|
|
List Price: $29.98Amazon.com's Price: $26.99 You Save: $2.99 (10%)Prices subject to change.
Availability: Usually ships in 24 hours
Buy Now!
Aspect Ratio: 1.33:1
Audience Rating: Unrated
Binding: DVD
Brand: UNIVERSAL STUDIOS HOME ENTERTAIN.
EAN: 0025193108623
Format: Box set, Color, Dolby, DVD-Video, Full Screen, Subtitled, NTSC
Label: Universal Studios
Manufacturer: Universal Studios
Number Of Items: 3
Publisher: Universal Studios
Region Code: 1
Release Date: September 19, 2006
Running Time: 421 minutes
Sales Rank: 23610
Studio: Universal Studios
Theatrical Release Date: November 17, 1939
Editorial Review:
Product Description:
Includes:Night KeyTower Of LondonThe ClimaxThe Strange DoorThe Black CastleFormat: DVD MOVIE Genre: HORROR Rating: NR UPC: 025193108623 Manufacturer No: 61031086
Amazon.com:
The gaunt face, the large eyes and elegant hands, the rich voice with a touch of menace (and more than a touch of lisp): Boris Karloff had the tools of a genuine movie star. He also had a deeply sensitive understanding of flawed creatures, which made his best roles--including the Frankenstein monster and the Mummy--weirdly sympathetic. His profitable employment in those Universal monster movies is filled out with the release of The Boris Karloff Collection, a grouping of non-classics from his Universal jobs.
These are the kind of movies that would show up with great promise on your local 'Nightmare Theater' or 'Creature Feature' late-show slot: Hey, Boris Karloff in something called Tower of London? Sounds scary! And you'd watch in bewilderment as the film would turn out to be a historical drama with a few grisly touches. Universal perpetuates this misunderstanding with this DVD release, which declares 'The Master of Horror in His Most Frightening Roles!' Which is quite a stretch. (Some of Karloff's best horror stuff is on the Bela Lugosi Collection, a superior DVD package.)
Still, for fans, there's much to enjoy here. Tower of London is a thoroughly entertaining tale of Richard III's bloody rise to power, with Basil Rathbone as Richard and Karloff as his bald, beetle-browed executioner (definitely one of Boris's best looks). Two early-1950s films are great fun: The Strange Door has Charles Laughton doing one of his modern-Nero roles as a perverse nobleman with a really cool torture dungeon (Karloff is his servant), and The Black Castle lays on the wolf howls and creaking doors in a tale of revenge. Juicy performances by Richard Greene and Stephen McNally gives this oomph, even if Karloff and Lon Chaney Jr., are peripheral. McNally's castle is equipped with an excellent secret room with swarming alligators.
Night Key (1937) isn't horror, but a perfectly OK B-movie about inventor Karloff and his revenge on the businessman who stole his electrically charged idea. 1944's The Climax was made to capitalize on the lavish sets Universal made for The Phantom of the Opera, and director George Waggner (The Wolf Man) seems far too enamored of costumes and arias. Even when it's dull, which is frequently, the film has gorgeous Technicolor to look at, and Karloff is suitably obsessed as a doctor messing with a promising soprano. In short, the DVD set may disappoint the unwary, but Karloff devotees will enjoy the icon, and the occasional alligator pit. --Robert Horton
Customer Reviews
Average Rating: 
Rating:  - Karloff fans will love it!
I'm an "old" movie fan. I enjoyed watching all these movies with the exception of one (plot was a tad slow). It's great to see how far the film industry has come since the early days of movies. Boris Karloff was a consummate character actor - a true craftsman.
Rating: - Not horror nor horrible
The Boris Karloff Collection (The Franchise Collection from Universal) is an interesting collection of eclectic films that happen to have Boris Karloff in them as he plays supporting characters in several. Much is made of the phrase "The Master of Horror in His Most Frightening Roles" (rightfully so) because it is a misnomer as several of these films are not horror like Night Key and Tower of London while the rest only have horror elements to them. Once you get past these mistakes in marketing ... Read More
Rating: - Enjoy Karloff...but don't expect much from these far-from-horror programmers
The problem with the Boris Karloff Collection is the false promotion Universal gives it. This "Franchise Collection" says on the box, "The Master of Horror In His Most Frightening Roles!" Far from it. Of the five movies only The Strange Door has a bit of horror and the movie belongs to Charles Laughton, not Karloff. For the others, Karloff mostly plays secondary roles which aren't scary, although Mord in Tower of London is a man to avoid. None of the movies would win any awards. Still, Karloff was ... Read More
Rating: - Karloff's other great films.
Best known for Frankenstein and The Mummy plus several notable films with Bela Lugosi this collection features five classic forgotten gems.
Tower of London is a big budget historical epic with Karlof as the kings brutal exicutioner.Notable also for an early Vincent Price cameo!
Night Key is a crime drama as Karloff plays an inventor of a security system kidnapped to aid gansters on a series of robberies.
The Climax was originally to be a sequel to The Phantom of the Opera but the ... Read More
Rating: - Where's Boris?
The only reason I knocked off a star is, I was disappointed that in a couple of the movies, Boris is hardly in them. It is really stretching to include them as a collection of his movies. Other than that, the quality is first rate. And I was glad they gave us three discs, instead of one double-sided one, like they have done in the past. I don't know if Universal didn't have more in their library to choose from, but it is painfully obvious in The Black Castle, that Boris and Lon are just making cameos ... Read More
|
|
