The Ghoul

the ghoul is pretty hard to find, and my copy is from the 35mm they found in checoslovakia with subtitles. it's sound track is the worst part, it skips a lot, but the little intro they put in front asks your forgiveness for that. karloff, of course, was great. but i never understood why he was the person he was and the movie never actually "resolves" an questions that pop up while you're watching. and yes, the other actors are pretty terrible, almost "junior high drama class" awful. but it's karloff and he is pretty darn scary in it! i'd recommend it for the purists who want as many karloff flicks as they can get!

I just watched this jaw-droppingly pristine copy of "The Ghoul" available on MGM DVD, which is a transfer of a recently discovered practically unused and complete print of the film found at the British Film Institute. The image is unbelievably clear and the sound has been processed (by the engineers at Sonic Solutions) so that it is quite comparable to recordings made at least 30 years later and possibly even better since it is engineered to fill up both channels of a stereo set-up (with no background hiss or grating of any kind). The original music by Louis Levy (aided by Leighton Lucas) is innovative and prescient for the time. The photography and art direction - by two German expressionists of renown, including The Archers' legendary Alfred Junge - are stupendous, especially the London fog scenes and the great details of the interior scenes. I was also pleasantly surprised by the mobility of the camera at all times and the realistic aspect of the action scenes. The atmosphere is suspenseful and chillingly mysterious and all the actors are extremely good (and famous!), including the two "young adorables" acting as principals, shapely Dorothy Hyson and stalwart Anthony Bushell. The dialog is at least twice as witty as that found in the Universal horror flicks of the same era and the story actually makes sense, although, unfortunately, it is of the "Scooby-Doo" school of old dark house mysteries where everything is neatly tied up with a rational explanation at the end, leaving absolutely no room for belief in the supernatural. But this doesn't distract from the extreme intelligence of the whole, the great fun of watching all those clever actors turning in memorable performances and the extra bonus of watching a relative unknown one (Kathleen Harrison in an amorous Carol Burnett-type of persona) stealing the show from everyone else at the end. This film has a little bit of everything for everybody but it should be prized at least for having been saved from total disappearance and as a precious time-travel piece that actually shows the viewer what a brand-new horror film looked like on its first day of projection back in 1933. I enjoyed Ralph Richardson (as a country pastor) in every frame he's in and I am still in awe of Cedric Hardwicke's interpretation of an enigmatic solicitor which so closely resembles an impersonation of "Mr. Rat" from "The Wind in the Willows". Karloff is underemployed but effective as usual as Professor Morlant (which sounds like "slow death" - mort lente - in French) but Ernest Thesiger is priceless as a slow-witted butler with a club-foot and a Scottish brogue. This film has very high entertainment and repeat value for the discriminating viewer and the DVD is being sold for practically no money. After surviving 70 years on the shelf, "The Ghoul" has become a must-have instant classic.

I had never even heard of this before and i can see why. Apparently, this movie had been missing for many years and they actually found a print of it and too bad they did. This movie is a incomprehensible mess, you didn't even know what was going on and you didn't care. The plot has something to do with Boris Karloff having in his possession, something that will give you more life or something like that. Karloff is dying and he wants to be buried a certain way. He comes back to life and after that who knows what happens. There are several other characters in the movie but who knows what their doing. It didn't even make sense and you should stay away from this movie even if your a die hard Karloff fan.

The surprising thing about THE GHOUL is that it features an impressive background score for a film made in '33, when most soundtracks were almost completely devoid of music. This is something the other comments here failed to mention. The other plus factor is the brilliant B&W photography done in Gothic style to suit the story elements here. An Egyptologist returns from the grave to take revenge on a servant who has stolen a sacred jewel. BORIS KARLOFF is the doctor with his own rules about how to offer sacrifices to Anubis in order to have eternal life. The pace is slow and there's too much silly banter that features KATHLEEN HARRISON in a role designed to give the audience comedy relief. RALPH RICHARDSON is excellent as a cleric who seems to be a helpful visitor and ERNEST THESIGER is fine as the nervous servant. The Gothic ambiance is strong with handsome interiors of a house in shadows and the flavor of an "old dark house mystery" is well sustained. Plotwise, there are loopholes and the story only really picks up once Karloff has returned from the grave. For fans of this genre, this is an interesting film and Karloff's performance is first rate.

This movie is an entertaining tale of Prof. Morlant (Boris Karloff), an eccentric Egyptologist who is fixated on the powers of the ancient Egyptian gods. On his deathbed he tells his servant (Ernest Thesinger) to bind the sacred jewel called "The Eternal Light" to his hand. He warns that if the jewel is taken, he will return from the grave seeking revenge.... Boris Karloff's presence and a superb cast move this moody, atmospheric classic along at a great pace. This movie has some great dialogue and an interesting plot. It is very rare, but I was lucky enough to find it on video. If you are a fan of the genre, and you happen to find it, I encourage you to rent it, buy it, whatever.

On this site there is a criticism which says to stay away from this film because it is incomprehensible. That's correct for the incomplete copies heretofore available. Now MGM Video has released a complete version on VHS and DVD, a very high quality print. The story is very clear now, and this is one of the high end Karloff flicks. If you like vintage horror films, if you're a Karloff fan, if you liked Karloff's "The Mummy," you will like this film.

T. Hayes Hunter's "The Ghoul" of 1933 is certainly not one of the best movies starring the incomparable Boris Karloff, as Karloff sadly doesn't have the screen time one could have hoped for, but it has its qualities and is doubtlessly worth watching, also for the reason that "The Ghoul" was thought of as a lost film for a long time. Professor Morlant (Boris Karloff), a dying Egyptologist who believes in ancient Egyptian Gods, gives the instructions for his burial to his butler (Ernest Thesinger). Hoping to gain eternal life as a follower of an Egyptian deity, Morlant wants to be buried in a tomb by his mansion, with a statue of his God and a valuable jewel in his hand... This movie's biggest flaw is the lack of screen time for Karloff, out of the movie's 80 minutes, Karloff appears for 25 minutes at the most. In other respects, the movie has many qualities, it is very well photographed, the score is great and fits in perfectly, and all that, as well as lots of shadows, make the movie highly atmospheric and obscure, as the film maintains a certain darkness throughout its entire 80 minutes. Karloff is great as always, and, in spite of the fact that he should have had more screen time, this brilliant actor is so eerie and remarkable that he carries the movie. Seeing Ernest Thesinger (Dr. Pretorius in "Bride Of Frankenstein") deliver a great performance as the butler is another great quality of "The Ghoul". The performances are generally good, Cedrick Hardwicke is great as the lawyer Broughton, and Kathleen Harrison and Harold Huth are great fun to watch in the film's more humorous parts. Unfortunately, the movie, which starts out greatly, gets quite boring in the middle, and nothing really happens for quite some time. Apart from the unnecessary boredom in the middle of the movie, and the fact that Karloff's role could have been a lot bigger, the movie is certainly worth watching. When it comes to Egyptian themed movies with Karloff, however, I'll recommend "The Mummy" of 1932, a true masterpiece, ten times over "The Ghoul". All things considered, "The Ghoul" is certainly no highlight in the great Boris Karloff's career, but warmly recommended to my fellow fans of classic Horror cinema. 6/10

The atmosphere is perfect, and the idea behind the film is one that seems tailor-made for Karloff. A dying professor of Egyptology spends his entire fortune to obtain a jewel that has the power to give him eternal life. The jewel must be in his left hand at the time the first full moon passes over his coffin resting in its crypt. When this happens, according to legend, the dead man will rise from the grave. He then places the jewel in the open hand of an idol. If the idol's hand closes over it, the holder is accepted into eternal life. The dying man is, of course, played by Karloff. Better yet, the servant, Liang, who agrees to bandage the dying professor's hand with the jewel inside, is played by Ernest Thesiger whose bony visage was made for these old 30's horror films. Unfortunately, the professor's servant is not too terribly honest, and removes the jewel from the dead man's hand before burial. Complicating matters is an Egyptian believer in the ancient religion who is trying to retake the jewel for spiritual reasons, and a nephew of the late professor who wants to know why his uncle spent his entire fortune on one ring. Other assorted characters also stir the pot. The problem with this entire film is that the wonderful Karloff and Thesiger disappear from it after about the first 20 minutes and the middle part is stuffed with a casserole of characters none of which I could bring myself to care about. Their association with the central theme of the plot as well as with each other is a muddle, and essentially nothing happens for the next 45 minutes. An hour after the movie is over you'll have forgotten all of these people except Karloff and Thesiger. The last 15 minutes picks up a bit as far as action and interest, but the resolution is ridiculous. If you want to see a film of a similar stripe watch 1932's "The Old Dark House". That film takes a plot in which there is little action and weaves atmosphere and interesting characters together in a way that is very memorable. It's too bad, I really wanted to like this one.

After Boris Karloff starred in The Mummy, he went back to England to film this eerie followup. In this film, he looks like a combination Frankenstein monster and the mummy I'm-Ho-Tep - and as grotesque as possible. The tomb-robbing Ernest Thesiger gets the action going. Karloff stalking through the moldy mansion is as eerie as you can imagine. The end in which Karloff goes back to his tomb has some scenes that are the most hair-raising as you can imagine. NOTE: Avoid copies that are incomplete or cut. The version that I have is 76 minutes long and some of the others seem to be abridged. Watch it with your B-movie buddies.

I can't find anything good about this film. Apart from maybe the end. At least I was put of my misery. You'd think with Boris Karloff, and a host of other good actors in it, that it would be a far better movie, but alas it's a right stinker. There are instances when things start happening, but for the most part it's a slow movie with too much talking. There are also comedic elements thrown in when they shouldn't have been. Boris tries hard but the film lacks any real, intelligent dialogue. He's also hardly in it!