This British horror-comedy's story, on paper, looks a lot like another Boris Karloff horror film of the same period,
The Mummy. Both films are about British Egyptologists who acquire items stolen from an Egyptian tomb, which causes a character played by Karloff to rise from the dead, seeking revenge. That's where the similarities end, however.
The Mummy was a Universal horror film with a studio budget, set in Egypt and shot on Hollywood sets, presented in an elegant, serious style.
The Ghoul is a lower-budget British production with a more rough-and-tumble visual presentation, way more comedy, and a story that goes in a much different direction than its
Mummy-inspired beginnings.
Noted Egyptologist and professor Henry Morlant (Karloff) is dying. He has possession of a jewel stolen from the tomb of Anubis, which he believes will give him the gift of immortality after his initial physical death. Meanwhile, an Egyptian man named Aga Ben Dragore (Harold Huth) has been tracking the stolen jewel and discovers that Morlant has it, leading him to the Morlant home. Morlant instructs his faithful servant Laing (Ernest Thesiger) to bandage the jewel to his hand, so it will be buried in the tomb with him. Laing's not so faithful after all and steals the jewel after Morlant's death, hiding it in a jar of coffee grounds. Morlant's lawyer Broughton (Cedric Hardwicke) suspects Laing of stealing it and has him tailed, though Broughton may have ulterior motives of his own.
To further complicate matters, Morlant's surviving heirs, a niece and nephew, Betty Harlon (Dorothy Hyson) and Ralph Morlant (Anthony Bushell), from two separate, feuding sides of the family (the feud started when Ralph wrote an insulting Christmas letter) show up to claim their probably nonexistent inheritance. Also, a vicar who gets on everyone's nerves, Nigel Hartley (Ralph Richardson), mysteriously insists on hanging around even though his offer to give Morlant his last rites was refused, and a friend of Betty's, Kaney (Kathleen Harrison), tags along as well, immediately falling in love with Dragore.
Things then take a turn for the horrific when Prof. Morlant returns from
the dead, seeking revenge for the theft of his jewel even though he
stole it, too. (To be fair, in his initial convoluted immortality plot, he gives the
jewel back to Anubis after his death so she can bring him back to life.
Somehow, he's able to come back to life anyway for reasons I don't
entirely understand, though it's in hideous ghoul form.)
All this hullabaloo leads to several moments of dry British comedy, most of which is still funny. Karloff's ghoulish makeup looks great, and a scene where he carves up his own chest is pretty gruesome for 1933, but the comedic moments generally work better than most of the horror elements. The cast is skillful, funny, and talented, and it's great fun seeing Karloff and Thesiger sharing the screen again. They worked together on James Whale's
The Old Dark House and would work together again on Whale's
Bride of Frankenstein a few years later.
The Ghoul is not in the same league as those two classics, but it's a pretty good time.
The British production was fortunate to have Karloff, and the film was marketed as the Hollywood star's glorious return to his native country. It was to be a brief return. Karloff was involved in a contract dispute with Universal Studios and filmed
The Ghoul while a new contract was being negotiated. After a satisfactory resolution, Karloff returned to Universal, ending his one-film run as a free agent.
Director T. Hayes Hunter was an American from Philadelphia and a former stage manager who started directing in the silent era, moving to England in 1927. He made only a handful of sound films, retiring in 1934. His specialties were melodramas and thrillers, but
The Ghoul was his only horror film.
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