Christian Anderson. In this film, young Hans runs away from home and each time he falls asleep he experiences in his dreams the different characters he would later write about including The Little Mermaid, Thumbelina and The Ugly Duckling.
Bitter and hateful, the Grinch is irritated at the thought of a nearby village having a happy time celebrating Christmas. Disguised as Santa Claus, with his dog made to look like a reindeer, he decides to raid the village to steal all the Christmas things.
A corpse has 24 hours to mastermind a good deed without leaving his crypt, to go "up there" and have his youth restored.
The Making of the story of how A grumpy hermit hatches a plan to steal Christmas from the Whos of Whoville. You're A Mean One, Mr. Grinch. Bitter and hateful, the Grinch is irritated at the thought of the nearby village having a happy time celebrating Christmas. So disguised as Santa Claus, with his dog made to look like a reindeer, he raids the village to steal all the Christmas things. The village is sure to have a sad Christmas this year.
An EIGHT minute excerpt from the 1944 feature, House of Frankenstein, released in the 1960's to the 16mm & 8mm home movie market.
A young man visits his fiancé's estate to discover that her wheelchair-bound scientist father has discovered a meteorite that emits mutating radiation rays that have turned the plants in his greenhouse to giants. When his own wife falls victim to this mysterious power, the old man takes it upon himself to destroy the glowing object with disastrous results.
Ken Murray narrates his 16mm home movies shot over 35 years in Hollywood.
Narrated by Boris Karloff, this Movietone short spoofs the dangers of teenage rebellion around the world.
An undertaker who hasn't had any 'customers' in a long time is forced to pay one year's back-rent. To get money he starts to kill people, which brings absurd results.
A millionaire sets out to prove his theory that his pet chimpanzee is as intelligent as the teenagers who hang out on the local beach, where he is intending to build a retirement home.
Documentary showing perverse and aberrant behavior from around the globe, including such things as sex slavery, dwarf love, Asian brothels and lesbians.
A documentary that looks back at some of the classic monsters, mad scientists & creatures from the early days of horror. Which is also an episode of the NBC television series "Hollywood and the Stars" hosted by Joseph Cotten.
Three short tales of supernatural horror. In “The Telephone,” a woman is plagued by threatening phone calls. In "The Wurdalak,” a family is preyed upon by vampiric monsters. In “The Drop of Water,” a deceased medium wreaks havoc on the living.
A young officer in Napoleon's Army pursues a mysterious woman to the castle of an elderly Baron.
The only surviving play from the anthology series, Out of This World, presented by Boris Karloff.
Out of This World is a British science fiction anthology television series made by ABC Television and broadcast in 1962. A spin-off from the popular anthology series Armchair Theatre, each episode was introduced by the actor Boris Karloff. Many of the episodes were adaptations of stories by science fiction writers including Isaac Asimov, Philip K. Dick and Clifford D. Simak. The series is generally seen as a precursor to the BBC science fiction anthology series Out of the Unknown.
Penniless Fred Bancroft, along with his new wife Molly, visits a sinister uncle he hasn't seen in years in hopes of living rent-free in his musty, decaying mansion.
1962 telefilm adaptation of the classic American play about a deranged family and the string of murders they flippantly commit
An appreciative, uncritical look at silent film comedies and thrillers from early in the century through the 1920s.
White magic practitioner Amos Wilder kills himself after securing his nephew's sworn promise to guard his body against evil spirits. The nephew must never leave his uncle's mansion, to protect the shire from the return of black necromancer Bentley, cast back to Hell by Wilder.
Comprised of 4 episodes from the unsold TV series The Veil (1958) - "Whatever Happened to Peggy," "Destination Nightmare," "The Return of Madame Vernoy," and "Girl on the Road.'
The baron's grandson rents the family castle to a TV crew to fund his atomic revival of the family monster.
An 1840s British surgeon, experiments with anesthetic gases in an effort to make surgery pain-free. While doing so, his demonstration before a panel of his peers ends in a horrific mishap with his patient awakening under the knife; he is forced to leave his position in disgrace. To complicate matters, he becomes addicted to the gases and gets involved with a gang of criminals, led by Black Ben and his henchman Resurrection Joe.
A researcher investigating a notorious serial killer who was hanged 20 years earlier seemingly becomes possessed by the long dead strangler.
A trading company manager travels up an African river to find a missing outpost head and discovers the depth of evil in humanity's soul.
Comprised of 4 episodes from the unsold TV series "The Veil" (1958) - "Summer Heat," "Genesis," "Food on the Table," and "Jack the Ripper."
Medieval times. A juggler has little success making a living; he puts on a hair shirt and becomes an ascetic, but attracts only other ascetics.
A wealthy industrialist hires the renowned hoax-buster Phillip Knight to prove that an island he plans to develop isn't voodoo cursed. However, arriving on the island, Knight soon realizes that voodoo does exist when he discovers man-eating plants and a tribe of natives with bizarre powers.
Colonel March of The Department of Queer Complaints investigates unusual cases, locked-room murders, and mysteries concerning the supernatural.
This is a feature-length compilation of three short episodes taken from a TV series called 'Colonel March of Scotland Yard' (1954-56, 26 episodes) starring Boris Karloff as Colonel March, head of Scotland Yard's Department D.3, otherwise known as The Bureau of Queer Complaints.
Horror legend Boris Karloff stars in this rarely-seen mystery tale, directed by Daniel Petrie (A Raisin in the Sun, Sybil) . Sidney Silchester, a college professor, is enjoying a summer holiday in a quiet English village. His peaceful vacation turns into a nightmare when the town is invaded by a swarm of killer bees. One of the few to escape, Silchester finds refuge with an elderly recluse, ""Mr. Mycroft"". With the old man's help, the academic discovers that the bees were let loose by a mad killer. As the two men close in on the lunatic, Silchester realizes that Mycroft is no ordinary retiree, and in fact may be the greatest detective of them all.
A live television presentation of Rodgers and Hart's 1927 stage musical.
An Italian government agent is assigned to break up a drug smuggling ring on the island of Ischia but his daughter is kidnapped by the gang.
Abbott and Costello, two bumbling American cops on exchange in London, hunt for Mr. Hyde—the monster that has been terrorizing the city.
The Ernie Kovacs Show is an American comedy show hosted by comedian Ernie Kovacs, first shown in Philadelphia during the early 50s, then nationally. The show appeared in many versions and formats, including daytime, prime-time, late-night, talk show, comedy, and as a summer replacement series. The Ernie Kovacs Show was one of only six TV shows broadcast on all four U.S. television networks during the Golden Age of Television, the others being The Original Amateur Hour, Pantomime Quiz, Down You Go, The Arthur Murray Party, and Tom Corbett, Space Cadet.
A Man investigates the disappearance of two of his friends who were the guests of a sinister Austrian count.
The wicked Alain plots an elaborate revenge against his younger brother Edmund, leading to a deadly confrontation in his dungeon deathtrap.
Down You Go is an American television game show originally broadcast on the DuMont Television Network. The Emmy Award-nominated series ran from 1951–1956 as a prime time series hosted by Dr. Bergen Evans. The program aired in eleven different timeslots during its five-year run. Down You Go is one of only six series — along with The Arthur Murray Party; Pantomime Quiz; Tom Corbett, Space Cadet; The Ernie Kovacs Show; and The Original Amateur Hour — shown on all four major television networks of the Golden Age of Television: ABC, NBC, CBS, and DuMont.
Starring Boris Karloff (also known as The Boris Karloff Mystery Playhouse) is an American radio and television anthology series broadcast for 13 weeks, September–December 1949, on the ABC network. Boris Karloff was the host and occasional star, with music by organist George Henninger. Produced and directed by Charles Warburton, the series adapted short stories of mystery and suspense.
Lost Caverns Hotel bellhop Freddie Phillips is suspected of murder. Swami Talpur tries to hypnotize Freddie into confessing, but Freddie is too stupid for the plot to work. Inspector Wellman uses Freddie to get the killer (and it isn't the Swami).
Set at the beginning of the Civil War, Tap Roots is all about a county in Mississippi which chooses to secede from the state rather than enter the conflict. The county is protected from the Confederacy by an abolitionist (Ward Bond) and a Native American gentleman (Boris Karloff). The abolitionist's daughter (Susan Hayward) is courted by a powerful newspaper publisher (Van Heflin) when her fiance (Whitfield Connor), a confederate officer, elopes with the girl's sister (Julie London). The daughter at first resists the publisher's attentions, but turns to him for aid when her ex-fiance plans to capture the seceding county on behalf of the South.
A gang of criminals, which includes a piano player and an imposing former convict known as 'Gruesome', has found out about a scientist's secret formula for a gas that temporarily paralyzes anyone who breathes it. When Gruesome accidentally inhales some of the gas and passes out, the police think he is dead and take him to the morgue, where he later revives and escapes. This puzzling incident attracts the interest of Dick Tracy, and when the criminals later use the gas to rob a bank, Tracy realizes that he must devote his entire attention to stopping them.
England, 1763. After being convicted of a crime, the young and beautiful Abigail Hale agrees, to escape the gallows, to serve fourteen years as a slave in the colony of Virginia, whose inhabitants begin to hear and fear the sinister song of the threatening drums of war that resound in the wild Ohio valley.
Walter Mitty, a daydreaming writer with an overprotective mother, likes to imagine that he is a hero who experiences fantastic adventures. His dream becomes reality when he accidentally meets a mysterious woman who hands him a little black book. According to her, it contains the locations of the Dutch crown jewels hidden since World War II. Soon, Mitty finds himself in the middle of a confusing conspiracy, where he has difficulty differentiating between fact and fiction.
Sandra Carpenter is a London-based dancer who is distraught to learn that her friend has disappeared. Soon after the disappearance, she's approached by Harley Temple, a police investigator who believes her friend has been murdered by a serial killer who uses personal ads to find his victims. Temple hatches a plan to catch the killer using Sandra as bait, and Sandra agrees to help.
London, 1761. St. Mary's of Bethlehem, a sinister madhouse, is visited by wealthy people who enjoy watching the patients confined there as if they were caged animals. Nell Bowen, one of the visitors, is horrified by the deplorable living conditions of the unfortunate inhabitants of this godforsaken place, better known as Bedlam.
On a Greek island during the 1912 war, several people are trapped by quarantine for the plague. If that isn't enough worry, one of the people, a superstitious old peasant, suspects a young woman of being a vampiric kind of demon called a vorvolaka.
Edinburgh, 1831. Among those who undertake the illegal trade of grave robbery is Gray, ostensibly a cab driver. Formerly a medical student convicted of grave robbery, Gray holds a grudge against Dr. MacFarlane who had escaped detection and punishment.
An evil scientist and a hunchback escape from prison and encounter Dracula, the Wolf Man and Frankenstein's Monster.
Dr. Hohner (Karloff), theatre physician at the Vienna Royal Theatre, murders his mistress, the star soprano when his jealousy drives him to the point of mad obsession. Ten years later, another young singer (Foster) reminds Hohner of the late diva, and his old mania kicks in. Hohner wants to prevent her from singing for anyone but him, even if it means silencing her forever. The singer's fiancée (Bey) rushes to save her in the film's climax.
Narrator Hopper covers two war benefit affairs, a garden party and a USO fashion show, at Pickfair, "The White House of Hollywood."
A series of cartoon adaptations of Theodor 'Dr. Seuss' Geisel's wonderful children's stories.
A young divorcee tries to convert a historic house into a hotel despite its oddball inhabitants and dead bodies in the cellar.
A scientist kills innocent victims in his efforts to communicate with his late wife.
Dr. Bernard Adrian is a kindly scientist who seeks to cure a young woman's polio. He needs human spinal fluid to complete the formula for his experimental serum. Meanwhile, a vicious circus ape has broken out of its cage, and is terrorizing the townspeople. Can there be a connection?
When a police officer is murdered, Captain Street looks to Mr. Wong to catch the killer. Prime Suspect: Frank Belden Jr., whose father is a businessman well known for both his success and dishonesty. Mr. Wong faces increasing danger and is nearly executed himself as the investigation develops in treachery and complexity. As Mr. Wong follows the trail of dead bodies, he uncovers a jewel smuggling ring on the San Francisco waterfront and a case much larger than the death of a police officer.
During WWI pretty German master spy Helene von Lorbeer is sent undercover to London to live with the family of a high-placed British official where she is to rendezvous with the butler Valdar, also a spy, and help him transmit secret war plans back to Germany.
When his friend Professor Kingsely (Ridges) is at deaths door, brain surgeon Dr. Sovac (Karloff) saves his life by means of an illegal operation that transplants part of injured gangster Red Cannon's brain. Unfortunately, the operation has a disasterous Jeckll and Hyde side effect and under certain conditions the persona of Cannon emerges. Sovac soon learns of the duel personality and of half a million dollars the gangster has hidden away. He attempts to find the money through the manipulation of his friend, an attempt that brings Kingsley closer to madness as he alternates between a meek professor of english and a brutal gangster out for murderous revenge on those who tried to kill him.
A couple of young, out-of-work archaeologists in Egypt discover evidence of the burial place of the ancient Egyptian princess Ananka. After receiving funding from an eccentric magician and his beautiful daughter, they set out into the desert only to be terrorized by a sinister high priest and the living mummy Kharis who are the guardians of Ananka’s tomb.
Shipping magnate Cyrus Wentworth, downcast over a disaster to his ocean liner 'Wentworth Castle' (carrying, oddly enough, an illicit shipment of Chinese bonds) is shot in his office...at the very moment of kicking out his daughter's fiance Dick Fleming. Of course, Captain Street arrests Dick, but reporter Bobbie Logan, the attractive thorn in Street's side, is so convinced he's wrong that she enlists the help of detective James Lee Wong to find the real killer.
The manager of Kay Kyser’s band books them for a birthday party bash for an heiress at a spooky mansion, where sinister forces try to kill her.
Dr. Leon Kravaal develops a potential cure for cancer, which involves freezing the patient. But an experiment goes awry when authorities believe Kravaal has killed a patient. Kravaal freezes the officials, along with himself. Years later, they are discovered and revived in hopes that Kravaal can indeed complete his cure. But human greed and weakness compound to disrupt the project.
A physician on death row for a mercy killing is allowed to experiment on a serum using a criminals' blood, but secretly tests it on himself. He gets a pardon, but finds out he's become a Jekyll-&-Hyde.
A pretty Chinese woman, seeking help from San Francisco detective James Lee Wong, is killed by a poisoned dart in his front hall, having time only to scrawl "Captain J" on a sheet of paper. She proves to be Princess Lin Hwa, on a secret military mission for Chinese forces fighting the Japanese invasion. Mr. Wong finds two captains with the intial J in the case, neither being quite what he seems; there's fog on the waterfront and someone still has that poison-dart gun...
Detective James Lee Wong must find the "Eye of the Daughter of the Moon," a priceless but cursed sapphire stolen in China and smuggled to America. His search takes him into the heart of Chinatown and to the dreaded "House of Hate" to find the deadly gem before it can kill again.
Dr. Henryk Savaard is a scientist working on experiments to restore life to the dead. When he is unjustly hanged for murder, he is brought back to life by his trusted assistant. Re-animated he turns decidedly nasty and sets about murdering the jury that convicted him.
In the 15th century Richard Duke of Gloucester, aided by his club-footed executioner Mord, eliminates those ahead of him in succession to the throne, then occupied by his brother King Edward IV of England. As each murder is accomplished he takes particular delight in removing small figurines, each resembling one of the successors, from a throne-room dollhouse, until he alone remains. After the death of Edward he becomes Richard III, King of England, and need only defeat the exiled Henry Tudor to retain power.
A French doctor (Boris Karloff) sentenced for treason performs brain surgery on the prison commandant's (James Stephenson) daughter.
One of the sons of Frankenstein finds his father's monster in a coma and revives him, only to find out he is controlled by Ygor who is bent on revenge.
A chemical manufacturer is killed just after asking detective James Wong to help him. So Detective Wong decides to investigate this as well as two subsequent murders.
Army Private Eddie Pratt smuggles his new bride into camp in hopes of having a happy wedding night. Instead they discover a murder. Colonel Rogers of Army Intelligence arrives to take over the case. The prime suspect, Jevries, is well-known to Rogers, who sets out to get a confession from Jevries even though there are plenty of other suspects.
Actor Lee Tracy presides as ringmaster over a show that combines the best elements of cinema with the circus, what he calls a Cinema Circus. Tracy introduces a number of professional circus acts, plus a cavalcade of movie stars who have side shows under the open air big tent. There is as much action in the audience as Tracy identifies a number of movie stars watching the proceedings incognito, having their own fun in the stands, and sometimes interacting with the circus acts.
American businessmen and missionaries working in China are captured and held prisoner by a local warlord.
An evil doctor and the greedy wife of a rich man plot to poison him so they can get their hands on his money.
Dr. Janos Rukh discovers a certain type of radium that has almost magical healing properties. But the element has a dangerous side, too, and it has already started affecting Rukh. Consumed by paranoia, he begins to suspect that his wife is having an affair. Wild for revenge, Rukh hatches a deadly plot...using his own poisoned body as a weapon to kill.
Dr. Laurence, a once-respectable scientist, begins to research the origin of the mind and the soul. The science community rejects him, and he risks losing everything for which he has worked. He begins to use his discoveries to save his research and further his own causes, thereby becoming... a Mad Scientist, almost unstoppable...
Down-on-his-luck John Ellman is framed for a judge's murder. After he's convicted and sentenced to death, witnesses come forth and prove his innocence. But it was too late for a stay to be granted and Ellman is executed. A doctor uses an experimental procedure to restore him to life, though the full outcome is other than expected.
A dangerous amnesiac escapes from an asylum, hides in the opera house, and is suspected of getting revenge on those who tried to murder him 13 years ago.
In a 16th-century European town, the ruling family has been given a prophecy that, should there ever be twin boys born, the younger will murder the older; so is dismayed when twins are born to the popular baron. The older grows to be a selfish, slovenly man, who inherits the castle at his father's death and becomes ruler over the formerly happy villagers. He enjoys his power until he learns his younger brother is returning from abroad and, afraid of the prophecy, he determines to murder his sibling, hide his body in the "black room" - an old torture chamber sealed away behind the fireplace - and then impersonate him, right down to his withered arm. In this way he hopes to not only avoid the prophecy, but also escape consequences of his other criminal deeds and obtain marriage to a local girl of the nobility...
A brilliant but deranged neurosurgeon becomes obsessively fixated on a judge's daughter who in no way wants him. With the help of an escaped criminal whose face he has surgically deformed, the mad man lures her, her father, and her fiance to his isolated castle-like home, where he has created a torture chamber with the intent of torturing them for having "tortured" him.
This short documentary narrated by sportscaster Ted Husing explores the free-time activities of some of Hollywood's most popular celebrities. Big names such as Boris Karloff, Buster Crabbe, and Clark Gable make appearances, enjoying games of golf, field hockey, swimming, and many other fun hobbies.
Bride of Frankenstein begins where James Whale's Frankenstein from 1931 ended. Dr. Frankenstein has not been killed as previously portrayed and now he wants to get away from the mad experiments. Yet when his wife is kidnapped by his creation, Frankenstein agrees to help him create a new monster, this time a woman.
The story of the rise of the Rothschild financial empire founded by Mayer Rothschild and continued by his five sons. From humble beginnings the business grows and helps to finance the war against Napoleon, but it's not always easy, especially because of the prejudices against Jews.
After a road accident in Hungary, the American honeymooners Joan and Peter and the enigmatic Dr. Werdegast find refuge in the house of the famed architect Hjalmar Poelzig, who shares a dark past with the doctor.
Long before the release of the cult film Dracula vs. Frankenstein, the original stars of Dracula and Frankenstein met face to face--for a game of chess. The scene is from an early 1934 episode of Columbia Pictures' Screen Snapshots, a series of short films featuring the off-screen lives of Hollywood stars.
A World War I British Army patrol is crossing the Mesopotamian desert when their commanding officer, the only one who knows their destination, is killed by the bullet of unseen bandits. The patrol's sergeant keeps them heading north on the assumption that they will hit their brigade. They stop for the night at an oasis and awaken the next morning to find their horses stolen, their sentry dead, the oasis surrounded and survival difficult.
British Egyptologist Professor Morlant finds a magic jewel in the tomb of an Oriental idol. This talisman is supposed to grant immortality to those who are buried with it. So Morlant arranges to have it put into his grave upon his demise. And woe to those who might double-cross him, for Morlant's spirit will arise to wreak vengeance on his betrayers...
A Secret Service agent (Jack Holt) nabs a scalpel-happy doctor who runs drugs in caskets.
"Happy" MacDonald and his unfaithful wife own a Prohibition era night club. On this eventful night, he is threatened by bootleggers, and the club's star dancer falls in love with a young socialite who drinks to forget a personal tragedy, among other incidents.
The villainous Dr. Fu Manchu races against a team of Englishmen to find the tomb of Ghengis Khan, because he wants to use the relics to cause an uprising in the East to wipe out the white race.
A gang of crooks evade the police by moving their operations to a small town. There the gang's leader, John Madison, encounters a faith healer and uses him to scam the gullible public of funds for a supposed chapel. But when a real healing takes place, a change comes over the gang.
The sixth entry in Universal’s long-running series of ethnic comedies, about a Jewish family (headed by George Sidney) and an Irish family (headed by Charles Murray) whose offspring have a habit of falling in love with each other. This one throws in a satire of the movie business, as young Kitty Kelly (June Clyde) becomes a star at Continental Productions, and young Melville Cohen (Norman Foster) writes songs for musicals. Crisis arrives when audiences grow tired of all singing, all dancing—an experience Junior Laemmle knew firsthand. Many Universal stars make cameo appearances, including Boris Karloff and Tom Mix. (Museum of Modern Art)
Skyscraper Souls is a Pre-Code 1932 drama film starring Warren William and Maureen O'Sullivan. The film was directed by Edgar Selwyn and is based upon the novel Skycraper by Faith Baldwin. The film depicts the aspirations and lives of several people in the Seacoast National Bank Building. Among them is David Dwight, the womanizing bank owner who keeps his estranged wife happy by paying her bills. His secretary Sarah wants him to get a divorce so they can marry.
Seeking shelter from a relentless rainstorm and landslides in a remote region of Wales, five travelers are admitted to a large foreboding old house that belongs to the extremely strange Femm family. Sepulchral Horace Femm and his obsessive, inhospitable sister Rebecca are the group's peculiar hosts. The house also holds surprises - and a brutish mute manservant named Morgan.
Richard Grant, imprisoned in India for a crime he did not commit, escapes and makes his way to Africa.
Two brothers' trip to the big city to do a little gambling results in a fateful turn of events.
A mysterious phantom who calls himself The Reckoner vows to expose the crooked bankers who embezzled their company's funds.
Dr Henry Frankenstein is obsessed with assembling a living being from parts of several exhumed corpses.
A young Russian girl is forced into a life of prostitution in Czarist Russia, and she and a British journalist find their lives endangered when she reveals to him information regarding the social crimes rampant in her country.
A young opera singer finds her career stalled because of her cold and passionless performances, until she finds romance with a handsome admirer.
A crippled puppeteer rescues an abused young boy and turns the boy into a great ballet dancer. Complications ensue when, as a young man, the dancer falls in love with a young woman the puppeteer is also in love with.
Romance and political intrigue highlight director William C. McGann's 1931 comedy about a playboy smitten with the stepdaughter of a corrupt government official in a fictional Central American country. The cast includes Loretta Young, Douglas Fairbanks Jr., Henry Kolker, Boris Karloff (in the small role of a secretary), Edmund Breon, Claude Allister and Luis Alberni.
A mysterious master criminal known as The Voice plots with his gang to sabotage the Milesburg Oil Company, but the rightful heir has a secret army of her own to protect her rights.
The children of feuding gangsters fall in love and fight to escape their parents' notoriety.
To impress his fiancee's aunt, a young man tries to become king in a small kingdom, but the people there have already crowned one, who has won this honor by gambling. So he plans a coup d'etat. He tries to achieve this with a bomb, but then something goes wrong...
After young Robert Graham commits a murder while drunk and defending his girlfriend, he is prosecuted by ambitious Mark Brady and sentenced to 10 years. Six years later, Brady becomes the prison warden and offers the beleaguered Robert a job as his chauffeur. Robert cleans up his act, but, on the eve of his pardon, his cellmate drags him back into the world of violence, and he faces a difficult choice that could return him to prison.
The sister of a sponge diver killed by a stingray loves an escaped convict posing as a priest.
The Utah Kid eludes a sheriff's posse and takes refuge in Robber's Roost, a hideout for outlaws running from the law where he meets and falls for a waylaid school teacher.
When a bank executive disappears, he is accused of stealing a fortune from the bank. But his daughter and her criminologist friend set out to find her father and clear his name.
In the great white north, a trapper searchers for the thief who has been stealing his furs while a local trader seeks to take advantage of the situation.
Sir George hires Hillary Gatt to find out more about Eric who wants to marry Lois. Gatt is murdered and the couple, married, run off to India. Old friend John Beetham sympathizes with the bride who sees that her hubby is a liar and drunk. John and Lois fly to San Francisco. Eric shows up and tries to kill John, but Scotland Yard's Lt. Charlie Chan intervenes. Chan fans may be disappointed in this globe-trotting mystery, however, as the detective (played by Korean actor E.L. Park) only appears in a few scenes.The film is more noteworthy for its introduction of Boris Karloff to sound features, in a small role as a servant from Sudan who mutters inscrutable nonsense about the whims of the desert.
Shirley Mason plays the title-role, a glamorous musical star having a hard time escaping the clutches of her lecherous producer (Tom Curran). The producer, however, refuses to leave well enough alone, and Anne is tempted to return to her glamorous life.
Escaping from a revolution, the King (Joseph Swickard) of a mythical Balkan country heads to the United States. Here he finds a friend in the form of dashing secret service agent Yorke Norray (Cornelius Keefe).
One dark foggy London night, someone tries to strangle Lord Montague, but he escapes. Only to discover the four other men who did get killed were old regimental comrades in Gallipoli. When Scotland Yard gets Monty to gather the other nine surviving officers at his home, one of them is murdered, and no one else has entered the house. Now, they must determine who the murderer is.
Twin sisters, one good and honest and sweet, and the other given to totin' pistols and pulling robberies, keep confusing a detective about which one he his chasing for what, since he has different reasons for chasing both.
A Secret Service agent seeks his missing brother in Africa, and finds his mission complicated by ivory thieves, a girl with a mysterious past, and a troublesome gorilla.
William Desmond plays Jim Davis, a secret service agent by day and masked avenger by night. Ethlyne Clair provided feminine appeal, while Bud Osborne, as the notorious Butch Bradley, and a young Boris Karloff took care of the villainy.
Vacationing in the Canadian Northwest, a playwright and a songwriter both fall in love with Marie Cleste and take her back with them to New York when her father and her sweetheart apparently die in a forest fire. (The father did perish; the sweetheart escaped, crippled, with his blinded Indian guide into the forest to hide his infirmities.)
When his father is falsely convicted and sentenced to die for a murder committed aboard ship, the man's son signs on as a crewman to discover the real killer and clear his father.
During World War I, two American soldiers fight to escape the Germans while squabbling over a beautiful harem girl.
Popular B-Western hero Wally Wales (later known as Hal Taliaferro) went up against none other than Boris Karloff in this primitive silent oater from poverty row studio Action Pictures.
Flora Hawks is in love with the overseer of Tarzan's African estate. After a search for a legendary city of diamonds, Tarzon races with his pet lion Jad-bal-ja to save Haws from being sacrificed to a lion-god.
Douglas MacLean stars as The Young Thief, who falls in love with The Girl, played by Sue Carol. Alas, the Girl has been sold into the harem of The Wazir (Albert Prisco), forcing the Thief to sneak into the palace to rescue her.
Victor, an adventurous young swashbuckler in 19th-century New Orleans, takes possession of a barber shop as the result of winning a duel, and decides to settle down to a life as a barber. He meets a beautiful young woman and pursues her, but she dismisses his attentions because she thinks he is just a barber. Also pursuing the woman is the evil Capt. Remy, whom she also brushes off. He, however, doesn't take rejection so lightly, and forges papers "proving" that the girl is a "quadroon"--part black, which means that she can be sold as a slave. She is sold to Capt. Remy, and when Victor hears of it, he determines to rescue her.
Let-It-Rain Riley (MacLean) is a devil-may-care Marine sergeant who falls in love with a girl (Shirley Mason) who he assumes to be rich. His rival for the girl's affection is his pal, Kelly (Wade Boteler). The guys find out that the object of their affections is but a modest switchboard operator but she proves to be invaluable when she deciphers a code and discovers that a mail train is about to be robbed.
A story of Vienna following World War I, in which the butchers became millionaires and the aristocrats became beggars, told against a background of mother-love and sacrifice.
After it has been sold to a new owner,a shyster and killer has stolen the property deed to a valuable mine and is using it for blackmail purposes. The former owner of the mine is framed for a murder, and his daughter and the new owner work to save him from the gallows.
An embellished account of the 1813 expedition by famed frigate U.S.S. Constitution--a.k.a. "Old Ironsides"--against the Barbary pirates then terrorizing American shipping, focusing on the crew and passengers of a fictional merchant ship, The Esther, who fall afoul of the same pirates and thus become involved with the Constitution's mission.
Dance hall Romeos and an irresponsible father create comic complications in the life of a nickel-per-whirl taxi dancer.
Railroad builder James Travers (George Nichols) wants his pretty daughter, Anne (Virginia Valli), to marry Herbert Landis, a young engineer (Eugene O'Brien). Unfortunately, Anne loves Landis...like a brother, and his rival, Hilary Fenton (Bryant Washburn), stands ready to snatch her up.
American sculptress Adele La Rue, working in Paris, lacks the inspiration to create a masterpiece, until Jean Ballard, a wild apache leader, takes refuge from the police in her apartment.
Exemplifying Kipling's adage, a white man falls to pieces when he is in the South Seas.
A vivacious young woman known only as Captain Joe captains a rum-runner operating between the Bahamas and the United States. Jerry Burke, a Secret Service agent assigned to the Bahamas to halt this illegal trade in rum, meets Captain Joe, whom he knows as Peggy O'Day, and falls in love with her, arousing the antipathy of Pietro, Peggy's first mate.
Disguising herself as a masked bandit, Catalina, the ward of the governor of a Spanish province, avenges injustice, aids the poor, and plots a revolution.
Ranch hand Tex Gardy comes to the aid of the father of the girl he loves, whose ranch is being threatened by a gang of criminals led by a woman known as The Hellion.
Dan (Kenneth MacDonald) knocks out the foreman (Boris Karloff) at his workplace so the foreman accuses him of stealing money from the company safe. Dan takes off to visit his girlfriend when they're attacked by a man who Dan eventually knocks out with a single punch. A boxing manager see this and signs him up.
B-Western regulars Jack Perrin and Marilyn Mills starred in this obscure, low-budget Western serial released in 15 chapters.
Australian star Rex "Snowy" Baker stars in this military melodrama. This was the first of a series of four films Baker made for producer Phil Goldstone, and they were offered on a States' Rights basis. Irene Falliday (Gertrude McConnell) is the daughter of the British governor (William Bainbridge) who rules over an Indian province. She finds Yasmini (Lois Scott) wearing the shawl she believes she has lost and asks Tommy Farrell (Phil Burke) to get it back. Farrell is in love with Irene, but Yasmini loves him, and when he finally gets the shawl from her, the circumstances shame her in the eyes of her father Shere Ali, Sirdar of the Afghans (Frank Whitson), and his subjects.
Earle Williams, known for his manly, often dignified, characters, was well cast in this mystery, which keeps the audience guessing until the very end. Someone in India is deciphering secret codes and passing information from London's Downing Street to the natives, so Captain Robert Kent (Williams) comes down from London to investigate. He disguises himself as a Rajah, and Colonel Wentworth (Charles Hill Mailes) introduces him to the colony.
About Omar Khayyam of Persia, the poet and mathematician, who wrote the Iranian first solar calendar circa A.D. 1073. His fiancé was forced to marry the shah, but she eventually escaped and, with help of grand Vazir, joined Omar Khayyam. Hollywood made a film based on the same story with Connell Wilde, the life and adventures of Omar Khayyam.
Lola Daintry (MacDonald) is an actress who's mad at the world, and especially ministers, one of whom -- her father -- was so cruel that he drove her mother out of the house. When Bully Haynes (Melbourne MacDonald) wants her help in showing up a group of South Seas missionaries, she's more than happy to assist. But Lola doesn't realize she's being used so that Haynes can gain control over the copra trade from his rival, Cyrus Flint (Robert Ellis).
Tired of her friends and life as a society leader, Ninon Le Compte goes north to the Hudson Bay area to inspect trapping holdings inherited from her uncle.
A Canadian Mountie and a young girl team up to prevent an evil couple from finding a fallen meteorite that contains a powerful element called "Tilano."
The true story of Lord Francis Hope who inherits the Hope Diamond and marries showgirl May Yohe. Lord Francis Hope gambles away the family fortune and May Yohe leaves him. Another suspected curse of owning the Hope Diamond.
The Deadlier Sex features Blanche Sweet playing the daughter of a railroad magnate (Winter Hall) who has to take charge when her father unexpectedly dies. She uses her outdoor survival skills to kidnap a business rival to save the company from a stock market struggle.
Michael O'Doone, his wife Margaret and daughter Marge are settlers living in the Northwest. One winter day, while on a journey, Michael meets with an accident and fails to return home. Believing that he is dead, Margaret goes into a state of delirium which enables Buck Tavish, a long-time admirer, to carry her away to his cabin. When she finally comes to her senses she flees in search of Michael, leaving Marge behind.
As Alice and Cora Munro attempt to find their father, a British officer in the French and Indian War, they are set upon by French soldiers and their cohorts, Huron tribesmen led by the evil Magua. Fighting to rescue the women are Chingachgook and his son Uncas, the last of the Mohican tribe, and their white ally, the frontiersman Natty Bumppo, known as Hawkeye.
Young American John Maude is forced to find a job when he falls in love with society girl Betty Keith. He accepts a sudden offer to go to Mervo, a tiny island country, where he is hired by Benjamin Scobell to pose as the lost prince of Mervo as an attraction to bolster the Mervo casino as a rival of Monte Carlo. Scobell also wants John to marry his stepdaughter, who turns out to be Betty. When Betty accuses John of being simply a shill for a gambling house, John closes the casino and tries to stage a revolution to make Mervo a republic.
A European prince is raised in America without knowing his true identity; he spends his time thrill-seeking, but his country needs him when a revolt threatens the crown.
An abbreviated version of the 1935 Universal Monsters classic released on 8mm film for the home market in the 1960s.
Bob Wilkins (April 11, 1932 – January 7, 2009) was a beloved Northern California television personality best known for his long run as a horror host. His singularly unique approach to the films and his hosting style was a simple extension of his wit and charming personality. This film covers the dates and titles of his weekly horror shows on KCRA 3, KTXL 40, and KTVU 2 with vintage interviews of Bob Wilkins, clips from his shows, film trailers, commercials, stills, and audio recordings. A video scrapbook, you definitely will not catch it all on a single viewing.
