In the wake of his bravura role in "Frankenstein," Boris Karloff made some terrific grade-B horror movies, many of which made use of his superb speaking voice. "The Man They Could Not Hang," "The Walking Dead," "The Black Cat" and "The Devil Commands" for example. Sorry but "The Ghoul" isn't one of them. It's a talky, confusing yarn about a dying Egypologist and the precious jewel he believes will give him immortal life. Atmospherically, it looks as if it was filmed by the light of a 50 watt bulb. Among the actors, Ernest Thesiger as Karloff's disloyal servant has a field day but Cedric Hardwicke as the family solicitor appears to have wandered in from the remake of a Dickens classic (along with his law office set,) Anthony Bushnell as a romantic young swain can't act and Kathleen Harrison's comic conniptions at meeting a sheik are straight from a sidestreet music hall. Hopefully, Karloff had a wonderful time going home to England, suddenly a star at the age of 45 after years of struggle as a character actor. But while his deathbed scene at the start of "The Ghoul" is the high spot of the movie, he probably should have stuck to seeing the sights.
