Juggernaut

Dr. Sartorius (Boris Karloff) is without financial means to experiment for a paralysis cure and must give up his lab work. He meets Lady Yvonne Clifford (Mona Goya), a very wealthy wife of an ailing cotton millionaire Sir Charles Clifford (Morton Selten). Lady Clifford asks Dr. Sartorius to help her obtain her husband's money. Dr Sartorius eager to obtain money for his expenses and laboratory studies, agrees to poison her husband, making it look like he died from natural causes. After a period of time, Sir Charles begins to suspect Dr. Sartorius of making him gravely ill. This Karloff movie has a very different ending which surprised me. Karloff is without any monster makeup, however, he is terrifying and proves to be a very evil French doctor as usual.

I adamantly disagree with those claiming this is a really bad film. I suppose they want monsters or vampires or whatever but this isn't about all that. Juggernaut is a very well produced, reasonably well written, and quite well acted feature. My only gripe would be the paradox that the Doctor found himself him wasn't fleshed out as well as it could have been. However, this movie is pretty short so that probably explains the shortcuts. You see, essentially Karloff's character (who has a short time to live) has to make a difficult choice: he can let his life's work come to a screeching halt for the most trivial reason (lack of money) or he can turn to murder for hire and finish his research which may benefit mankind greatly. In my opinion the doctor transitioned a bit to smoothly from dedicated man of science and medicine to homicidal maniac.

Despite this problem I enjoyed the entire film. The actress who played the wicked wife was a bit over the top but the role was over the top so...? Opposite her was the understated performance of the other leading lady who was pretty and quite effective. The gent who played the caddish gambler was perfect for his part. Of course Karloff hogged the spotlight in every scene but how could he not. The little smile there at the end when he was found out was simply genius.

I love these old films because they carry you relatively far back in time. It's like having a little window that allows you to peek into a different time and attitude. I love the cars, the fashions, the slang, the hair, even the furnishings. (In one memorable scene there is a stunning nude statue just behind the action...cool!) It makes me wonder a bit as to why the cameras lingered in that area for such a major part of the film...ha. Thankfully many of these oldies have a bit more than just nostalgia value...they are interesting.

The production values were, for the most part, quite good. I really liked the storyline and Karloff really elevated the cast and the movie with his strong presence. Definitely worth checking out but no monsters or vampires for you kiddies.

Juggernaut is really a very low budget film that holds interest as it was one of several British films made by Boris Karloff after he made his name in Hollywood for making horror films for Universal Pictures.

Karloff plays Dr Sartorius somewhere in north Africa whose funding for medical experiments has been cut. Distraught he succumbs to the dastardly plans of Yvonne Clifford (Mona Goya) a greedy, philandering wife of a rich old man. She wants Sartorius to poison her husband so she can inherit his fortune and he gets money for his research. Her plans become unstuck when she finds out that her stepson will administer his father's estate.

Goya is wildly over the top in her performance, Karloff is rather laid back even though he is playing a sinister role.

There is actually a rather short film but still packs a plot and some poor acting.

This film is what I call "basic" - meaning not a lot to it. Doctor Sartorius (Karloff) is a "mad doctor" who's lost all his funding, Yvonne Clifford (Mona Goya) is married to a rich man while having an affair with man with not a lot of money. So she enlists the help of Dr. Sartorius to bump off her husband but there is one problem - the nurse.

If you like Boris Karloff then this film is worth watching otherwise you can pass this one by - you are not missing anything. It's not a terrible film but it's not a great film - I put it in the so-so category.

When you read reviews of this film you will find that reviewers talking about Mona Goya's performance being bad - and it's true she is not very good in this movie. Very much over acting in this film but she does not take away from Karloff's performance.

5/10

This has been put out on the DVD market by Alpha, and it's for die-hard Boris Karloff fans (like moi) only. It's not a horror flick, but a drama where Boris is a struggling scientist agreeing to kill a wealthy woman's husband in order to gain the fortune needed to continue with his work. But once the dying victim changes his will and leaves his spouse nothing, all hell breaks loose. It's appeasing enough seeing Karloff as another selfish sinister type, and some of the acting is unintentionally hilarious (especially from the leading lady Mona Goya who is absolutely a laugh riot as the double-crossed wife). But proceed with much caution. * out of ****