Boris Karloff


This was an interesting part for Mr. Karloff. Not that he hasn't played a loony before but that his part really had very little to do with the main plot of the movie! He was there as a red herring in a role where nearly any other actor could play the part.

Admittedly, he does add wonderful presence but still ...

Suppose I just think of him as a lead actor and seeing him in a throw-away like this is unusual. It's almost as if he took a couple days to film just for the cash (rent was due? ;) ) and went on to something else.

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I like to think his performance provides a glimpse of his having fun with a role.

I very much would've like to have seen him on stage. Only a few years earlier he played on Broadway in the original cast of Arsenic and Old Lace. In what role? Let's just say the line "They say he looks just like Karloff" brought down the house!

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I absolutely adore the part with Boris Karloff.

It's probably one of my favourite "brief appearances in a film" ever.

~~~~~
Jim Hutton (1934-79) & Ellery Queen = 

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I think both Karloff and Sanders were cast to throw off the audience, because both had reputations for playing dangerous characters. But in the end the killer is neither of them.

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He was sinister as usual but surely this wasn't his first time as a loony. Those mad scientists he had played must count as loonies too.

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