Movie Review: Juggernaut (1936) directed by Henry Edwards
Lady Yvonne Clifford (Mona Goya) had thought becoming the second wife of considerably older Sir Charles Clifford (Morton Selten) was a good bargain. She got to share in a title, great wealth, and a home in the French Riviera. But a few years into the marriage, Sir Charles became an invalid, and could no longer take her out dancing or to other entertainments. He’s largely confined to their house, tended by his unmarried sister Mary (Nina Boucicault). Yvonne’s one pleasure is going out with her dashing young lover, Captain Arthur Halliday (Anthony Ireland). Captain Halliday has a gambling problem, and has cleaned out Lady Clifford’s savings. Sir Charles is getting stingy about supplying more cash to Yvonne, and if she can’t support Halliday, he’ll find another rich woman to leech off of.
Lady Clifford has an idea. She’s heard of the brilliant Doctor Victor Sartorius (Boris Karloff), who had to give up his paralysis research in Morocco due to lack of funding, and has a modest practice in the Cote d’Azur as a form of charity from an old friend, Doctor Bousquet (Victor Rietti). Dr. Sartorius himself is in poor health and not expected to last out the decade. Lady Clifford offers to fund his research with a grant of twenty thousand pounds if the good doctor can cause Sir Charles to die, not by inches but within days. Bitter and disillusioned, Dr. Sartorius agrees.
Dr. Sartorius moves into the Clifford manor, leaving behind his snooping servant Jacques (Gibb McLaughlin) but taking along his pretty young nurse Eve Rowe (Joan Wyndham), who is not in on the plot. He begins “treating” Sir Charles, who rapidly takes a turn for the worse. What the plotters did not count on was the return of Sir Charles’ son Roger (Arthur Margetson). His father is rightly suspicious of his wife’s intentions and makes Roger his power of attorney, and sole trustee of his estate. Yvonne will get her due inheritance as the wife, but in the form of a quite modest annual income, not nearly enough to keep a lover in gambling cash.
There’s nothing for it but to murder Roger as well, but Eve is getting suspicious about a certain missing syringe.
This 1936 thriller was based on a novel by Alice Campbell, which was trimmed down to fit into an hour-long film. (From the reviews of the book, this is all to the good.) This is a familiar character type for Karloff, the doctor who started with good intentions but is driven off the rails by unfair circumstances and becomes murderous. Dr. Sartorius is less sympathetic than other roles with this same formula as we get no time to know him before he becomes embittered, coming in instead just after he’s lost his funding and has to abandon his research.
This is a competently shot B-movie with decent acting. The most exciting bit is when Eve is captured by Dr. Sartorius, and Halliday abruptly decides that he should not wait for the doctor to return to get rid of the witness. Except that he doesn’t have the key for the room she’s locked in, so starts breaking down the door.
Content note: It’s implied extramarital sex is going on. Medical malpractice. Suicide.
This one comes in about the middle of Karloff films. Not particularly impressive, but not garbage either. The short length makes it a good choice for a double feature, or for a truncated family movie night.
