The Ghoul
About The Ghoul
Egyptologist Professor Henry Morlant believes the jewel he calls the Eternal Light will restore him if it is offered to Anubis. He dies. His servant Laing steals the jewel. A solicitor, a man posing as a parson, and other people come to the manor to find it or take it. Morlant has said he will rise when the full moon strikes his tomb door. He comes back and kills those who have crossed him.
Cast & crew
More about The Ghoul
T. Hayes Hunter directed. Michael Balcon produced it for Gaumont-British. Günther Krampf photographed it. Ian Dalrymple edited. Louis Levy and Leighton Lucas wrote music. Woolf & Freedman Film Service released it in Britain. The London premiere was August 6, 1933, the British release August 7, and the United States release November 25, 1933. It runs 77 minutes. The budget was just under £40,000. Boris Karloff plays Morlant. Ralph Richardson, as the false parson Nigel Hartley, has his first credited film role.
Themes
Making
The picture was treated as lost until Everson's Czech print and, later, the Shepperton negative.
Audiences
It made money in Britain and did less well in the United States.
Look
Günther Krampf shot the manor and the tomb, including the moon on the door.
Music
Louis Levy and Leighton Lucas wrote the music.
Preservation
The Shepperton nitrate negative, found in the early 1980s, is the complete film. The BFI holds it. A 1969 Czech print was missing eight minutes.
Notes
- Cedric Hardwicke, Ernest Thesiger, Dorothy Hyson, Anthony Bushell, Harold Huth, George Relph, and Kathleen Harrison are in the cast.
- Morlant's line for his return is that he will rise when the full moon strikes the door of his tomb.
- In 1969 William K. Everson found a Czech subtitled print titled Běs, murky and missing eight minutes, including two murders.
- A nitrate camera negative in good condition turned up in a disused vault at Shepperton Studios in the early 1980s. The British Film Institute took it, and the complete film aired on Channel 4.
- MGM/UA issued a restored DVD in 2003. Network Distributing later issued restored DVD and Blu-ray editions in Britain, with a commentary by Kim Newman and Stephen Jones.
Scenes
- Morlant, dying, says he will return when the moon hits the tomb door.
- Laing takes the Eternal Light.
- Morlant comes back to the manor.
Also available
- Internet Archive (TheGhoul)
- Wikimedia Commons (The Ghoul 1933.ogv)
- MGM/UA DVD (2003)
- Network Distributing DVD and Blu-ray