PodBill Just what I expected

CommentsXp Best movie ever!

Catangro After playing with our expectations, this turns out to be a very different sort of film.

Arianna Moses Let me be very fair here, this is not the best movie in my opinion. But, this movie is fun, it has purpose and is very enjoyable to watch.

gavin6942 The inventor (Boris Karloff) of a new top-of-the-line burglar alarm system is kidnapped by a gang in order to get him to help them commit robberies.Although Boris Karloff may be best known for his horror roles, he makes a great character in this crime story, too. A man who has been wronged, he tries to right that wrong, but things go badly for him. He just cannot catch a break, even when he is the mysterious Night Key.Great plot, decent direction and crisp cinematography really help this one out. Some have noted that it has elements of science fiction. While nothing in the film is impossible, the security system was actually a bit advanced for 1937. It sort of anticipates the laser, which was not invented until 1960.

Bonehead-XL On my quest through the Classic Universal Horror Cannon, I've encounter many a film that isn't actually a horror movie, despite macabre advertising. This is one of those film. Curses. It's sort of weird to see Karloff playing a normal middle-age guy one year before in "The Invisible Ray," and then see him as what was the first of many old man parts the next year in this film. "Night Key" is a light-weight crime thriller with heavy comedic vibes and a vaguely sci-fi MacGuffin. Karloff plays the inventor of security systems who has spent fifteen years perfecting a new device, with the goal of selling it to a security company for big bucks, so he and his daughter can be set for life. Instead, the security company decides to sit on the patent. Karloff, teaming with a petty thief, decides to use his master key to cause a series of mischievous break-ins, as revenge. Naturally, things get complicated and a crime boss blackmails Karloff into using his key for real bank robberies."Night Key" rolls along at a decent pace. Karloff is as good as ever, playing a character who comes off as extremely naïve at times. He has good chemistry with Jean Rogers, as his daughter. She gets a love interest in the form of a cop, Warren Hull. The romance isn't well developed but Hull is nice enough. Hobart Cavanaugh as Petty Louie, the thief Boris teams with, provides most of the movie's humor, especially his confusion at his partner's good-nature pranks. Alan Baxter is the serious villain of the film, a monotone-voiced, appropriately threatening crime boss. You won't loose too much during the 67 minutes it takes to watch "Night Key," even if you could maybe use that time better, especially if you're looking for a horror movie.

MartinHafer This is one of the oddest Boris Karloff films I have ever seen. I don't mean this in a bad way, but say this because the plot is so atypical of his films. Instead of a horror film, it's sort of like sci-fi and comedy combined! Now calling is 'sci-fi' might be problematic. The film looks like it was set in 1937 but the electronics shown in the film really weren't possible for the day--you just need to suspend disbelief and enjoy.The film begins with Karloff and his daughter excitedly talking about how much better their lives are about to become. It seems that Karloff is an electronics genius and has invented a super-advanced alarm system for businesses. Now he can afford the eye surgery he needs AND give his daughter everything she wants. However, Karloff is soon cheated out of his plans by an old business rival who did exactly the same thing years before--so you'd wonder why Karloff would agree to sell the same jerk this patent! Well, it's not totally unbelievable, as Karloff's lawyer secretly is working for the jerk!! When Karloff finds out the truth, he threatens to do bad things if they don't honor their agreement. The jerk laughs it off and so Karloff, who invented the original system to the company 20 years earlier, uses one of his inventions to break into the businesses with contracts with this monitoring service. But he doesn't steal anything, as he's basically a good man. Instead, he leaves silly messages that the system stinks and can easily be compromised--thus hurting the jerk's reputation. Karloff assumes that eventually the jerk will give in and honor his crooked contract.In the meantime, two things happen. First, the jerk refuses to budge at all--sending out his goons to harass and threaten Karloff's daughter. Second, real criminals find out about Karloff's device and kidnap him--trying to force him to work for evil. So what is Karloff to do--help the crooks or back off on his attack on the jerk? Well, there's a lot more to it than that and I won't ruin it by saying more.The bottom line is that the film has clever writing and despite a fantastic story, it was handled so well that you can't help but get sucked into the film. The great acting and breezy direction sure helped--making this one of the better B-films of the era.Exciting, clever and fun from start to finish.

Coventry The almighty Boris Karloff is primarily an icon of horror cinema so it's a bit peculiar that this film, which is in no way horror-related, got included in the fancy and recently released Karloff DVD-collection (cover image displayed here on the main page). Personally, I'm glad it's there, as "Night Key" was completely unknown to me and it's always a great pleasure to discover a new film from your favorite actor, especially if it's as amusing and adequately plotted as this film! Boris is once again very convincing as the elderly inventor of burglar alarms who just reached a personal breakthrough with his new system of a beam-based alarm. When he attempts to sell his invention to a major company, the manager slash former business partner robs him for the second time and Mallory develops a plan to get even. By developing a way to crack the old alarm systems, he hopes to sell his new one quicker but unfortunately a gang of mobsters takes quite an interest in his burglary methods… "Night Key" is by no means a mesmerizing film, but it benefices from a good pace and excellent acting performances. Apart from Boris, there's the really great acting to admire of Alan Baxter, Ward Bond and Hobart Cavanaugh as a small time crook. It's a fun little film, albeit very politically correct and loaded with clichés and stereotypes.