I was a classical music announcer for the local public radio station in Asheville NC for almost 40 years and it always comes as a surprise to people when I tell them that I don’t like opera. My standard reply is “I love the music, the costumes, and the staging, I just wish they wouldn’t sing so much”. That observation also sums up the virtues and the flaws in this 1944 Universal feature which was intended to capitalize on the success of Universal’s 1943 remake of THE PHANTOM OF THE OPERA. It was also intended to capitalize on the return to movies of Boris Karloff who had just finished a 3 year run on Broadway in ARSENIC & OLD LACE. It also marked the first time that Karloff had ever appeared in a color movie which clearly shows off his East Indian heritage if you’re aware of it.
Susanna Foster, who really could sing (her range featured a B above high C), was cast once again as a singing ingenue under the influence of a Svengali like individual just as she had been the year before. This time instead of Claude Rains as the Phantom she is under the influence of Karloff, the opera house doctor who tries to prevent her from singing through hypnosis. His reason for doing this involves a singer he idolized who disappeared 10 years before and Susanna sounds just like her. “I shall poison your voice” he intones and for awhile he succeeds. Just as Suzanna had Nelson Eddy in PHANTOM, she has 1940s B leading man Turhan Bey here to save the day. He’s actually quite good and helps to keep THE CLIMAX watchable during the romantic love scenes.
The movie is beautifully photographed in 1940s Technicolor and the supporting performances are stronger than those in PHANTOM. The opera scores are a pastiche of melodies (to avoid royalties) but they are wonderfully sung (Foster’s voice IS truly amazing) while the stagings are kitschy in the best Viennese/Hollywood tradition. Then there is BK’s voice which has never been more mesmerizing or sonorous than it is here. As far as I’m concerned, the scene where he hypnotizes Foster is the highlight of the film from both a visual and aural perspective. Despite Karloff’s presence THE CLIMAX is not a horror film but a tragic melodrama with lots of operatic singing. Keep that in mind before or while you are watching it so then you know what you are letting yourself in for.
The Capsule Critic 