Karloff's 4 B's for Columbia

[Phillyrich]

Is anyone a fan of the four B films Boris made for Columbia c1939-41?
Which ones work best?

There appears to be no one dvd set that contains them all. Mostly sold separately under SONY label.

The Man They Could Not Hang
The Man With Nine Lives
Before I Hang
The Devil Commands

[s.w.a.c.]

Too bad Sony couldn't have put them all in one collection. The two "Hang" films wound up on a Columbia "Icons of Horror" set with the silly (but fun, if you're in the mood) comedy The Boogie Man Will Get You and The Black Room, while The Devil Commands came out as a stand-alone title, which I see in bargain bins for $5 on a regular basis.

Haven't seen The Man With Nine Lives, but it's also on a Sony stand-alone DVD that you can find for $5. I really should track it down, hard to resist the tag line: "He kills in the name of science...Tombs of ice for the living...Chambers of horror for the dead!"

I lean towards The Devil Commands, solid direction from Edward Dmytryk plus the mad scientist/spiritualism plot elements make it a fun watch. The brisk 65 minute run time doesn't hurt either.

[Michael O'Regan]

I'm a big fan. I have a lovely 16mm print of The Man They Could Not Hang. I'd love to see all of them in one place too.

[ClayKing]

In my opinion "Devil Commands" is probably the best of the bunch, with some very eerie moments. It's generally fairly close to the book upon which it's based. I always liked "Man They Could Not Hang" as well - something like "And Then There None" from the killer's point of view. I don't recall the other two films as being memorable in any way, just potboiler mad scientist 'B's.

[sethb]

I always liked THE MAN THEY COULD NOT HANG, which had a halfway believable premise and logical plot line, as well as some interesting moments as Karloff kills his persecutors one by one. THE DEVIL COMMANDS had some of the cheesiest sets and props I've ever seen, except possibly for PLAN 9 FROM OUTER SPACE. Never has the pleasure of seeing the other two. SETH

[Ray Faiola]

I have prints of all four. My print of THE DEVIL COMMANDS has the original release titles (the DVD has the reissue titles, I believe). I saw THE MAN WITH NINE LIVES on WOR-TV when I was a little kid. It spooked the hell out of me. THE DEVIL COMMANDS is definitely the gem of the crop. Anne Revere really adds gravitas to the supporting cast and Dmytryk's direction is outstanding.

What I would really like to see are the complete original release titles to THE BLACK ROOM. Every print I've seen (and mine is a fairly early one) has the reissue cast list (50's Columbia logo; original main title; reissue cast credits in place of original portrait tableaus which were obviously not 1:85 safe; back to original production credits).

[ColemanShedman]

Sony put out The Man With Nine Lives back in '05. I picked up the DVD at Big Lots for $3.00. It's certainly worth the 3bucks.

[precode]

NINE LIVES and COMMANDS had already been released singly. Had we included them in the set, everybody would have hollered about having to pay twice for them. This comes under the heading of "you can't win."

Mike S.

[s.w.a.c.]

NINE LIVES and COMMANDS had already been released singly. Had we included them in the set, everybody would have hollered about having to pay twice for them. This comes under the heading of "you can't win."

That makes sense, I should have checked the release dates on those. By the time the Icons of Horror set came out, Sony had to make do with what they had left, not that what was left was bad by any stretch.