THE MANY FACES OF KARLOFF

Between THE INVISIBLE RAY and SON OF FRANKENSTEIN, Boris Karloff played a Chinese warlord in the Warner Bros. adventure film WEST OF SHANGHAI in 1937. He would also play the Chinese detective Mr. Wong in a number of films beginning in 1938. While unfavorable sentiment regarding white actors playing Asian characters from yesteryear exists today, it shows Karloff's versatility as an actor.

This issue of BOY'S CINEMA from April 2, 1938 includes the text/photo adaptation of WEST OF SHANGHAI.

Read more "The Many Faces of Boris Karloff" HERE.

Read the BOY'S CINEMA photo story of DR. X HERE.

CALLING DOCTOR X!

Warner Bros./First National Pictures' DOCTOR X (1932) starring Lionel Atwill, Fay Wray and Lee Tracy is a horror film although it was also promoted as a romantic comedy. Made during the pre-Code Hollywood years, elements such as murder, rape, cannibalism and prostitution are included in the story that the Hays Code would have surely wanted excised. Wray would of course star as Ann Darrow in KING KONG the following year.

Movie heralds were handouts that were an inexpensive way to draw customers to theaters:

Fay Wray studio portrait for DOCTOR X:

DOCTOR X trailer:

DOCTOR X adaptation from BOY'S CINEMA (February 25, 1933):

DOCTOR X filmbook from MONSTER WORLD #8 (May 1966):

Cover painting from DOCTOR X by Ron Cobb.

See my post of THE RETURN OF DOCTOR X HERE.

DOCTOR X 'FILMBOOK'

On the newsstands every Tuesday, the UK's BOY'S CINEMA magazine was published for nearly thirty years, from 1919 to 1948. The magazine "fictionalized" movies of the day, much in the way of the filmbooks seen a decade or so later in FAMOUS MONSTERS OF FILMLAND. All types of films were covered, including westerns, mysteries, adventures, and sometimes horror.

The 689th issue, dated 25 February 1933, included a narrative of First National/Warner Bros. DOCTOR X, starring Lionel Atwill and Fay Wray, released the year before.