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Greetings, and welcome to VIEWING THE CLASSICS. Here you'll find capsule reviews of vintage movies from the early days of cinema through the 1970s, with a special emphasis on sci-fi, horror, and mystery movies. Be sure to check out the Pages links, where you can find a Film Index of all my reviews, links to the reviews organized by cast members, directors, and other contributors, and links to my reviews of the films of talented young director Joshua Kennedy.

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Sunday, July 16, 2017

The Climax (1944)

Starring Boris Karloff, Susanna Foster, Turhan Bey, Gale Sondergaard, Thomas Gomez
Directed by George Waggner
(actor & director credits courtesy IMDB.com)

A talented young opera singer lands a coveted role with a prestigious opera house, but the company's psychotic doctor has plans to silence her voice forever. 

This attempt to recapture the success of Universal's remake of Phantom Of The Opera released the prior year, was per Wikipedia a box office disappointment, and it's not difficult to see why.  Although the film returns Foster from the previous production, alongside Karloff and a talented cast, and features some pleasing music, it doesn't offer a story anywhere near as dynamic as Gaston Leroux's classic tale.  While Karloff is an inspired choice to follow Claude Rains' Phantom, the actor is not able to do much to enliven a standard psychological thriller plot.  The film is especially disappointing considering the craftsmen behind the camera- director George Waggner and screenwriter Curt Siodmak both worked on The Wolf Man, but aren't able to work the same magic here.

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