Le château des loufoques

The title, "The Boogie Man Will Get You" should give you an idea of the sort of film you're going to see. Its basically a minor horror/comedy played out more or less like a Three Stooges comedy with a budget. For stars Boris Karloff and Peter Lorre, it was probably a welcome change of pace from the roles both had been playing. The story is similar in many ways to "Arsenic and Old Lace" a hit Broadway play of the day in which Karloff had been starring.

Two eccentrics, Professor Nathaniel Billings (Karloff) and Amelia Jones (Maude Eburne) live in a run down old Colonial Inn which they have put up for sale. A young lady Winnie Layden (Jeff Donnell) comes to look over the place and decides to buy it. As a condition of the sale Billings asks that he, Amelia and handyman Ebenezer (George McKay) be allowed to stay so that Billings can complete his experiments in the building's basement.

The mortgage holder Dr. Lorentz (Lorre), who is also the sheriff, the coroner and the Justice of the Peace, among other titles, arrives. Billings gleefully pays off his mortgage and Winnie takes title to the property just as her former husband Bill (Larry Parks) arrives to try for some unknown reason to prevent her from buying the Inn.

Meanwhile Billings continues his experiments to try to perfect a super human, but his test subject apparently dies. Bill discovers the body in the basement and he and Winnie report the crime to Lorenz in his role of the town sheriff. On investigating, Lorenz learns of Billings plans and wants in on the action. He also discovers that there are also four other "test subjects" laid out in the next room.

A "ballet master", J. Gilbert Brampton arrives at the Inn and begins to snoop around. A traveling powder puff salesman (Maxie Rosenbloom) arrives and Billings and Lorentz plan to make him their next "test subject". An escaped fascist prisoner (Frank Paglia) also drops in and threatens to blow everybody up. Two cops (Frank Sully, James Morton) arrive to investigate a reported murder.

Everything manages to get sorted out in the end.

The film leaves a few unanswered questions such as "Where did Winnie get all of the cash?, Why were Bill and Winnie divorced?, Who was really making the Indian whooping noise? and What was the "arrangement", if any between Billings and Amelia? And beware of the typical Hollywood Production Code ending. This was Karloff's final film on his Columbia contract and he would be off the screen until 1944's "The Climax" while he continued to appear in "Arsenic and Old Lace", which by the way prevented him from getting a part in the 1944 film version.

The two leads seem to enjoy all of this nonsense and both would appear in comedic parts over the years for the rest of their careers.

(Miss) Jeff Donnell (yes, that's how she's billed) plays a woman who loves the charm of anything antique and buys a rundown old inn to renovate, much to the dismay of her ex-husband, Larry Parks. These two are fine in their roles as the squabbling exes, but honestly those parts are secondary to the real stars of the picture, Boris Karloff and Peter Lorre.

Karloff owns the place, but is being evicted and needs Donnell's cash. He asks only to stay on to finish his 'experiments' in the basement: Karloff, as sweet and grandfatherly as can be, has created a machine he's sure can turn a mere mortal into superman and win the war..unfortunately, glitches in the procedure have produced nothing except the five bodies in the wine cellar. Also staying are the chicken-obsessed housekeeper (Maude Eburne) and a handyman who likes to carry his piglets about the house.

To make the sale legal, they call in Peter Lorre..the local mayor/coroner/sheriff/seller of insurance and hair tonic. Lorre's character is terrific--dressed all in black with a cute little kitten in his pocket. Parks sees bodies (that vanish) and Donnell thinks he's just trying to scare her, and she continues to believe the loony characters are just dears. When Lorre finds out about the bodies, he doesn't make an arrest--he suggests Karloff cut him in on the invention, and they are thrilled when Maxie Rosenbloom knocks on the door selling powder puffs (all the 'subjects' were salesmen) so they crank up the machine one more time. Things go from wacky to full-blown chaos to tie up all the loose plot strings.

This was obviously a take on "Arsenic and Old Lace"..Parks is no Cary Grant and this is not on a par with that classic comedy, but it is just silly enough to be charming, and worth seeing if only for Lorre and Karloff in a comic/satirical take of their usual frightful roles.

The Boogie Man Will Get You marks the first joint appearance of Boris Karloff and Peter Lorre in the same film. Both certainly could qualify as Boogie Men for the title, both frightened movie goers for generations. This was their first joint screen appearance and the first film where they spoofed their own images.

Karloff is a scientist of the mad kind who boards in an old colonial type inn that is run by an equally screwy couple George McKay and Maude Eburne. Lorre is the county sheriff and kind of a Grand Pooh Bah of the region, he's everything else official. When he discovers Karloff is experimenting on making zombie like supermen for the war effort, rather than arrest him Peter's intrigued even though five fatalities might be traced to Karloff's experiments.

There's also quarreling couple Jeff Donnell who wants to buy the old inn and Larry Parks her estranged husband who says no. Add to that Maxie Rosenbloom who plays Lorre's amiable lunkhead retainer and you've got a first rate spoof of horror pictures.

Certainly Karloff and Lorre showed they had a flair for comedy which would pop up every so often in their credits midst all the fiendish parts they did play.

Very funny film, should not be missed by fans of either Karloff or Lorre.

Karloff and Lorre attempt to make superhuman zombies for the war effort. Its far from the best horror comedy ever made but if you click into its loopy silliness you're in for a breezy hour plus.

What can I say I found it charming and sweet even as seemingly ghoulish things were going on. Some people I know find it dumb, and to be honest, it is dumb, but the chance to see Lorre and Karloff being silly together years before Roger Corman brought them together again is a joy.

Should you run across this film, by all means see it, you may not laugh but you will smile from start to finish is a goofy sort of way.

The Boogie Man Will Get You: 6 out of 10: If Ma and Pa Kettle ever did Arsenic and Old Lace it would be this movie. Very very silly and occasionally quite funny the Boogie Man has a couple of big faults. The supporting cast is mixed at best and the ending is a mess.

It also has two great assets, Boris Karloff and Peter Lorre. Karloff is spot on as the bumbling well meaning murdering scientist. Whose experiments on traveling salesman to create super-soldiers for the war effort are both well meaning and quite homicidal.

Peter Lorre is hilarious as the Mayor, Police Chief, Undertaker, Notary, excreta. He dresses in a three piece suit with a Siamese kitten in his pocket to which he coos in German.

Watching these two together is pure entertainment and certainly worth a viewing. The rest of the movie is light, frothy, derivative, and occasionally irritating. Just watch the stars at work and forget the rest.