My Latest Netflix Review

For Night Key and Tower of London

When I used to watch old horror movie TV shows like "Chiller Theater," I quickly learned that the programmers would often include pictures that weren't really horror. Sometimes I was disappointed, and sometimes I thought, "Gee, that wasn't so bad.""Night Key" is one of those non-so-bads, a crime thriller with some hi-tech gadgets. Karloff plays the first of his many grandfatherly roles, a nice scientist whose security-thwarting invention attracts the attention of the underworld. "Tower of London" wasn't even part of the Unversal "Chiller" package in the old days. It was too classy, a middlebrow thriller/costumer which borrows the plot - but not the dialogue - of Shakespeare's "Richard III." Basil Rathbone is in good villain mode as Richard, as is Karloff as his loyal executioner/spy/henchman. The best scene in the movie is Rathbone's unusual duel with Vincent Price in his very first thriller. Neither of these pics is a classic, (horror or otherwise) but Universal and Karloff fans should check them out.