Lists are all the rage on the internet these days, and although I've read many lists over the years of people's personal favorites, I haven't published any myself, and will be correcting that oversight, letting readers of this blog know what my favorites are. First up is my favorite performances of two of the cornerstones of classic horror, Boris Karloff and Bela Lugosi.
I should preface the lists by indicating that some well-known classic roles of both actors did not make the list. It's not because I didn't like those performances, or because I wouldn't rank them as their all-time best performances, but because there were other examples that ranked higher as personal favorites of mine. I'll explain my reasoning as I go, but certainly don't mean to slight any of the past work of two of my favorite actors.
MY FAVORITE BORIS KARLOFF PERFORMANCES
1) The Monster in Frankenstein (1931)
My top choice from the actor's many classic performances is kind of a no-brainer, as this was the performance that put Karloff on the map and fascinated cinema audiences with his craft, and still does. It would have been easy for the Monster's role to be scripted and performed a completely different way- after all a criminal brain is placed in his head- but Karloff plays him like a child who's first come into being, a young innocent captivated by the light showering down into the dark regions of the Frankenstein castle. Eventually the monster's savage brutality is unleashed, which is an equally impressive shading that must have made people scream, but Karloff wouldn't abandon the innocence, showing the Monster's amazement at new sights and experiences in the two sequels to come.
2) Im-Ho-Tep in The Mummy (1932)
People have been so conditioned by the Mummy sequels and remakes over the years that they expect to see a lumbering monster completely wrapped in bandages, so I'm sure they had the same surprise I had when first viewing this film in which Karloff is only wrapped up in a brief opening sequence. Throughout the rest of the film, he appears as a frail but sinister character in Egyptian robes, and the actor never looked more menacing in the eerie closeups in which his eyes seem to light up. Although the film's terrific camera movement and the underrated musical score do their part in building up the Mummy's villainy, and the screenplay should be credited with creating a memorable character, Karloff makes it his own. We feel the pinings of his love for the princess he adored, see the horror in his eyes as he is bound in bandages, and respect his hypnotic powers in the iciness of his stares.
3) Gregor de Berghman & Anton de Berghman in The Black Room (1935)
Although Karloff's monster films get more attention, his dual role in this fine thriller from Columbia also features an adept performance. Playing both good and evil brothers convincingly, identifying them to the audience largely through slightly different inflections in his voice, he makes them both different and believable characters, and when the evil brother begins to impersonate the good, we find the actor playing both characters at once, not an easy task for any thespian.
4) The Monster in Bride Of Frankenstein (1935)
Karloff was said to have been against the Monster developing speech as he does in this film, and its unfortunate that his performance here when speaking has been over-simplified in many parodies over the years, because it really is wonderful, and quite different from the verbose monster depicted in the latter half of Mary Shelley's novel. But the actor may have been onto something, for his best moments in the picture come from his expressions and body language, as we feel the joy on his face as he encounters tasty food and drink, and dances mirthfully accompanying the music played by O.P. Heggie's blind hermit. Still, his voice takes on the proper menacing tone when he must force Frankenstein to obey his wishes in the film's latter half.
5) John Gray in The Body Snatcher (1945)
By this time in his career, Karloff had played monsters, nefarious villains, and well-meaning scientists who soon turned to murder for revenge, but this film for RKO opened a new page for the actor, battling Henry Daniell's accomplished doctor in psychological warfare, promising that he would never be rid of him. I can still hear his melodic call of "Toddy," and it gives me shivers to think of such a character haunting another for the rest of their life.
6) Byron Orlok in Targets (1968)
Maybe it's unfortunate this role wasn't the last part Karloff played, because it would have made a remarkable coda to his career, playing a retiring horror film actor who faces off against the real-life monster of a remorseless sniper. Peter Bogdonavich's movie contains many great dialogue scenes for the respected actor, and although I don't think Karloff is exactly playing himself, his performance in many ways is offering the kind of introspection into his life that an actor doesn't often get to show.
7) Clayton Mace in Thriller: The Prediction (1960)
This isn't a movie but an episode of the television series Karloff hosted that specialized in tales of suspense and gothic horror. It's the first episode he acted in in addition to his hosting duties, with a plot similar to The Clairvoyant, a film starring Claude Rains as a phony hypnotist who begins to suddenly see visions of the future. The twist here is that Karloff sees deaths about to occur and desperately tries to convince people his visions are accurate. Although he made a marvelous villain, Karloff was equally convincing as good and decent men, and you can't help but empathize with his character as he faces disbelief from those around him.
8) Gorca the Wurdalak in Black Sabbath (1963)
Boris serves as host of this film, introducing three separate tales of terror from acclaimed Italian director Mario Bava, in the same way he hosted his Thriller television series, but it's his acting role in one of the segments that leaves the greatest impact by the horror legend. Playing a vampire for the only time in his career, and a nefarious one at that, in that he's cursed to hunt his own loved ones for their blood, he certainly made all recollections of his kindly demeanor vanish as he ruthlessly stalks his prey with a haunting stare under a disheveled wig of hair. His simple comment, "I am hungry" delivered in a sinister tone is very chilling.
9) Victor von Frankenstein in Frankenstein 1970 (1958)
Karloff switches roles from the Monster to Baron Frankenstein (actually a descendant of the original Baron) in this movie, and although it's not a great movie, it is a fun one, and he's so entertaining in the film. Retelling the story of Frankenstein in a Germanic accent and an almost gleeful tone, while circling the castle's crypt, he plays this and other scenes for all they're worth. The plot concerns a film crew who've come to the legendary Frankenstein castle centuries later to make a movie, under a bargain with Karloff's character, who secretly is planning to duplicate his ancestor's experiments. Tormenting his servant Shuter, and outlandishly denying the suspicions of the filmmakers when people start disappearing, he's quite simply unforgettable.
10) Dr. Henryk Savaard in The Man They Could Not Hang (1939)
I guess I could have picked almost any of Karloff's roles in his series of films for Columbia Pictures as doctors who leave their morality behind due to interference from others in his scientific experiments. However, I've chosen this one, which was the first of the films in that series, due to it setting the template for the others, and how convincing Karloff is in his part. As a scientist who's created a way to bring man back from death, he's arrested for murdering his willing assistant before he can bring him back to life. When he's executed for the crime, he returns from beyond the grave, none too happy, with plans for revenge. Karloff runs the gamut of emotions in this one, from pride in his accomplishments, to pleading in despair to save his assistant's life, to hardened anger as he reappears to his condemners still stiff around the neck from his hanging.
MY FAVORITE BELA LUGOSI PERFORMANCES
1) Count Dracula in Dracula (1931)
Lugosi never really had a showcase like this one ever again, and it's the one that made him a star, with creepy stares and scowls as he slowly stalks his victims augmented by eerie silence on the soundtrack. Although some of his dialogue comes off stilted and sounds a bit strange, perhaps due to the stories that he didn't know English and rehearsed his lines phonetically, I think the scripted confrontation between him and Van Helsing late in the picture comes off very well, and he definitely created an iconic image of Dracula that's been longer lasting than any in history.
2) Ygor in Son Of Frankenstein (1939)
After playing a subordinate role in The Invisible Ray and toiling on serials and low budget productions after Universal briefly stopped making horror films, Bela returned in one of his greatest performances, as the broken-necked villain who manipulates the Monster into destroying his enemies. Affecting a scratchy voice that covered up his thick accent, the actor elicited both chills and laughs in this portrayal, and arguably outshines Karloff, despite playing the Monster for the final time.
3) Dr. Richard Vollin in The Raven (1935)
In his second pairing with Karloff, Lugosi plays a maddened doctor obsessed with the torture devices depicted in the tales of Edgar Allan Poe, inflamed to revenge after the object of his desire is steered away from him by her worried father. Disfiguring Karloff's escaped convict and luring his weekend guests into his recreations of Poe's death traps, we see Lugosi more unbridled and gleefully wicked than perhaps in any other film.
4) Armand Tesla in The Return Of The Vampire (1943)
While Universal was deferring on crafting another starring role for him, Bela was given the opportunity to play a different vampire for Columbia Pictures, and although it didn't lead to the success one would have hoped for, it's marvelous to hear his rich voice intoning through shadows and fog as he preys on Nina Foch as his innocent victim. He's even given a werewolf lackey that he corrupts, and although Frieda Inescort doesn't provide him with a particularly dynamic adversary, it gives us a glimpse of what a true Dracula sequel at Universal could have been.
5) Count Dracula in Abbott & Costello Meet Frankenstein (1948)
Bela did finally return as Dracula in the merging by Universal of their top comedy team with their stable of classic monsters, also featuring Glenn Strange as Frankenstein's monster and Lon Chaney, Jr. as The Wolf Man. Although he's noticeably older and has a scene where his reflection inexplicably shows up in a mirror, it's great to see him bewitch Lenore Aubert and battle Chaney in the film's concluding moments.
6) Charles Kessler in Invisible Ghost (1941)
For better or for worse, Lugosi signed a deal with low-budget Monogram Pictures and appeared in ten films for them in the 1940s. Although he was the undisputed star of these movies, the supporting casts and production values were far diminished from those he enjoyed at Universal, but that doesn't mean they're not enjoyable on their own terms. I agree with my friend Dan Day, Jr. that this was probably the best of those, in which Bela plays a distinguished wealthy man who fails to realize he's the murderer stalking the grounds of his estate, due to a mania that seizes him whenever he catches sight of the wife he thinks died years ago. He's utterly believable as both the kindly Kessler and his vicious alter ego.
7) Dr. Richard Marlowe in Voodoo Man (1944)
I'm not quite sure how this movie made my list, as it doesn't feature a particularly memorable performance by Lugosi, and offers probably the goofiest roles in their careers to co-stars George Zucco and John Carradine. But in eerie closeups, Lugosi to me just gives off a different vibe than in any of his other Monogram films, playing a scientist turning young female victims into zombies, and the intensity of his stares and his sinister machinations just sold me on the movie, and I have to admit it's entertaining fun.
8) The Sayer Of The Law in Island Of Lost Souls (1932)
Lugosi is far from the star of this movie, but has a memorable "manimal" makeup as one of the beasts the sinister Dr. Moreau has turned into something part human, assigned to quote Moreau's "Law" to the rest of his creations. Closeups are again Lugosi's friend in this film, unnerving the audience, and he has a memorable part in the film's climax, speaking for the savage anger of his companions as they turn on Moreau.
9) Anton Lorenzen in Phantom Ship (1935)
One of only a few films Lugosi made in Britain was actually one of the first productions of Hammer Films, in which Lugosi plays an anguished seaman, who joins the crew of the ill-fated Mary Celeste after he discovers their first mate is the one who shanghaied him on an earlier voyage. Playing one of his most sympathetic characters, Lugosi shows us the sailor's inner torture and decent nature before the film turns darker- he's even kind to a black cat (!) after throwing knives at them in a film the previous year. While the film isn't as compelling a mystery as it could have been, Lugosi fans should enjoy this role.
10) Dr. Paul Carruthers in The Devil Bat (1940)
Another of Lugosi's low budget pictures, this time for the PRC studio, is a pretty lightweight horror film, but he plays his role to the hilt as a mad scientist responsible for a cosmetics company's good fortune. Deprived of a share in their wealth, he plans the murders of the company's executives with a bat he enlarges to tremendous size with the usual electrical equipment on display in films of this type. There isn't another notable actor in the cast, but Lugosi's mirthful expressions as the bat grows, and his perfect delivery of "Goodbye" to his victims before releasing the bat make this an enjoyable romp.
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