The first film effort of Sir Ralph Richardson was The Ghoul (1933), starring the inestimable Boris Karloff, was a horror flick. An Egyptologist dies and then returns to life, hunting a missing locket to present to the god Anubis in hopes of eternal life.
Or so I think. The film was a little unclear on the point.
In the meanwhile, his niece and nephew are notified of his passing and their inheritance, which appears to be a fine hulking mess of a house, plump full of shadows, frightened servants, acquisitive visitors of various professions – but no pets. The relatives arrive, with a friend in tow who is assigned the task of bringing a touch of humor to this otherwise grim tale of family dysfunction and mad belief. For the record, the effort is a trifle shrill, but she is very impressive in her track achievements – keeping in mind that she was in high heels.
For all that ancient gods are invoked to walk the hills again, the horror is all about the humanity – avarice, deceit, fraud, distrust are on display. We see how they play out to the disastrous results of nearly all, and thus are we edified.
The parts are played well for the most part. The cinematography is interesting, as we found the scenes dramatically shown in the black and white, even some special effects of note – yet, we kept confusing characters. Perhaps this is a failure of the script, or of makeup, but it provoked more than a little commentary from my Arts Editor and I.
And, as a special note, The Ghoul has a status as a former lost film. See the link, above, if you want more information.
