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Friday, 18 January 2019
HUNK OF THE MONTH - BIG BAD BORIS...
Here's an ace publicity shot of BORIS KARLOFF
as the MONSTER Of FRANKENSTEIN. No one else
was ever quite so effective in the role - he really looks like
a resuscitated corpse, don't you think? So give it up for
"Karloff the Uncanny!"
7 comments:
Anonymous
said...
Christopher Lee was pretty good in Hammer's 1957 remake.
Well, he had the height without the need for built-up boots, CJ, but I don't think he even came close to Boris's portrayal. Nor did he look as good. Hammer couldn't use the Universal makeup for copyright reasons, but although Lee's performance was good, his makeup was nowhere near as iconic.
Karloff's successors either imitated him (in the Universal series), or they deliberately tried to avoid imitating him (as in the Hammer series), so Karloff was always an influence, even if sometimes in a negative way.
The monster in Hammer's "Evil of Frankenstein" (1964) somewhat resembled Karloff (and Chaney, Lugosi, and Strange). I think Hammer had by then made a deal allowing them to remake some of Universal's stuff, and Universal distributed "Evil of Frankenstein," "The Mummy" (1959), and "Phantom of the Opera" (1962) in the US.
I know what you mean, TC, but it's worth pointing out that the monster in EOF didn't really resemble Karloff, though it had a flat-ish head reminiscent of Jack Pierce's design. Karloff's face fitted the role perfectly, and the only actor I can immediately think of with a similar face is Vincent Price. Well past time for a colour remake of the original 1931 movie, with a computer-generated image of Karloff's monster, or a tall actor with prosthetics to resemble him. Wouldn't that be good?
7 comments:
Christopher Lee was pretty good in Hammer's 1957 remake.
Well, he had the height without the need for built-up boots, CJ, but I don't think he even came close to Boris's portrayal. Nor did he look as good. Hammer couldn't use the Universal makeup for copyright reasons, but although Lee's performance was good, his makeup was nowhere near as iconic.
Karloff's successors either imitated him (in the Universal series), or they deliberately tried to avoid imitating him (as in the Hammer series), so Karloff was always an influence, even if sometimes in a negative way.
The monster in Hammer's "Evil of Frankenstein" (1964) somewhat resembled Karloff (and Chaney, Lugosi, and Strange). I think Hammer had by then made a deal allowing them to remake some of Universal's stuff, and Universal distributed "Evil of Frankenstein," "The Mummy" (1959), and "Phantom of the Opera" (1962) in the US.
I know what you mean, TC, but it's worth pointing out that the monster in EOF didn't really resemble Karloff, though it had a flat-ish head reminiscent of Jack Pierce's design. Karloff's face fitted the role perfectly, and the only actor I can immediately think of with a similar face is Vincent Price. Well past time for a colour remake of the original 1931 movie, with a computer-generated image of Karloff's monster, or a tall actor with prosthetics to resemble him. Wouldn't that be good?
Seriously?
You're going to run Frankenstein as Hunk Of The Month and not one word about the body?
Slipping, mate.
I dont know..Fred Gwynne did a great version as Herman Munster...but seriously Karloff created the monster and he did it perfectly...
Surely you mean 'bodies', 3? It's Frankie we're talking about, remember?
******
He certainly had the face for it, LH. Great as the Mummy as well.
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