just watch it!

Dreadfully Boring

The film may be flawed, but its message is not.

This is a small, humorous movie in some ways, but it has a huge heart. What a nice experience.

In order to dispose of an honest judge a small group of racketeers hire a local gunman to kill him and then set up a recently released convict named "John Ellman" (Boris Karloff) to take the fall. Sure enough, John Ellman is convicted and then sent to the electric chair due in large part because of two witnesses named "Jimmy" (Warren Hull) and his girlfriend "Nancy" (Marguerite Churchill) who wait too long to come forward. Fortunately, a physician named "Dr. Beaumont" (Edmund Gwenn) comes up with a novel idea to bring John Ellman back to life even though he has been dead for several hours. Although his plan succeeds there is something much different about John which nobody can quite seem to figure out. Now rather than reveal any more of the plot and risk spoiling this movie for those who haven't seen it I will just say that for a short, relatively low-budget motion picture produced in 1936 this film turned out to be quite good all things considered. I especially liked the performances of Boris Karloff and to a lesser degree that of Marguerite Churchill along with the nifty (albeit now antique) cars used in this movie. Be that as it may, I enjoyed this film and rate it as above average.

Excellent little horror film directed by the amazingly talented Michael Curtiz, the same man who would later give up Casablanca amongst many other classic films.The story is a genre mashup of gangster and horror and at only about 1 hour 5 minutes, there isn't much time to lag. With such a skilled eye behind the camera, we are treated to a film that does not bore.Boris Karloff is the star and he does such a great job of bringing fright to the picture. For someone interested in the acting of Karloff or the films of Curtiz, this is a must see!7.0 / 10--A Kat Pirate Screener

Seems almost like a "metaphysical" horror movie instead of the more limited supernatural type. Back-from-the-dead Karloff seeks to confront those who framed and got him executed on a murder charge. However, it's pretty clear he seeks no more than peaceable reproach, and that the accidents befalling the culprits as he confronts them come from an unseen hand instead of Karloff's. Ellman (Karloff) is, throughout, an innocent party who only wants to make good music, an ultimately tragic figure caught up in a strange universe.Now, there may be a cosmic sense of justice in the unseen hand that punishes those responsible for Karloff's execution. Nonetheless, I wonder where that cosmic hand was when Karloff was unjustly framed, in the first place. Perhaps, that has something to do with the "jealous god" referred to at the end. If so, the god would be better described as a fickle one.Metaphysics aside, Karloff delivers what amounts to a soulful performance, showing those traits that made even his heavily made-up Frankenstein something of a sympathetic monster. And catch that recital scene where a ghoulish-looking Karloff throws the fear of retribution into the depths of his tormentors. It's a dramatic high point. The movie itself combines Warner's trademark gangster fare with Universal's horror specialty , as one reviewer perceptively observes. Note too, the fast-moving tabloid approach to the trial proceedings, also a Warner's specialty.All in all, the movie amounts to an interesting variation on the familiar theme of the undead, made more so by Karloff's unusually sensitive performance. And that final scene that inquires into the secrets of the universe is both consistent with the movie's theme and moodily well handled. (In passing— Karloff's John Ellman is shown as a passionate devotee of classical music. Perhaps, the character was named after the Ukrainian musician Mischa Elman, then making a name for himself as a concert violinist.)

After having a chance to view several Karloff movies, it's obvious he had a great deal of charm. He has a soft spoken side to him that really comes through. In this one, a group of gangsters who have a big time attorney on their sides frame him for a judge's murder. He is brought back to life by Edmund Gwynn, a scientist dabbling in things not to be dealt with, or whatever. Boris finds himself in a semi-catatonic state, slowly reviving the memory of the men who framed him in order to kill the judge. There are some really touching scenes having to do with Karloff's love of music. He also seems on a mission from somewhere beyond as he picks the five men off one at a time. I won't say any more. He does a nice acting job and is very sympathetic. Gwynn's character is driven to experiment on the man and is waylaid. At times he appears to be as guilty as the others, but never has an opportunity to carry things out. It's a decent movie with a decent message.