Quoth the Raven

More B+W horror for Deathoween! The Ghoul (1933) stars Boris Karloff, but just barely. For the setup, we see a stealthy Egyptian (notablew for the rug over his shoulder) confront an absinthe-drinking archeologist about a rare amulet he stole from a grave. But he has sold it to rich archeologist and grave robber Boris Karloff.

Karloff, now on his deathbed, demands that he be buried with the amulet in his hand, wrapped in bandages. He claims it will give him eternal life. But if anyone removes itm he'll come back to life and murder everyone! Of course, as soon as he dies, his man-servant Ernest Thesiger steals it. Cedric Hardwicke, the lawyer handling his affairs is acting rather shady, too.  

There are two heirs, distant cousins whose families have always been feuding. They descend on the mansion to protect their inheritance. Of course, she brings her man-hungry. roommate as chaperone. We also run into the Egyptian sheik that she falls for, his baleful bodyguard, a sheriff and a parson. And then Karloff rises from the grave and starts killing people. 

The main problem with this movie is that there is so little Karloff. When he is on his killing spree, he is silent and mostly in shadow. The other characters are OK, but aside from roommate (Kathleeen Harrison) and sheik (Harold Huth), not very memorable. It all ends suddenly, with nothing really wrapped up except the cousins get together snd live happily ever after. Still, fun and worth a watch.

The Black Raven (1943) is hardly horror - it's really a gangster pic. It's a dark and stormy night. George Zucco runs the Black Raven in, up near the Canadian border. Which is handy, because his sideline seems to be running criminals across said border. Glenn Strange plays his dim-witted handyman, always forced out into the rain to park guests' cars. 

His first customer is a criminal who signs the register "John Smith". He wants help crossing the border, but also seems to have a grudge against Zucco. The next is a gangster who is being set u as a scapegoat by the powerful political syndicate. He also signs "J. Smith".

A meek R.-Crumb-looking character, Byron Folger, is headed for Canada, but turned back because the bridge is washed out. He shows up at Zucco's place, with a case that he keeps close at all times, and also signs as Smith. Then there's a couple who want to get married, but her father, head of the syndicate mentioned above, is preventing. So they are headed to Canada, but are forced to stop at the Raven. Then said father, turns up. Then he turns up dead.

In a lot of ways, this is an old dark house movie without the ghosts. Like in The Ghoul, there's a crowd of people, all stuck in one place. But really, the best parts are Zucco, as a friendly gangster, and Glenn Strange, without makeup, as the handyman. I suspect the role was written for a Mantan Morland type - black, ignorant and scared. Color blind casting? 

Not the greatest batch, but fun and short, The seasonal marathon continues!