The Climax (1944)

User Rating:

5.2/10   

Director:

George Waggner

Writers:

Edward Locke (play)
Curt Siodmak (adaptation)

Release Date:

20 October 1944 (USA)

Genre:

Horror

Tagline:

The screen's classic of suspense!

Plot:

Dr. Hohner (Karloff), theatre physician at the Vienna Royal Theatre, murders his mistress, the star...

Plot Keywords:

Murder | Opera | King | Hypnosis | Flashback Sequence

Awards:

Nominated for Oscar.

Cast

Boris Karloff	...	Dr. Friedrich Hohner
Susanna Foster	...	Angela Klatt
Turhan Bey	...	Franz Munzer
Gale Sondergaard	...	Luise
Thomas Gomez	...	Count Seebruck
June Vincent	...	Marcellina
George Dolenz	...	Amato Roselli
Ludwig Stössel	...	Carl Baumann
Jane Farrar	...	Jarmila Vadek
Ernö Verebes	...	Brunn
Lotte Stein	...	Mama Hinzl
Scotty Beckett	...	The King
William Edmunds	...	Leon - theater concierge
Maxwell Hayes	...	Count Romburg - King's aide
Dorothy Lawrence	...	Miss Metzger

Runtime:

86 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color (Technicolor)

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono (Western Electric Recording)

Certification:

Finland:K-16 | USA:Unrated | Sweden:15

Company:

Universal Pictures

Trivia:

In the original trailer Susanna Foster, the star of Phantom of the Opera (1943), was given top billing. In the film itself, Boris Karloff is given top billing.

Goofs:

Revealing mistakes: In the rehearsal sequence in which Angela loses her voice at the sight of Dr. Hohner, she closes her mouth a split second before the playback of her voice stops.

Quotes:

Dr. Hohner: You don't want to ruin that voice, do you? It isn't yours, remember? Now tell me, whose voice is it?... Tell me!
Angela: Marcellina's!

Movie Connections:

Featured in The Opera Ghost: A Phantom Unmasked (2000) (V)

State of the art Technicolor the real star here.

This is a psychological horror film with very little horror, owing a great deal to PHANTOM OF THE OPERA. Karloff plays a mad doctor on the loose within an opera house but he is not as sinister as we would hope. Gale Sondergaard does well as the watchful housekeeper, but it is the state of the art Technicolor that is the real star here. It is impeccable. The Art Direction earned a deserved Oscar nom but the costumes also are deserving, though the category did not exist at the time the film was released. The excellent Score as well deserved Academy recognition but did not receive it. Enjoyable more for the visual splendor than anything else.