Le Fantôme vivant

Boris Karloff was already a horror mainstay at this point in his career, having played Frankenstein's monster, The Mummy, and Fu Manchu, and now playing the titular Ghoul. This film has a deceased Karloff coming back to life after an Egyptian jewel he was buried with is stolen. The film really does, pun intended, come to life after Karloff's resurrection, but the build up to that point for the film's short 79-minute runtime is a bit of a slog. Overall, this British horror film isn't exactly a Universal Pictures Horror classic, but it is solid entertainment. FUN FACT! "The Ghoul" is one of many films to have fallen into the public domain, so it is freely available for download on the internet.

Boris Karloff plays a crazy old guy who worships the Egyptian god, Anubis. On his death bed, he swears that if anyone should steal a sacred jewel from his Anubis statue he will return from the dead to exact revenge. Not surprisingly, several very greedy people come along and try stealing the jewel--only to incur the wrath of the zombie Karloff. Despite the whole Egyptian aspect of the film, though, he was not a mummy nor was this just a rehash of THE MUMMY (also from 1933). Overall, it's a rather standard but well-produced zombie murdering the idiots film--not great, but certainly worth seeing.

By the way, in a funny inside joke, there is a parody of the "desert savage" style of film. THE SHEIK, THE SON OF THE SKEIK and THE BARBARIAN were among several films like this and in THE GHOUL, there is a supposed sheik and a lady who is infatuated with this clichéd image of a macho and sexist Middle Eastern lover.

The sets, cinematography and overall atmosphere is excellent. The music is effective in some spots only. Karloff, mostly speechless, plays the title character superbly and in well-designed horrific makeup. He looks like he's rotting and loosing control of his limbs from the start--but from what? He is not a ghoul in the classic sense (too gruesome for 1933) and while the story would seem to depict him as the walking dead, he may not be. Thesiger, Richardson and Sir Cedric are fine. Dorothy Hyson is a gorgeous, leggy damsel in distress. The film only wakes up during Karloff's intensely creepy scenes that just total less than 20 minutes. This is an example of a once lost film with a reputation that was overblown by the tantalizing stills in the monster magazines. The elements for greatness were there except for the lack of a good script and the bad histrionics of several supporting players. The ending is especially weak.

If you can locate a copy of this exceptional talkie you are indeed fortunate. It took me years to find, yet it was well worth the wait.

The history of this Karloff gem is fascinating. 'The Ghoul' had completely disappeared, not even the trailer survived. Yet in the 1980's (if I remember correctly), a lone nitrate print turned up in Prague, (with Hungarian subtitles) in *appalling* condition. Apparently, the nitrate film had shrunk to a mere third of it's original width, was exceptionally brittle and in a number of pieces yet was effectively restored... albeit not to the quality of it's release. Therefore, I was prepared to overlook the graininess, variable contrast and sound-track distortions.

'The Ghoul' belongs to Karloff. Had the film not vanished it would have become a hardy perennial of late night television horror alongside the Lemalle classics. As for the cast, sets and script (in that order), the film is superior to other horror classics of the period.

The story-line is vaguely reminiscent... an eccentric, terminally ill man (of Egyptian ancestry) decrees that a rare artefact must be entombed with him otherwise trouble will befall. As to be anticipated, the scarab jewel is removed from the hand of his corpse by a tomb robber not long after internment providing the impetus to wreak revenge in the signature fashion.

The quality of the film may distract some viewers, but the atmosphere retains most of it's inaugural impact. Definitely an eight and a half!

I disagree wholeheartedly with those who have given this film a bad review. The acting is superb, particularly Ralph Richardson as the 'Vicar', and the character actors, and of course Boris himself. Beautifully shot with wonderful props and set (I'd love to know which house they used!) it could put many a famous cinematic Haunted House to shame! The plot is reasonably clever and well-paced --nobody wants anything too complex in this atmospheric genre-- and the romantic subplot is suitably unsentimental and unobtrusive. Especially wonderful is the moment when the second woman, who had been swooning ridiculously in front of the man who calls himself a Sheik and generally acting silly, turns suddenly brave and holds the baddies at bay with the words (remember this is 1933!) "I don't THINK so!"