Time to commit: KARLOFF OR LUGOSI (not "both"!!) in Horror Film Stars Forum

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Time to commit: KARLOFF OR LUGOSI (not "both"!!)

Author	Comment
paul panzer	Re: Bela, Christine, THEN Boris?	#61	[-]
Mar 24 05 5:38 PM Reply Quote More My Recent Posts	Boris was also a compelling Captain Hook in the Jean Arthur Broadway production of Peter Pan. As Hook, he go to sing a song by Leonard Bernstein, no less. True horror fans can't help loving Lugosi, but I have to give it to Karloff for sheer versatility. His reading of Appointment In Samarra in TARGETS was the perfect coda to a long and interesting career.
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son of metaldams	Bela, Boris, and comedy	#62	[-]
Mar 26 05 1:26 AM Reply Quote More My Recent Posts	"While Karloff could be very funny (on INFORMATION PLEASE, he exhibited a very very dry sense of humor), playing screen comedy was not one of his stronger points. Watching him as foil in MITTY and A&C MEET THE KILLER, his comic stylings had not changed much since CRACKED NUTS (1931)." Exactly. A&C MEET THE KILLER also put me to sleep, and I am an Abbott and Costello fan! I don't place all the blame on Boris, and actually think the only good scene in the movie was when he was hypnotizing Lou Costello. What made Boris so great in that scene was that he was playing it straight, something you have to do when doing an entire comic sequence with Lou Costello. However, Lugosi has shown me a flair for comedy. He always pauses at the right moment when delivering a comic line, (see the young blood and brains line in A&C MEET FRANKENSTEIN for a famous example). In order to deliver a comic line well timed like that, you need to understand the English language, something a lot of people think Bela couldn't do well. I'm not saying Bela could've been the next Groucho Marx if given the chance, but he certainly would've been known as a great comedic character actor if given more roles like that. ABBOTT AND COSTELLO MEET FRANKENSTEIN, INTERNATIONAL HOUSE, YOU'LL FIND OUT, MY SON THE VAMPIRE and BROADMINDED he's wonderful in, and in the latter two, he completely steals the show.
Joe Karlosi	Re: Bela, Boris, and comedy	#63	[-]
Mar 26 05 7:00 AM Reply Quote More My Recent Posts	Good points about Lugosi's flair for comedy. He's also funny in THE BLACK CAT (1941 version). ------------------------------------ "It's MORE ... than a hobby!"
Count Gamula	Re: Bela, Boris, and comedy	#64	[-]
Mar 26 05 1:15 PM Burgomaster Reply Quote More My Recent Posts	I think Bela showed surprisingly good comic timing and delivery in films like in MY SON THE VAMPIRE, ZOMBIES ON BROADWAY and ONE BODY TOO MANY. *Count Gamula*
Gord Shriver	Horror Film Stars	#65	[-]
Mar 26 05 4:09 PM Reply Quote More My Recent Posts	I can't judge Lugosi's comedy aptitude (not having seen most of the examples referred to), but Boris could handle comedy. He's very funny in THE COMEDY OF TERRORS
Gord Shriver	Horror Film Stars	#66	[-]
Mar 26 05 4:19 PM Reply Quote More My Recent Posts	I cut myself off there. If you look at Boris' TV guest appearances, he handles comedy quite well. A good example is his bookstore sketch with Carol Burnett on THE ENTERTAINERS. On shows with people like Milton Berle and Dinah Shore, he handles himself just fine. Don't forget he was funny and scary simultaneously in ARSENIC AND OLD LACE. (I realize many never saw that, but I have the '62 TV version on video.) He's also very tongue in cheek on THE GIRL FROM UNCLE. Too bad he never did the revue with Hermoine Gingold that was in the works.
son of metaldams	Comedy	#67	[-]
Mar 26 05 5:34 PM Reply Quote More My Recent Posts	Lugosi had his funny moments in THE GORILLA too now that I think about it. Well, somebody had to be funny, and it sure as hell wasn't going to be The Ritz Brothers! As for the 1941 BLACK CAT, I've never seen it. If it has Lugosi in a comedy role, I'm there! Perhaps Boris does have his funny moments....wait, he does. The monster in BRIDE OF FRANKENSTEIN is obviously funny. To be fair to Boris, I haven't seen as many of his movies compared to Bela ("only" 20 or so Karloff films, as opposed to about 45 Lugosies). He wasn't bad in THE RAVEN or COMEDY OF TERRORS, even though Basil Rathbone stole the show in the latter.
Leonide	Re: Comedy	#68	[-]
Mar 26 05 8:20 PM Reply Quote More My Recent Posts	I will go along with Karloffff in COMEDY OF TERRORS. He was also very funny in WEST OF SHANGHAI, it is his most underrated performance.
Joe Karlosi	Re: Comedy	#69	[-]
Mar 26 05 9:59 PM Reply Quote More My Recent Posts	Yes, I don't know how I forgot COMEDY OF TERRORS -- Karloff is very funny there. ------------------------------------ "It's MORE ... than a hobby!"
paleoguy	Re: Comedy	#70	[-]
Mar 26 05 11:32 PM Reply Quote More My Recent Posts	I'm totally in agreement with the gang on Karloff's comedic performance in A COMEDY OF TERRORS. His old, senile undertaker always breaks me up. I wonder how Basil Rathbone could have handled it, as he was originally cast in the role, though--of course--he was also quite funny as "Mr. Black" as well. I love this movie. My girlfriend and I just watched THE DEVIL BAT again this evening (first viewing for her), my favorite of Bela's Poverty Row pictures, and she commented on Lugosi's comic timing which is quite apparent throughout the film. Had Bela lived, and actually been cast as Mr. Black in A COMEDY OF TERRORS, I think he would have been very funny, indeed. Martin
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TomWeaver999		#71	[-]
Jul 19 11 11:43 AM Reply Quote More My Recent Posts	The new Alpha DVD release HOLLYWOOD ODDITIES & BLOOPERS has Karloff g.d.-ing it up in a couple of Mr. Wong clips, and also in a WEST OF SHANGHAI clip (on that one, he's bleeped). It also includes a 1930s Paramount short called LUCKY STARS where we spend a lot of time with Betty Jane Rhodes (future star of Universal's JUNGLE JIM) as she prepares for a screen test, and see two kid actors (in separate tests) competing for a role in PETER IBBETSON.
todmichel		#72	[-]
Jul 21 11 9:29 AM Reply Quote More My Recent Posts	Quote: "Another thing that I've felt with the two actors is, when Bela goes "overboard" (like Dr. Vollin) I believe it. When Boris does it (as in the "What will they ever know???" speech from INVISIBLE RAY) it comes off as schtick. " I think just the contrary. I can watch Boris in ANY of his movies, including the US/Mex final quartet. And, apart from his always-mentioned films (Frankenstein, Bride, The Black Room, his 3 titles for Val Lewton, Targets, etc.) he was simply extraordinary in a lot of others, like "The Criminal Code" for instance. When Bela goes "overboard", well, for me he is simply going overboard, in a very bad imitation of Tod Slaughter in this style. A lot of Bela's movies are simply unwatchable for me. You can criticize "Abbott & Costello Meet the Killer" (for instance), but it's a wonderful horror comedy in regard of some atrocities like "Bela Lugosi Meets a Brooklyn Gorilla", or the Monogram Lugosi's appearance with the East Side Kids. I have seen this A&C feature at least a dozen times in theaters and even more on video later. Never tired of it. But I agree that Lugosi was wonderful in "Abbott & Costello Meet Frankenstein", and has his moments in the "Mother Riley" movie.
Rick		#73	[-]
Jul 21 11 11:40 AM Reply Quote More My Recent Posts	I'm gonna come down in-between on the "going overboard" question. When Boris overacts I see a guy trying to muster some enthusiasm in a situation where he really feels none. In Bela's case, I see a guy who might actually think he's doing something good, while all he's doing is making a fool of himself. Those previously cited examples are the ones I would pick. Karloff in THE INVISIBLE RAY ("what can I do to make this garbage interesting?") Lugosi in THE RAVEN ("this will win an Oscar for Bela!") Both are bad performances and embarrassing to watch. And I absolutely refuse to choose between the two. While I'm sure Boris is the better actor, I'd much rather watch one of Bela's lousy movies than one of Boris's crummy ones. The big difference is that Karloff made many more really good-to-excellent horror films than Lugosi (more than anybody, actually), while Bela was stuck in dreck -- however enjoyable that dreck might be -- for much of his career.
Helrunar		#74	[-]
Jul 23 11 7:04 PM Reply Quote More My Recent Posts	Bela was hilarious in INTERNATIONAL HOUSE (1932). A wonderful early Thirties snapshot of all sorts of frothy fun. I wouldn't want to have to choose, but if I did, it would be Lugosi. I actually regard Karloff as technically the "better" actor, but I also think comparing the two is unfair, and diminishes the artistry each showed in his own right, on a number of levels. I think I choose Bela purely on sentimental grounds--when I encountered him in my childhood. the role he plays personally in my own conception of being a fan of classic horror films, and the sheer indelible poetry of certain moments of Bela's work as an actor. H.
Joe Karlosi		#75	[-]
Jul 24 11 7:29 AM Reply Quote More My Recent Posts	Rick wrote: When Boris overacts I see a guy trying to muster some enthusiasm in a situation where he really feels none. In Bela's case, I see a guy who might actually think he's doing something good, while all he's doing is making a fool of himself. Those previously cited examples are the ones I would pick. Karloff in THE INVISIBLE RAY ("what can I do to make this garbage interesting?") Lugosi in THE RAVEN ("this will win an Oscar for Bela!") Both are bad performances and embarrassing to watch. Don't forget Karloff's embarrassing overacting in THE MAN WHO CHANGED HIS MIND (1936). I actually enjoy that film and Boris in it, but I am trying to play Devil's Advocate here. I think Bela is wonderful in THE RAVEN, he is very natural as a man who is supposed to be -- as clearly indicated throughout in the dialogue - "stark, staring mad!!" IMO, Karloff is just as "silly" in MAN WHO CHANGED HIS MIND as Bela is said to be in THE RAVEN. (I have yet to see Karloff's exaggerated performance in THE LOST PATROL, but I am told it's a hoot). For me, when Karloff overacts or over-emotes (and it happens a lot more than people may think) he looks like he is acting a role, putting it on, trying too hard. With Lugosi, I believe him when he "overacts"; he comes off more natural to me. I just saw INTERNATIONAL HOUSE myself... I agree that Bela was a delight in it. "Guy named Squeamy got thrown from the fifth floor. He's deader'n a mackerel." Last Edited By: Joe Karlosi Jul 24 11 7:31 AM. Edited 1 times.
Helrunar		#76	[-]
Jul 24 11 8:54 AM Reply Quote More My Recent Posts	I have a memory of Karloff as compellingly koo-koo in Lost Patrol, but it's been nearly 40 years since I saw the film. Would like to see it again. H.
Helrunar		#77	[-]
Jul 24 11 8:58 AM Reply Quote More My Recent Posts	The thing with me in the Karloff vs. Lugosi face-off is that in many ways my favorite film for both of them is The Black Cat ('34); it's so great because they're both in it, playing off one another--their respective images, physicality, voices, sonorities, gestures, presences. It's probably too poetic and surreal to say "each completed the other" and yet I can't imagine the era of the classic horror film of the Thirties, and the imaginative bequest it left us in the realm of Gothic horror, without both of them. H.
Shadow Chaser		#78	[-]
Jul 24 11 2:07 PM Reply Quote More My Recent Posts	Laughing Gravy wrote: Lugosi's a bad joke with a punchline that puts the emphasis on the wrong syllables. That's funny. Some people feel this way about you. Lugosi over Boris Karloff any day of the week. Besides, with all the quality movies Boris did, Lugosi still out sells him. Last Edited By: Shadow Chaser Jul 24 11 2:10 PM. Edited 1 times.
rvoyttbots		#79	[-]
Jul 24 11 6:24 PM Reply Quote More My Recent Posts	There is a blooper of Karloff where he is trying to open a safe. I don`t know which film it is from. He gives a yank to the handle and turns to look at the crew or director and says, "This damn thing is locked." Very funny.
thebrainfollower		#80	[-]
Jul 24 11 11:02 PM Reply Quote More My Recent Posts	Karloff definitely for me. He got the chance to do a much wider range of parts and excelled in virtually all of them. Bela had a wider range as Ygor shows but really never got the chance to prove that save one or two times. As far as Karloff's bad movies go, about the only ones I consider pretty bad where's he's the lead would be Voodoo Island and the Mexican movies. And even they are better made than Ed Wood's stuff and the Katzman Monograms for the most part.
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Time to commit: KARLOFF OR LUGOSI (not "both"!!)