TCM Schedule for Friday, August 26, 2016 -- Summer Under The Stars - Boris Karloff

Today's Star is the gentle actor who played all of the monsters -- Boris Karloff, aka William Henry Pratt. Fun facts -- his maternal grandmother was Eliza Julia Edwards, a sister of Anna Leonowens (whose tales about life in the royal court of Siam (now Thailand) were the basis of the musical The King and I). He was also a distant cousin of British cross-dressing actor, Quentin Crisp (born Denis Pratt). Enjoy!


6:00 AM -- LURED (1947)
A woman helps the police catch the serial killer who murdered her best friend.
Dir: Douglas Sirk
Cast: George Sanders, Lucille Ball, Charles Coburn
BW-103 mins,

The title was changed to "Personal Column" midway through the original U.S. theatrical release because staff at the Production Code Administration thought the word "lured" sounded too much like "lurid". Director Douglas Sirk felt the title change confused potential audiences and led to the film's box-office failure.


7:45 AM -- THE LOST PATROL (1934)
A British army troop fights off Arab snipers while holed up in an oasis.
Dir: John Ford
Cast: Victor McLaglen, Boris Karloff, Wallace Ford
BW-72 mins, CC,

Nominated for an Oscar for Best Music, Score -- Max Steiner

According to Karloff biographer Peter Underwood the temperature on the Yuma locations could be as hot as 150 degrees and actors were limited to working two hours a day.


9:00 AM -- DICK TRACY MEETS GRUESOME (1947)
Dick Tracy tracks down a bank robber using nerve gas.
Dir: John Rawlins
Cast: Boris Karloff, Ralph Byrd, Anne Gwynne
BW-65 mins,

Filmed April 1-late April 1947, the last of RKO's four classic Dick Tracy features, and the only one in which Ralph Byrd takes second billing. He would continue playing the character on television, until his untimely death in 1952.


10:15 AM -- THE MASK OF FU MANCHU (1932)
A Chinese warlord threatens explorers in search of the key to global power.
Dir: Charles Brabin
Cast: Boris Karloff, Lewis Stone, Karen Morley
BW-68 mins, CC,

In filming the scene where Fu Manchu injects his mind control drug into Terry Granville's neck, 'Boris Karloff (I)' actually pushed the syringe into a baked potato, which was lying on the table next to Charles Starrett's head, out of camera range. However, each time Karloff pressed the plunger down, the potato would explode. This happened on several takes, until Karloff and Starrett couldn't do the scene without laughing. Director Charles Brabin finally gave up and dismissed the two actors for the day, saying, "Never mind! We'll shoot it tomorrow morning!"


11:45 AM -- THE FATAL HOUR (1940)
Asian sleuth Mr. Wong gets caught up in the mystery surrounding a policeman's death.
Dir: William Nigh
Cast: Boris Karloff, Marjorie Reynolds, Grant Withers
BW-66 mins,

The images of the burning of the fictitious liner Wentworth Castle is taken from actual news footage of the burning of the liner SS Morro Castle. The Morro Castle caught fire on 8 September 1934 during a trip from Havana to New York. The heavy loss of life combined with the beaching of the gutted hulk in New Jersey made it one of the biggest news stories of the day.


1:00 PM -- BRITISH INTELLIGENCE (1940)
A lady spy uses a British nobleman's home in her undercover work for the Germans.
Dir: Terry Morse
Cast: Boris Karloff, Margaret Lindsay, Bruce Lester
BW-61 mins, CC,

The play, Three Faces East, opened in New York City, New York, USA on 13 August 1918 and had 335 performances. It was produced by George M. Cohan and the cast included Frank Sheridan and Cora Witherspoon.


2:15 PM -- THE WALKING DEAD (1936)
A framed man comes back from the dead to seek revenge.
Dir: Michael Curtiz
Cast: Boris Karloff, Ricardo Cortez, Edmund Gwenn
BW-65 mins, CC,

The "glass heart" machine used to revive Karloff's dead character was said to be "nearly a prefect replica" of an actual perfusion pump--a device designed to keep organs alive outside an organism's body--which had been built by Charles Lindbergh, when the legendary pilot and engineer was working with a Nobel-winning scientist at New York's Rockefeller Institute research labs in the mid-1930s.


3:30 PM -- THE MAN THEY COULD NOT HANG (1939)
A mad scientist uses an artificial heart pump he invented to seek revenge after he is executed.
Dir: Nick Grinde
Cast: Boris Karloff, Lorna Gray, Robert Wilcox
BW-64 mins, CC,

The fictional heart and lung machine prop presented an idea that was strictly sci-fi at the time, but later the central idea became reality as "Open-Heart Surgery." Later renamed "On-Pump" surgery due to the development of microsurgery that does not require stopping the heart, "On Pump" requires heart stoppage, then hook up to the pump, then operate on the repairs, then re-connect and revive the patient, exactly the basic theory presented by the film.


4:45 PM -- THE TERROR (1963)
A lost soldier discovers a mysterious beauty haunting a half-deserted castle.
Dir: Roger Corman
Cast: Boris Karloff, Jack Nicholson, Sandra Knight
C-79 mins, CC,

Roger Corman made this picture in the midst of a cycle of Edgar Allan Poe adaptations and considers it an "honorary member" of that cycle. The previous Poe pictures had ended with the castle or mansion being destroyed by fire (Corman's crew had some to look forward to "fire day&quot but with this one, Corman decided to change the formula and have the castle destroyed by a flood instead. Noting the abundance of second-unit directors who had worked on the film--four, to that point--Jack Nicholson requested and received permission to direct the climactic flood sequence himself.


6:15 PM -- BLACK SABBATH (1964)
A trio of atmospheric horror tales presented by Boris Karloff.
Dir: Mario Bava
Cast: Jacqueline Pierreux, Milly Monti, Michèle Mercier
C-96 mins, CC, Letterbox Format

This film served as inspiration for the naming of the heavy metal band Black Sabbath. In 1968, the band (then called Earth) was playing a small club in Birmingham, England. Across the street was a movie theater showing the film Black Sabbath. The band noticed that more people were in line to see the movie than were to see the band. Realizing that "horror sells tickets" they decided to change the band's name to Black Sabbath.



TCM PRIMETIME - WHAT'S ON TONIGHT: SUMMER UNDER THE STARS: BORIS KARLOFF



8:00 PM -- FRANKENSTEIN (1931)
A crazed scientist creates a living being from body parts, not realizing it has a madman's brain.
Dir: James Whale
Cast: Colin Clive, Mae Clarke, John Boles
BW-70 mins, CC,

During production there was some concern that seven-year-old Marilyn Harris, who played Maria, the little girl thrown into the lake by the creature, would be overly frightened by the sight of Boris Karloff in costume and make-up when it came time to shoot the scene. When the cast was assembled to travel to the location, Marilyn ran from her car directly up to Karloff, who was in full make-up and costume, took his hand and asked "May I drive with you?" Delighted, and in typical Karloff fashion, he responded, "Would you, darling?" She then rode to the location with "The Monster.".


9:30 PM -- BRIDE OF FRANKENSTEIN (1935)
To save his wife, Baron Frankenstein must build a mate for his monster.
Dir: James Whale
Cast: Karloff, Colin Clive, Valerie Hobson
BW-75 mins, CC,

Nominated for an Oscar for Best Sound, Recording -- Gilbert Kurland (sound director)

The tiny mermaid in Dr. Pretorius' bottle was Josephine McKim, a member of the 1924 and 1928 U.S. Women's Olympic Swim Teams and one of the four members of that team to win the 1928 gold medal in the 400-Meter Freestyle Relay. McKim was also Maureen O'Sullivan's body double in the infamous nude swimming scene of the previous year's Tarzan and His Mate (1934).


11:00 PM -- THE MUMMY (1932)
An Egyptian mummy returns to life to stalk the reincarnation of his lost love.
Dir: Karl Freund
Cast: Boris Karloff, Zita Johann, David Manners
BW-73 mins, CC,

The character name "Imhotep" was taken from an actual ancient Egyptian, but the real Imhotep was the architect who designed the pyramids and - far from being executed in disgrace - was the only Egyptian, other than the pharaohs, who was made a god after his death.


12:30 AM -- THE BLACK CAT (1934)
A Satanist faces off with the vengeful man whose wife and daughter he has stolen.
Dir: Edgar G. Ulmer
Cast: Karloff, Bela Lugosi, David Manners
BW-65 mins, CC,

The first film collaboration of Bela Lugosi and Boris Karloff, who at the time were unquestionably the two biggest stars of horror film. Despite rumors that the two stars were personally very competitive, this marked the beginning of a pleasant working relationship between the two. While Lugosi and Karloff never became close personal friends, they were quite amicable to each other and enjoyed working together.


1:45 AM -- THE BODY SNATCHER (1945)
To continue his medical experiments, a doctor must buy corpses from a grave robber.
Dir: Robert Wise
Cast: Boris Karloff, Bela Lugosi, Henry Daniell
BW-78 mins, CC,

Robert Louis Stevenson came up with the idea for his short story from actual events occurring in 19th century England and Scotland, particularly those of grave robbers Burke and Hare.


3:15 AM -- ISLE OF THE DEAD (1945)
The inhabitants of a Balkans island under quarantine fear that one of their number is a vampire.
Dir: Mark Robson
Cast: Boris Karloff, Ellen Drew, Marc Cramer
BW-72 mins, CC,

A vorvolakas (also vrykolakas) occurs in Greek folklore as an undead creature capable of causing harm to the living. Its characteristics are similar to many other characters of legend, but it is most closely associated with vampires. In Hollywood movies such as Dracula (1931), the word vampire is often translated to Greek as vrykolakas. However, traditional vorvolakas are not noted for blood-drinking.


4:30 AM -- BEDLAM (1946)
When an actress tries to reform an asylum, its corrupt keeper has her committed.
Dir: Mark Robson
Cast: Boris Karloff, Anna Lee, Billy House
BW-79 mins, CC,

The dress Anna Lee is wearing as she mounts her horse is the one Vivien Leigh made from the curtains in Gone with the Wind (1939). "I saw it in the window and I just couldn't resist it!"