Dir: George Waggner | Cast: Susanna Foster, Boris Karloff | Thriller 1944
Nearly two full decades before Boris Karloff starred in Roger Corman’s ‘The Terror’ ‘The Climax’ had emerged under very similar circumstances.
Universal by the early forties were well aware of the ability of Technicolor to dress up otherwise cheap productions such as their Maria Montez vehicles. Following the success of their Oscar-winning remake of ‘The Phantom of the Opera’ with Claude Rains plainly a sequel was in order.
To that end they dusted off a play by Joseph Locke that had already been filmed as an early talkie featuring Jean Hersholt. Rains being unavailable the bogeyman part instead went to Boris Karloff.
The sets and camera team were reenlisted with Edward Ward’s score performing the same function of Ronald Stein’s on the later film of holding it all together; with results that Bosley Crowther described as “crude but colorful fun”. @RichardChatten
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