1936's "Juggernaut" (also known as "The Demon Doctor") concluded the Boris Karloff trilogy of British titles from his Universal heyday of the 30s, little seen at the time and not exactly better known today. Wardour Films made the winning bid to extend the actor's homecoming from Apr. 25-June 6, under the stodgy direction of Henry Edwards, as simple minded as "The Man Who Changed His Mind" was complex, Boris as Dr. Victor Sartorius a dying scientist eager to conclude his experiments on paralysis before the Grim Reaper comes calling, accepting an offer from wealthy Lady Yvonne Clifford (Mona Goya) to earn a tidy sum if he can help push her elderly husband Sir Charles (Morton Selten) into the afterlife. The old man is fully aware of what a tramp he's got for a spouse and changes his will to make his son Roger (Arthur Margetson, previously seen opposite Bela Lugosi in Hammer's "Phantom Ship") sole beneficiary to allow her only a small stipend, meaning that the overworked doctor now has two murders to contemplate, successfully implementing the first by fatal injection. This is his undoing due to the attentive nurse (Joan Wyndham) analyzing the contents of his syringe to learn the awful truth. Karloff's background is kept vague, he rarely emerges from his private room to administer to his patient (only 16 minutes screen time), a 20 minute premise stretched beyond endurance to a full hour. The acting is variable, Mexican-born Mona Goya in particular so over the top that only audience laughter can result, not the worst Karloff vehicle of his most illustrious decade but certainly near the bottom, soon called back to Hollywood to costar with Warner Oland in "Charlie Chan at the Opera."
Review of Juggernaut
