Review: Night Key (1937)

1937's Night Key is considered a minor Universal film, delivering more of a crime story with some loose science fiction elements rather than a typical horror story. Still, it has some things going for it. Boris Karloff, just a few years removed from terrifying the world as Frankenstein's monster, plays a slightly-doddering, grandfatherly inventor who has been wronged by a former business partner. The movie showcases Karloff's range, allowing him to portray a character that's both kind and sympathetic. His Coke bottle glasses are both endearing and also a crutch, so whenever he loses them and is effectively blind, the viewer is naturally concerned for his well-being. Playing Karloff's daughter is Jean Rogers, aka Dale Arden from the Buster Crabbe Flash Gordon serials. While she does serve as a damsel in distress later in the movie, she holds her own as a no-nonsense woman who solidly anchors the B-story and has nearly as much screen time as Boris himself. Movie buffs will also enjoy seeing the supporting cast, which includes Alan Baxter (Hitchcock's Saboteur), Samuel S. Hinds (It's A Wonderful Life), Ward Bond (Also t's A Wonderful Life, The Maltese Falcon), and Warren Hull, future star of The Green Hornet serials. Hobart Cavanaugh provides comic relief as a kleptomaniac with a thick "New Yoik" accent.

Night Key was made to fulfill Karloff's multi-picture contract with the studio, so Universal--then under new ownership, having been sold by Carl Laemmle in 1935--created this movie as a vehicle for the actor. The production was plagued by setbacks and several directors departed the project before it finally went before cameras under the direction of actor/writer/director Lloyd Corrigan. The movie went over schedule and over budget, and yet it still somehow feels small in scope. Though it's a long way from some of Karloff's other, better work at Universal (The Black Cat, etc), it allows Boris to deliver a performance unlike what he'd done in some of the darker roles for the studio.

Night Key was discovered by an entirely new generation of viewers when it was included in the 52-film SHOCK THEATER package that Universal put together for television in the late 1950s, where it became a mainstay on the small screen for the next 15 years.