On Boris Karloff the Uncanny
It was a truly classic performance–the monster was no monster, but a pathetic, confused creature caught in a situation it couldn't comprehend. Karloff portrayed all this with marvelous pantomime, restricted as he was to a series of grunts and despite the handicaps of his heavy costume. "Whale and I both saw the character as an innocent one," he later said, "and I tried to play it that way. The most heart-rending aspect of the creature's life, for us, was his ultimate desertion by his creator. It was as though man, in his blundering, searching attempts to improve himself, was to find himself deserted by his God" (John Brosnan, The Horror People).
As I thought about what I would write for Frankensteinia's Boris Karloff Blogathon, I found myself reading through the titles in my library for inspiration in choosing a subject worthy of such a momentous project. Perhaps I would review one of Karloff's important films? I thought. I've only scratched the surface of his noteworthy acting career with my reviews of Frankenstein, Bride of Frankenstein, Son of Frankenstein, and The Mummy. Then I thought maybe I would examine Karloff's extensive work for television, which would include, of course, Thriller, the anthology series of horror and suspense I still vividly recall scaring the bejesus out of me, and its spin-off into comic book format as Boris Karloff's Tales of Mystery (recently reissued by Dark Horse Comics). As I thought about it some more, I realized the books I paged through, the ones I often pull from the shelf when I am thinking about Karloff or classic horror, in preparation for writing a review, might be noteworthy to mention.
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