Fri 21 Nov 2008
Movie Review – THE BOOGIE MAN WILL GET YOU (1942).
Posted by Steve under Films: Comedy/Musicals , Reviews[2] Comments
THE BOOGIE MAN WILL GET YOU. Columbia, 1942. Boris Karloff, Peter Lorre, ‘Slapsie’ Maxie Rosenbloom, Larry Parks, (Miss) Jeff Donnell, Don Beddoe. Director: Lew Landers.
This movie came before the filmed version of Arsenic and Old Lace (1944), but from all accounts, there’s no coincidence involved in the fact that the plot of Boogie Man so closely resembles that of Arsenic. Boris Karloff was still in the Broadway run of the latter, and from what I’ve read, the movie was done to cash in on its popularity.
(For some reason that’s not entirely clear, Karloff wasn’t offered his Arsenic role in the movie; Raymond Massey played the part, but Peter Lorre, on the other hand, was in the Arsenic film. You tell me.)
The main concept of Boogie Man is that Boris Karloff, as mildly befuddled and bemused Professor Nathaniel Billings, a role he could have played in his sleep but never did, is trying to create a legion of super-powered zombies in his basement laboratory.
Unfortunately all of the door-to-door peddlers he tries his invention on fall out of the machine as corpses – and no super-powers. That’s delightfully dimwitted powderpuff salesman Maxie Rosenblum as one of the subjects right here on the left.
Some reviewers whose comments I’ve happened to read have complained that nothing in this film is very scary. It is to laugh. In spite of the title, this is not a horror film at all. It is a comedy. And while I don’t think I laughed out loud, I may have giggled to myself a few times. I know I smiled a lot.
Playing against Mr. Karloff is Peter Lorre as Dr. Lorencz, the local sheriff, undertaker, and justice of the peace, along with a few other titles. The good doctor favors a wide-brimmed black hat and a long black coat with a Siamese kitten with a nose for crime and corruption in one of the inside pockets.
I got the feeling that Boris Karloff was playing it straight (or as straight as he could be, knowing full well that it was a comedy) and Peter Lorre, whose comedic skills are much greater than you may ever have realized, was doing his best in a droll, expressive deadpan way (not a contradiction) to throw his fellow thespian off-balance.
They make a good team, and after this movie they made a two or three other horror films together that were also really comedies, including The Raven (1963) and The Comedy Of Terrors (1964).
Here’s a clip from YouTube to demonstrate them in action in this movie, and here’s another, beginning with Dr. Lorencz being called in on the case and running over seven minutes long.
Also in the cast are Jeff Donnell, later to become George Gobel’s wife Alice on his TV show in the mid-1950s, and Larry Parks, later to become Al Jolson.
As the blissfully unaware divorcee Winnie Shaw, who oohs and aahs over every decrepit aspect of the rundown country inn the professor is more than willing to sell to her, as long as he can keep working in the basement, Miss Donnell made more of an impression on me than he did.
One warning. I said that this was a comedy, not a horror movie. Before wrapping up this review I went to IMDB to read what the commenters there had to say, and sadly to say, some of the humor went right over their heads. They’re too young, I guess, but I have to admit that some of the funny stuff was awfully corny. It’s part of the charm, that’s all I can say.
November 22nd, 2008 at 2:39 am
I’ve always liked this type of comedy with horror stars of the calibre of Boris Karloff and Peter Lorre.
A couple days ago I viewed another one starring Karloff, Lorre, and Lon Chaney Jr. They were the guest stars in an episode of Route 66 broadcast on Oct 26, 1962 titled “Lizard’s Leg and Owlet’s Wing”(season 3, episode 6). The three horror stars meet in a Chicago hotel to discuss a comeback and possible monster movie. At the same time there is a secretary’s training program being held at the hotel and the three stars scare a couple dozen girls into fainting, etc. This may be the last time Karloff appeared as Frankenstein and Lon Chaney as the Wolfman. Peter Lorre didn’t need a costume and just looked very sinister. Unusual episode of Route 66 played for laughs just before Halloween, 1962.
November 22nd, 2008 at 10:21 am
I read about that episode in VIDEO WATCHDOG, I believe, and I’m looking forward to seeing it myself. Both the magazine and now you make it sound like a lot of fun. Obviously they weren’t about to, but based on BOOGIE MAN, Boris Karloff and Peter Lorre would have made a great comedy team in many more appearances together.
— Steve