I
recently realized that I hadn’t been paying as much attention to the classics
that I used to. I’m a big fan of horror from the thirties, forties, and
fifties. Karloff, Price, Chaney, and Lugosi are favorites of mine. It has been
way too long since I’ve covered them here at the site and I figured it was
about time for me to correct that. Why not start off with this little seen but
fun flick starring the great Boris Karloff.
The
movie kicks off with a doctor, Mason, showing off his latest procedure. He has
found a way to freeze and then revive people. This is a big deal because while
frozen the people can heal terrible injuries and diseases. His research is
based upon a book by Dr. Kravaal who mysteriously disappeared after writing it.
The hospital administrators aren’t happy with the publicity that Mason has been
generating with his experiments and decide to send him on a forced vacation
while they have other researchers verify his results.
Mason
and his nurse, Judith, decide to spend their time off looking into what
happened to Kravaal. This leads them to an isolated house and the discovery
that Kravaal has ended up frozen for over ten years. Also frozen with him are a
group of men that we discover thru a flashback had been investigating Kravaal
and a patient he was treating. Things go sideways on them and they all end up
in the deep freeze for a decade. The length of time is a big deal since it is
far beyond what they have been able to do previously. The formula for the
solution that allows this is lost thru some shenanigans and the good doctor
decides he must start experimenting on the survivors to recreate it for the
good of mankind. This leaves Mason and Judith to stand by helplessly as Kravaal
goes about his work.
This
is an excellent movie. Karloff plays Kravaal with a degree of kindness that
belies the fact he is straight up murdering people to try and recreate the
formula that will finish his life’s work. There is no over the top cackling
here as he instead seems quite sad by what he feels must be done. This is yet
another example of Karloff showing a great deal of respect to the genre and
taking his part seriously. No matter how poorly written or minuscule the budget
was he always gave it his best and with The Man with Nine Lives it helps make
what is a decent movie into a great one. The rest of the cast is made up of
actors that I have seen before in supporting roles. While not household names
they were all solid working professionals that know what is expected of them
and deliver the goods.
Karloff is so good in this movie! |
The
story is solid and follows many of the tropes involved in a traditional mad
scientist flick. You have the well-meaning but misguided genius who is far
ahead of his time. There are the characters who don’t understand and thru their
ignorance make the situation worse. We also get the requisite outsider who can
act as a proxy for the audience helplessly watching things play out. All of
this is wrapped in a tight seventy-four-minute runtime that gets to the good
stuff and never lets up. Combined with the outstanding performance from Karloff
this makes for a wonderful way to spend an evening.
The
sets are simple but effective. Most of the story takes place in Kravaal’s
underground lab. This consists of a couple small rooms and the ice chamber
where he freezes his experimental subjects. I liked the look of the movie as
they light it very dark and make great use of the shadows. They also pull off
the trick of making it appear as if the room is light by the oil lamps and
fireplace. I might just be an old guy here, but nothing is quite as atmospheric
and creepy as an old black and white movie done right. The Man with Nine Lives
is a perfect example of this.
I
have nothing bad to say about this movie. When you mention Karloff, everyone
thinks about his performance as the Frankenstein’s Monster, and his later non
creature roles in the classic Universal Movies. The guy was so much more than
that with a lot of his best work coming in films like this one. It is easy to
find and worth checking out. I highly recommend The Man with Nine Lives.
© Copyright 2020
John Shatzer
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