I was in a crappy mood when I recently sat down to watch Boris Karloff in "Corridors Of Blood", and it didn't hit me right, from the get go, so I put it off for a day, but then I found out that it was Mrs. Grewbeard's favourite Karloff film, so I decided I better give it another try, and boy, was I glad I did, because "Corridors Of Blood" is a real dandy of a film that should be on everybody's list, not just Santa's!
I'd had a bad day at work, and when "Corridors Of Blood" started, there was a lot of screaming going on from people getting operated on without anesthetic. It was pretty gruesome, and I just wasn't ready for that whole concept, but from there on this movie is very intelligent, but also pretty brutal for 1958!
It's a lurid tale of addiction, scamming con artists, and murder!
Boris Karloff is Dr. Thomas Bolton, a good, honest man dedicated to freeing the world of pain and suffering, who, by using himself as a guinea pig, has become a victim of his own science, because the narco based anesthetic he developed, has turned out to be quite addictive! What was he supposed to do, he had to try it on someone!!
Boris becomes such a loadie, and then he has to make an appeal to this crew, that kinda reminded me of Hunter Thompson in "Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas," when he is stoned out of his gourd and has to go to the law enforcement convention on narcotics!! Tough crowd!!
What an awesome backdrop!! The music for "Corridors Of Blood" was created by Mr. Buxton Orr, who only composed the music for 9 movies, but out of those nine, you've got "The Haunted Strangler," "Fiend Without A Face," "First Man Into Space," "Dr. Blood's Coffin," and "The Snake Woman!" Nice run!
Here's the scam! Black Ben, and his best gal pal, Rachel, have people killed, then they get the good Dr. Bolton (who doesn't know anything about the scam) to sign the death certificate as accidental, and then they sell the bodies for pure profit! Adrienne Corri as Rachel has had a magnificent career, from Doris in "Devil Girl From Mars," to the lady that gets raped, Mrs Alexander, in Kubrick's "A Clockwork Orange," with stops at "Vampire Circus," and "Moon Zero Two" in between! Francis De Wolff was in everything from "Moby Dick" to "From Russia With Love!"
They cut Boris off at the dispensary.......
.....so he is forced to turn to the underworld to enlist some help in getting his drugs some other way besides legal!
This is a killer portrait of the genius Boris Karloff!
How can you go wrong with Christopher Lee and Boris Karloff in a scene together, between the two of them they have 465 titles under their belt!!
Jiggers!! The Cops!!
Black Ben steals the Doctor's notebook, and now they know what he's up too!
Christopher Lee does a grand job as the quite despicable Resurrection Joe, Black Ben's hitman!! Chris Lee had already been acting for 10 years at this point in his career!
In a situation like this, there is no real opportunity for all to end well........
........and it doesn't!!
beautiful! just beautiful!
ReplyDeleteI've GOT to HAVE an Inhalation..
ReplyDeleteIf I waste all my time just trying to entertain you two guys, well, then, it's worth it!!
ReplyDeleteNice work.
ReplyDelete