Night Tower

I hadn't been having much luck with newer horror, so I decided to go old school, with some Boris Karloff: the double bill Night Key/Tower of London (1937/1939).

Night Key stars Karloff as a scientist who has developed a new burglar alarm. He goes to the company that stole his ideas and fired him 10 years ago to demonstrate, but they blow him off. In the meantime, Warren. Hull, a rent-a-cop from the same company, detains Hobart Cavanaugh, caught in the act of burglary by their silent alarms. Cavanaugh plays Petty Louis, who never stole enough to be charged with a felony. As a result, Hull doesn't call in the police, but detains Louis at the company.

So Karloff just happens to be storming out of the office when he sees Louis locked up. Along with the new alarm system he invented, he also has a gadget that defeats the old system, so he sets Louis free. Petty Louis is grateful and wants "in on it", whatever it is.

So Karloff and Louis go on a crime spree - where they break into stores that use the alarm system, move things around but don't steal anything, and leaving a taunting note. Of course, Louis has to be constantly reminded not to steal anything. 

But some real crooks like Alan Baxter and Ward Bond get wind of this, and force Karloff to help them pull some real crimes. They do this by the usual expedient of kidnapping Karloff's daughter, Jean Rogers. Will he be able to save her? What about rent-a-cop Hull, who has been showing interest in Rogers? And so on. 

Not a great crime movie, and Karloff is playing a quiet old man with a white mustache, not a scary ghoul. But Cavanaugh is a lot of fun as Petty Louis, and the real gangsters are fairly menacing. A good watch.

Tower of London, on the other hand, is a classic. Basil Rathbone plays Richard, Duke of Gloucester, before he became Richard III of England. He had a personal torturer and executioner, club-footed Mord, played by Boris Karloff. The movie deals with the machinations of Richard and his brothers while weak King Edward IV kept in seclusion in the Tower. So Rathbone sets about to eliminate all rivals.

One is the Duke of Clarence, played by Vincent Price. He challenges him to a drinking duel. Rathbone promises to use no weapon except Malmsey. Price figures thatras an old sot, he can't lose. They set about drinking in a somewhat silly scene, but when Price passes out, Rathbone and Karloff dump him in the famous butt of Malmsey.

There are more murders and executions, including the famous children in the Tower. Seeing Karloff tenderly putting them to bed, then measuring them for graves is chilling. Finally, the exiled pretender returns, and there are a few battle scenes. These are chaotic ands intimate, possibly to keep down the cost of extras. (Although the filming of these foggy, rainy scenes in hot, sunny California was apparently a big mess.)

In the little research I've done, I've found that this is considered a bit of a mess. But as far as I'm concerned, it's a classic historical drama with a touch of horror. This is a great double bill.