Five star final 1931 - One of the best newspaper movies

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IMDB rating: 7,5

Director: Mervyn LeRoy
Main Cast: Edward G. Robinson, Marian Marsh, H. B. Warner, Anthony Bushell, George E. Stone, Ona Munson, Boris Karloff

"Adapted from the stage play by former newspaperman Louis Weitzenkorn, Five Star Final is an uncompromising look at the consequences of journalistic irresponsibility. Nominated for an Oscar as the year's best film, Five Star Final was the prototypical newspaper movie which was widely imitated in the 1930s and 1940s. It features many of the aspects of such films that would later become cliches, including a hard-bitten newspaper editor (played by Edward G. Robinson), an unscrupulous reporter (played by the great villain Boris Karloff) and a cast of crusty journalists and outraged citizens. It's a thorough condemnation of yellow journalism and sets forth the same kind of tensions and themes that many decades later could be found in such newspaper films as All the President's Men and Absence of Malice. Like all such films, there is redemption in exposing hypocrisy and pursuing truth. Prolific director Mervyn LeRoy was at the helm. Five years later, the plot was recycled, with the setting shifted to a radio station, in Two Against the World, starring Humphrey Bogart." - www.allmovie.com

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Frankenstein 1931 - The definitive film version of Mary Shelley's classic tale of tragedy and horror

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IMDB rating: 8,0

Director: James Whale
Main Cast: Colin Clive, Mae Clarke, John Boles, Boris Karloff, Edward Van Sloan

"Frankenstein was the movie that made unknown character actor Boris Karloff a star and created a new icon of terror. Along with the highly successful Dracula, released earlier the same year, it launched Universal Studio's golden age of 1930s horror movies. The film's greatness stems less from its script than from the stark but moody atmosphere created by director James Whale; Herman Rosse's memorable set designs, particularly the fantastic watchtower laboratory, featuring electrical equipment designed by Kenneth Strickfaden; the creature's trademark look from makeup artist Jack Pierce, who required Karloff to don pounds of makeup and heavy asphalt shoes to create the monster's unique lurching gait; and Karloff's nuanced performance as the tormented and bewildered creature. Despite moments of melodrama, the film is wonderfully economical, telling a complex and engaging tale in little more than one hour. There are more moments of quiet power (most of them involving the strikingly effective Boris Karloff as the monster who simply wants to be loved) than you'll find in a fistful of big-budget horror films. Whale knew his medium and didn't clutter the action with a lot of chatter. Instead, he filled the screen with images that would become part of our cultural lexicon. He builds the story to its tragically inevitable climax, interchanging moments of subtle beauty and dreadful horror. Rather than simply adopt a conventional perspective (man should not play God), Whale emphasized the human drama (Frankenstein should not have abandoned his creation), turning a horror film into an existential tale of man's fear of abandonment." - www.allmovie.com

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The criminal code 1931 - "Somebody's got to pay!"

IMDB link: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0021770/?ref_=fn_al_tt_1
IMDB rating: 7,1

Director: Howard Hawks
Main Cast: Walter Huston, Phillips Holmes, Constance Cummings, Boris Karloff, DeWitt Jennings, Mary Doran

"Howard Hawks' early sound prison melodrama, based on a play by Martin Flavin, already contains his stylistic signature of over-lapping dialogue - a technique he would greatly expand upon in the next ten years. Walter Huston is district attorney Brady, who quickly convicts Robert Graham (Phillips Holmes) of murdering a man who was harassing his girlfriend. Brady is later made the warden of the prison where Robert is held. Brady tries to make friends with Robert, but Robert will have no dealings with the new warden. Nevertheless, Brady, who thinks Robert is a decent man who became embroiled in extraordinary circumstances, gives Robert a job as his chauffeur. As he drives with Brady's daughter Mary (Constance Cummings), the two fall in love. Meanwhile, things heat up back at the prison, where crazed killer Ned Galloway (Boris Karloff) kills the squealer Runch (Clark Marshall). Robert knows Ned killed Runch, but refuses to tell Brady. Brady reluctantly sends Robert to solitary confinement to get him to give up the murderer's name, but Robert holds out on him.
Constance Cummins isn't given much as Huston's daughter but she is appealing. However, Boris Karloff gives one of his very finest performances as a tough but decent prisoner.
The Criminal Code is one of Hawks' lesser known films (maybe because he was uncredited as director). It is simply a superlative film that is dominated by powerhouse performances by Walter Huston, Phillips Holmes and Boris Karloff. Holmes acting was occasionally flat in films but when he was given the right role he was fantastic as he definitely was here. The Criminal Code, which opened on Broadway in 1929 and lasted a very respectable 179 performances, was another acting honor for Walter Huston."

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Son of Frankenstein 1939 - 'He does things for me!'

IMDB link: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0031951/?ref_=nv_sr_1
IMDB rating: 7,2

Director: Rowland V. Lee
Main Cast: Boris Karloff, Basil Rathbone, Bela Lugosi, Lionel Atwill, Josephine Hutchinson

"Son of Frankenstein is unusual because it maintains its quality despite being the third film in a series, and despite a change in directors. While Roland V. Lee was hardly in the league of predecessor James Whale, he was an above average director who could do good work with the proper material and resources. Here he has a strong story, fine inherited production motifs, and an excellent cast that includes Basil Rathbone, Bela Lugosi, Lionel Atwill, Josephine Hutchinson, and Boris Karloff, in his final movie performance as the Monster. The film established several motifs that would later be used in similar films - for example, the initially uninterested son who gradually becomes obsessed with the work of his mad-scientist father. Mel Brooks fans will instantly recognize the story line of Young Frankenstein (1974), which borrowed several other bits of this film, including a delightful satire of Atwill's stiff-armed performance. Son of Frankenstein is a step down from the expressionistic heights of Whale's Frankenstein and The Bride of Frankenstein, but the step is not so great as to leave the film without its own substantial merits." - http://www.allmovie.com/movie/son-of-frankenstein-v45612/

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The bride of Frankenstein 1935 - The greatest of all Frankenstein movies

IMDB link: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0026138/
IMDB rating: 7,9

Director: James Whale
Main Cast: Boris Karloff, Elsa Lanchester, Colin Clive, Valerie Hobson

"The wildest and most audacious of James Whale's 1930s horror movies, The bride of Frankenstein is in nearly all ways superior to Whale's original Frankenstein four years earlier. While the first picture was made on a limited budget, Bride was given all the trappings of a big studio's most prestigious production, and, if the results lack the original's lean, claustrophobic mood, Whale's sly wit and gleeful enthusiasm more than make up for it. Brimming with subtle self-parody, The bride of Frankenstein offered Whale the opportunity to mock the clichés of horror films, along with amusing sideswipes at Hollywood romances, historical dramas, and even Christianity. As was his habit, Whale packed the film with amusing eccentrics, including Ernest Thesiger as Dr. Pretorious, a gin-guzzling mad scientist who's even madder than Dr. Frankenstein (Colin Clive), Una O'Connor as Minnie the shrieking servant, and demented hunchback Dwight Frye. Blending effortlessly with Whale's offbeat humor, the cast gave the proceedings an unmistakably British humor and sensibility, even if the film was shot on a Hollywood backlot. Despite Whale's farcical humor, Boris Karloff still delivers a powerful performance as the Monster; the tortured creature is, if anything, even more humane and sympathetic than in the first film, and, while Karloff strongly objected to having the Monster speak, his gruff but heartfelt delivery of his simple dialogue makes his sad fate all the more effective. A young Elsa Lanchester is quite memorable as both the Monster's bizarre mate and Mary Shelley, who spins this tale as a lark for Percy Shelley and Lord Byron. The bride of Frankenstein is ultimately more spooky than scary, but its witty dialogue, top-notch cast, and superb sense of mood make it high entertainment no matter what genre you drop it into." - http://www.allmovie.com/movie/the-bride-of-frankenstein-v7091

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The house of Rothschild 1934 - A great biopic with one of Arliss's best performances

IMDB link: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0025272/?ref_=nv_sr_1
IMDB rating: 6,8

Director: Alfred L. Werker
Main Cast: George Arliss, Boris Karloff, Loretta Young, Robert Young, C. Aubrey Smith

"George Arliss plays Nathan Rothschild, the head of a family of celebrated 19th century Jewish bankers. Despite the anti-semitic efforts of a powerful politico (Boris Karloff), Rothschild moves in the best European social circles. He is ultimately knighted for his services to the English crown, which include the financing of the Duke of Wellington's battle against Napoleon at Waterloo.
This being a Hollywood picture, the political and financial intrigues have to be offset by romance - in this case the love affair between Rothschild's daughter (Loretta Young) and a handsome military officer (Robert Young). The final scene was photographed in the newly perfected three-strip Technicolor process, though for many years the TV distributors either removed this sequence or reprinted it in black and white. Designed in part as an attack against the burgeoning anti-semitism movement in Hitler's Germany, House of Rothschild was ironically exploited by Nazi functionary Joseph Goebbels, who redubbed and re-edited the film to serve as anti-Jewish propaganda!" - http://www.allmovie.com/movie/the-house-of-rothschild-v95763

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The lost patrol 1934 - Ford's epic story of boiling passions

IMDB link: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0025423/?ref_=fn_al_tt_2
IMDB ratings: 7,0

Director: John Ford
Main Cast: Victor McLaglen, Boris Karloff, Wallace Ford, Reginald Denny

"Previously filmed in 1929, Philip MacDonald's novel Patrol was lensed by director John Ford as The Lost Patrol in 1934. This is a minor entry in the pantheon of John Ford classics, though it had a substantial influence on subsequent films. The film has a dated look and feel, even if Ford's stylistic touches are still occasionally evident. What works is Ford's ability to develop a sense of helplessness among the characters. The scene with the rescue pilot is exceptional, and Max Steiner's score is among the best of his prolific career. The film also features one of the few bad performances by Boris Karloff, whose overwritten fanatical character is too blatantly symbolic. The film's best parts convey the bleak futility of warfare. At other times, the story tries too hard to create an anti-religious counterpoint. Nonetheless, its good parts are very good, and the story of survival in combat against overwhelming odds has been imitiated to the point of becoming an action-film sub-genre.
Max Steiner's relentless musical theme for The Lost Patrol would later be adapted into his score for Warner Bros' Casablanca. Lost Patrol would itself be adapted as the 1939 western Bad Lands." - http://www.allmovie.com/movie/the-lost-patrol-v30160

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The black cat 1934 - A horror masterpiece from Edgar G. Ulmer

IMDB link: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0024894/?ref_=nv_sr_1
IMDB rating: 7,2

Director: Edgar G. Ulmer
Main Cast: Boris Karloff, Bela Lugosi, David Manners, Julie Bishop

"The first cinematic teaming of horror greats Boris Karloff and Bela Lugosi is a bizarre, haunting, and relentlessly eerie film that was surprisingly morbid and perverse for its time. The story operates on multiple levels, most deeply as a parable for post-WWI Europe. Unlike such anti-war films as All Quiet on the Western Front, which seem to have all the answers worked out before the first scene, The Black Cat presents a series of morally ambiguous metaphors that undermine the story's conventional ending. At its most basic level, The Black Cat works as a great horror film. The Bauhaus-inspired set design is uncomfortably disquieting, and Boris Karloff's performance creates one of the screen's most distinct and credible villains. The monsters in The Black Cat are human, unlike in other horror films of the era, where viewers could leave the theater and be quite sure that they would never be terrorized by a mummy or a werewolf. And while the audience understands that Bela Lugosi is the de facto representation of good, there are uncomfortable shortcomings in his character that hinder the audience's comfort. Regrettably, Ulmer felt the commercial need to include various elements of comic relief, and the stiff, uninteresting performance of David Manners as Peter Allison is a major liability. Nonetheless, in its best moments, The Black Cat is as powerful as any film of its era, and it represents the creative direction in which horror films of the 1930s were headed until censorship and other pressures forced them back into the mainstream.
Corpses preserved in glass cases, frightening Satanic rituals, and a climactic confrontation in which one of the characters is skinned alive add to the film's pervasive sense of evil and doom, along with the stark black-and-white photography by John Mescall that makes Poelzig's futuristic mountaintop mansion even more disturbing. Karloff and Lugosi are both excellent, with Lugosi doing a rare turn as a good guy, albeit one who has gone off the rails. Having little to do with the Edgar Allan Poe story of the same name, The Black Cat has grown in stature over the years and is now widely regarded as the masterpiece of director Edgar G. Ulmer and one of the finest horror films ever made." - http://www.allmovie.com/movie/the-black-cat-v5835

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The mummy 1932 - It comes to life!

IMDB link: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0023245/
IMDB rating: 7,3

Director: Karl Freund
Main Cast: Boris Karloff, Zita Johann, David Manners

"The Mummy represented Boris Karloff's second horror starring role after his 'overnight' success in Frankenstein. Director Karl Freund, one of the veterans of German expressionism, had photographed the Bela Lugosi version of Dracula but had obviously been heavily stifled by Tod Browning's stilted direction. Here, with the able assistance of director of cinematography Charles Stumar, Freund is allowed a second chance and he rarely lets his camera remain immobile for long. Never before, and rarely since, has the German silent school been used to better effect in a Hollywood production; not only do the many tracking shots add the kind of visual excitement completely lacking in Dracula, Freund also accomplishes a sense of ethereal romance spanning time and distance. If Freund is the true star of The Mummy, Boris Karloff remains a close second. With his angular face and physique and that slight lisp, less was often more, and as Imhotep, Karloff never overplays but creates instead a believably brittle 3,000-year-old, whose power lies more in thought than deed. Accolades should also go to Zita Johann, the Broadway actress' only truly memorable screen performance. Reportedly, screenwriter John Balderston had recommended Katharine Hepburn, but wiser heads prevailed and Johann went on to create one of the most memorable ingenues in horror film history. According to film lore, makeup artist Jack Pierce spent hours upon hours wrapping Karloff in his conventional mummy getup but Freund wisely used only close-ups of the actor's face and hands, leaving the rest up to the viewer's imagination and making The Mummy a dreamlike masterpiece." - http://www.allmovie.com/movie/the-mummy-v33763

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The old dark house 1932 - A dark, gothic, one-of-a-kind macabre comedy

IMDB link: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0023293/
IMDB rating: 7,4

Director: James Whale
Main Cast: Boris Karloff, Melvyn Douglas, Charles Laughton, Gloria Stuart, Raymond Massey

"Although little seen since its original release, The Old Dark House had by the 1960s attained a grail-like status among fans of director James Whale, whose beloved Universal horror films included Frankenstein (1931), The Invisible Man (1933), and The Bride of Frankenstein (1935). The least successful of this quartet of fright classics, The Old Dark House came to be reconsidered a cult gem, part of the renewal of interest in Whale's talents many years after his creative peak. Whale's protégé and friend Curtis Harrington, who went on to become a director in his own right, rescued The Old Dark House from oblivion in 1968, after it had languished on Universal's shelves. Harrington repeatedly asked the studio to locate the negative, then convinced Kodak's Eastman House to finance the creation of a new duplicate negative of the unsalvageable first reel. Without his intervention, The Old Dark House would probably not have survived in any form. Harrington's heroics complete, The Old Dark House was seen once again in its original form after many years of speculation based on recollections of those who had seen the original, some beautiful set stills that had become popular collectibles, and European critics who had viewed post-WWII prints. Predictably, some Whale fans were disappointed in the film's scant thrills and chills. The story, based on the novel Benighted by J.B. Priestley, indeed lacked the shocks and scares of Whale's three other horror standards, eschewing the fantastic for more psychological suspense. Nevertheless, The Old Dark House contained all the other essential ingredients of the director's style, including moody shot compositions, mocking humor, witty dialogue, and sly hints of sexuality. Critics hailed it as one of Whale's gothic masterpieces, and The Old Dark House rightly took its place among the director's best-regarded titles." - http://www.allmovie.com/movie/the-old-dark-house-v36123

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Scarface 1932 - A gold standard among classic gangster pictures

IMDB link: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0023427/?ref_=nv_sr_2
IMDB rating: 7,8

Directors: Howard Hawks, Richard Rosson
Main Cast: Paul Muni, Ann Dvorak, Karen Morley, George Raft, Boris Karloff

"Scarface, based on Armitage Trail's novel of the same name is a potent, uncompromising portrait of the gangster life. While journalists often romanticized them, and many in the public made mobsters into folk heroes, director Howard Hawks' portrayal of the brutish and ambitious Capone-inspired titular character, played with terrific ferocity by Paul Muni (this movie made him a star, and it is easy to see why) is brutal and stark. The pre-noir gangster genre was in many ways defined by the innovative approaches taken by Hawks in Scarface. Tracking and dolly shots, relatively unknown at the time, contribute to the film's kinetic energy and excellent pacing. The expressionistic black-and-white cinematography by Lee Garmes is married to a screenplay (written by a team led by Ben Hecht) packed with symbolism as well as a rare combination of humor, sex, and violence. Paul Muni's portrayal of Al Capone surrogate Tony Camonte etched a screen original: a merciless assassin who's not only reflexively criminal but pre-civilised, almost pre-evolutionary, a simian shadow ready to rub out the world if he can't have it for his own. This extremely violent film (28 murders are recorded onscreen) also grafts a racy incest theme (Muni's character has Caligula-like feelings for his sister, played with remarkable sexual confidence by Ann Dvorak) onto the story line, resulting in considerable pressure from censors (the Motion Picture Producers and Distributors of America) coming to bear on the filmmakers (in this pre-Hays Production Code era).
Producer Howard R. Hughes couldn't release Scarface until he toned down some of the violence, reshot certain scenes to avoid libel suits, added the subtitle 'The Shame of the Nation' to the opening credits, and shoehorned in new scenes showing upright Italian-Americans banding together to wipe out gangsterism. This is still one of the greatest, darkest, most deeply exciting films American cinema has produced."

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