'THE GHOUL' -- FROM BOOK TO FILM

 

Thought lost for over 3 decades, Gaumont British's 1933 release, THE GHOUL, was discovered in Czechoslovakia  by horror film historian William K. Everson in 1969. It was in nearly unwatchable shape, but he nevertheless made a 16mm transfer of it and showed it as a special event in various film societies and other gatherings.

A near perfect nitrate negative was discovered in a forgotton Shepperton Studios vault in the 1980's, and in 2003 MGM/UA purchased it to release a restored DVD.

But, before all this, THE GHOUL had its inception as a novel. It was written by Frank King (1892-1958), a pseudonym for Clive Conrad, and was first published in 1928. King wrote many mystery novels published in the UK from 1927 until the end of his life. Titles like, "Terror at Straups House", "Death of a Cloven Hoof", and "The House of Sleep", promised thrilling tales for readers. THE GHOUL was reprinted at least twice, but nevertheless, is rare to find and thus demands collector's prices.

Boris Karloff was fresh off from his role as Im-ho-tep in THE MUMMY (Universal 1932) when he travelled to his native England for the first time in years to film THE GHOUL with Ernest Thesiger (who he would meet again two years later back in the States in BRIDE OF FRANKENSTEIN). The film enjoyed success in the UK, but less so in the US.

The novel is a straight mystery. Developed by five writers, including King himself, the film treatment added elements of mysticism and horror that the novel did not contain. This was surely done as an attempt to capitalize on Karloff's fame as a horror actor.

Offered here are examples of the book as well as posters, stills and lobby cards from the film.



Vintage bookstore dealer description and - gulp! - price.

 

THE GHOUL GALLERY (PART 2)

Gaumont British Picture Corporation's THE GHOUL, starring Boris Karloff and Ernest Thesiger, is 80 years old this year. It was released in August 1933 in London and 25 November 1933 in the U.S. When its copyright failed to be renewed, it ended up languishing on the desert island of Public Domain cast-offs. There exists as yet no definitive version on DVD or Blu-ray (Kino, are you listening?), but a "remastered" edition has been floating around the marketplace.

For years THE GHOUL was thought to have been lost. Then, a rough Czech copy was discovered, but was marred in the eyes of film historians because of its subtitles (a theatrical version was released that had the subtitles on the bottom portion of the screen blocked out, giving it a quasi-widescreen appearance). Finally, an uncut, British version was found and has been well-copied since.

THE GHOUL is creepy and atmospheric, but admittedly some of it relies on the beat up and noisy available prints that have the aged effect that many videographers can only hope to attain in post production. Portions of the story (it deals with Egyptian magic and reincarnation) and some of the sets are reminiscent of Universal's THE MUMMY, released just the previous year. Even Karloff's makeup by little-known Heinrich Heitfeld looks as though it could be a combination of Ardath Bey from THE MUMMY and Morgan from THE OLD DARK HOUSE.

The film has numerous trivia surrounding it. For instance, this was Ralph (later to be knighted, "Sir") Richardson's first screen role. Boris Karloff traveled from America to Great Britain to play in his titular role: it was his first time back in his home country of England for many years and it was also his first British feature film. Another interesting irony is that, in THE OLD DARK HOUSE (1932), Karloff played Ernest Thesiger's butler, and a year later Thesiger was playing Karloff's manservant in THE GHOUL. In Argentina, the film was titled EL VAMPIRO (!), perhaps because there was no title in Argentinian that was suitable to use as "Ghoul"?

Issue #110 of FAMOUS MONSTERS OF FILMLAND included a "Filmbook" on THE GHOUL. The cover image of Karloff from the film was rendered by renowned men's magazine illustrator turned Warren cover artist, Basil Gogos.

Following are very rare, original lobby cards that were sold at auction in 2005. Some went for as much as nearly $5,000.

THE GHOUL is a film worth remembering and anyone who has yet to see it are missing the great team of Karloff and Thesiger, pre-BRIDE OF FRANKENSTEIN!

THE GHOUL GALLERY (PART 1)

THE FIRST BRITISH HORROR FILM of the sound era was also the first to be labeled "Horrific", and it would take a later outright ban to keep people from flocking to the theater to be thrilled by "horrific" movies such as these. Well, like prohibition in the States, we all know how that turned out, don't we?

Today at MONSTER MAGAZINE WORLD is the first of a two part celebration of THE GHOUL, a creepy little melodrama that had a great cast: Boris Karloff, Ernest Thesiger and Sir Ralph Richardson, to name a few.

It has been 80 years since THE GHOUL was released on November 225, 1932. Here are examples of the film posters and publicity stills that were distributed as promotion for the film.