Juggernaut

My Ratings: Story 1.00 : Direction 1.00 : Pace 1.00 : Acting 0.75 : Entertaining 0.75 Total 4.50 out of 10.00.

Sometimes you have to go back to the days of overacting and melodrama. Should you have one of those days then this film is for you.

It's a decent story. A doctor, who has been hampered and hindered by government grants, rather than helped, has to find another way to fund his research. Enter the Clifford family. Papa Clifford is not a well man and his new wife, Yvonne, cannot wait for the inheritance. She hires the good doctor so he can run his experiments and get his much-needed money... just as long as hubby doesn't last too long.

I would have to say I would love to read the novel Alice Campbell wrote, as I don't believe the writers did it justice with the screenplay. Many times there's a disjointedness to the tale. This may be down to the quick cutting editor or director, though I cannot help but think it's the writers. Also, a wee bit more characterisation wouldn't have gone amiss. This would have been a nice way to show motive and motivation. That said, it is watchable, just could have been better.

Which is the same for the direction. Henry Edwards isn't a bad director, however, he is a mite pedestrian in his techniques. He stomps through the story at a brisk pace; sometimes with a heavy foot. The climax is the best example of this. If I'd gone to the picture theatre and paid my hard-earned money to watch this film, I would have felt more than an iota of upset. The ending comes quickly and is over just as fast and credits roll. It would have been nice to have a build-up to the ending. Then a couple of short scenes to tie off all the loose threads; of which there are three major yarns left dangling.

As for the acting, Boris Karloff is okay as the good "Bad" doctor Sartorius. Shame they typecast him as the baddie as you've seen this character before. It would have been nice if he had been the father of the Clifford family. Let him stretch his acting wings a little. The best actor was Arthur Margetson, who played Roger Clifford. He is natural and relaxed. His character is the most realistic and believable. He made this film more watchable for me. Now we come to the great melodramatic overtones... while the lead actresses were good, they must have come from the silent era as they were both superb at the pertinent pause and significant stare. The only thing missing was the orchestration of, "Da Dah DAHHH!"

Would I recommend it? Yes, I would. It's not a bad waste of time in this coronavirus void. There's a slight mystery in the story. It's also good to see how things were done in Yesteryear. The way the story is told, and the filmmaking adds an unintentional lightness to the viewing experience... plus it's not that long.

Now briskly stride on over to my The Game Is Afoot list to see where I've ranked this deadly little thriller.

Take Care & Stay Well.

Boris Karloff is cast once again as a man of science in the British independent film Juggernaut released here by the short lived Grand National studio. Science might be Boris's game, but he's not mad just led terribly astray.

It's his research and his own mortality that Karloff is worried about, that he might die before finding a cure for some tropical diseases. He's been cut off from research funds and left at sea.

Enter Mona Goya, trophy wife of rich old Morton Selten who is not in good health, but not dying fast enough to suit Mona. She's already got Anthony Ireland in tow ready to share in the fortune when the old coot croaks. But Selten isn't croaking fast enough to suit her.

Enter Karloff who needs money for his research and do I have to go into the rest of it for you? The whole thing ends in one sudden melodramatic climax as if the rest of the film wasn't melodramatic enough.

What is good about Juggernaut that without his usual makeup and sinister science as part of the plot, Karloff does do a very good job as a man who succumbs to evil so he can put a coda of good on his life. But the whole film is really rather far fetched and could have used better writing and production values.

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.

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.

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 ****