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.

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.

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.

In JUGGERNAUT, Boris Karloff plays a furious medical specialist who has received a major setback in his research into human paralysis. His desperation for renewed funding- and a hyper-inflated ego- lead him into a devil's agreement with the wife of a millionaire cotton industrialist, who is seeking a way to murder her husband so that she can go on with her high living affair with a jigolo. Running a timely interference are the family members of the rich patriarch, loyal personal servants and an observant and resourceful nurse portrayed by Joan Wyndham. Definitely the stuff of melodrama, and not a particularly unusual role in Karloff's career.

What's interesting about this piece is the pacing- which I suspect seemed very slow to American audiences, even at the time of its release (1936), if contemporary reviews found in books on Karloff are any indicator. Though some of it is indeed histrionic in content, there are only a few spots in the work where "over the top" acting disrupt its continuity. As a whole, of course, it's junk, but it's the junk of guilty pleasure. it's fascinating to watch Karloff breathe life into yet another tripped-up scientist characterization. His Dr. Sartorious is bitter, high strung, barely a note below fury at all moments, far from the characterizations of educated fruitcake benevolence that the actor is so often remembered for.

As for his "slouching" noted by other reviewers, I suspect it had less to do with conscious characterization then with the back ailment and arthritically bowed legs that plagued Karloff most of his life, which were flaring up before the man was in his 50s. You can view almost any of his films and see evidence of the ailment early on.

I think JUGGERNAUT is actually a better film then it's often reviewed as. It's not Karloff at the top of his form, but it's Karloff attempting to bring new flavor to what for many other actors would have long become a shop-worn characterization, and for that reason, well worth the hour or so it takes to take it in.

Boris Karloff is a research doctor who needs money to complete his research. He's returned to Britain to search for backers, and gets involved in one of those family situations. Old Morton Selten is married to young Mona Goya, and she has a young man on the string. Selten is failing, so Karloff is called in, Meanwhile, Selten has changed his will and given power of attorney to his son, Arthur Margetson; he hates Miss Goya and she him. Suddenly, Margetson is dead, and the nurse, Joan Wyndham suspects foul play.

It's a pretty good murder movie, one of the last that Henry Edwards directed for Julius Hagen. Karloff is, as always, a treat to watch, playing his doctor with intelligence, although he clearly finds the screaming and shouting going on a distraction from his duties; Miss Wyndham is good as the nurse who suspects the worse and finds herself trapped. There's also Nina Boucicault as Selten's sister; she was the daughter of the dramatist Dion Boucicault, and the first women to play Peter Pan.

It's a solid effort, with its only flaw the blaring theme by W. L. Trytel. Karloff had made three films in Great Britain in quick succession. After this, it was back to the US; Charlie Chan needed him.