Review of upcoming DVD set Karloff & Lugosi Horror Class

[George Kincaid]

http://www.examiner.com/x-360-DC-Classi ... r-Classics

Coming to DVD: "Karloff & Lugosi Horror Classics"
August 3, 6:44 PM

For the last half-decade, Warner Home Video has been a godsend for those who love great old movies. As the owners of the film libraries of Warner Brothers, MGM and RKO Pictures, they have issued many beloved classics on DVD with a generous supply of extras, such as original trailers, cartoons and short subjects. Also, the success Warner Home Video has had with classic movies has inspired other companies like Universal (owners of the Universal and Paramount libraries), Sony (owners of the Columbia library) and 20th Century Fox to follow in their footsteps.

On October 6, Warner Home Video will be releasing a most-own for fans of classic horror films in time for Halloween. The Karloff & Lugosi Horror Classics set consists of four vintage flicks that star either Boris Karloff (The Walking Dead, Frankenstein 1970), Bela Lugosi (Zombies on Broadway) or both (You’ll Find Out, which also stars Peter Lorre).

Undoubtedly, the gem of the collection is The Walking Dead (1936). Expertly directed by Michael Curtiz (best known for directing Casablanca), The Walking Dead is a moody, low-key thriller in which Karloff plays a man who goes to the electric chair after being framed for murder. When his innocence is proved posthumously, Karloff is brought back to life by scientist Edmund Gwenn and proceeds to haunt the gangsters who framed him, indirectly causing their deaths.

Although the other three films aren’t in the same league as The Walking Dead, they remain diverting amusements. Both You’ll Find Out (1940) and Zombies on Broadway (1945) belong to the popular sub-genre known as “horror comedies” which would peak with Abbott and Costello Meet Frankenstein (1948). (In fact, Alan Carney and Wally Brown, the comedy team in Zombies on Broadway, were a low-rent knock-off of Bud Abbott and Lou Costello). You’ll Find Out, a musical comedy starring band leader Kay Kyser and His Kollege of Musical Knowledge, is a particularly underrated romp as well as being the only movie that Karloff, Lugosi and Lorre made together.

The latest film in the set, Frankenstein 1970 (1958), is typical Fifties low-budget drive-in movie fodder starring Karloff as the great-great grandson of the original Dr. Frankenstein who allows a television crew to film in the family mansion while he resurrects the monster. Not surprisingly, the monster (wrapped in bandages) starts bumping off the crew one-by-one. (There is a neat little surprise at the end when the monster is unmasked.)

Karloff & Lugosi Horror Classics (list price: $26.98) is available from Amazon and Deep Discount.
Author: Doug Krentzlin

[Michael O'Regan]

Worth buying for WALKING DEAD only, IMO.