Boris Karloff did not receive an Oscar nomination for portraying Ned Galloway in The Criminal Code.
Who cares about all that as the one good part of the film is Boris Karloff as veteran convict Galloway. The same year where Karloff actually balanced a vulnerability with the obvious menace of his makeup as the monster of Frankenstein, Karloff delivers a different kind of almost anti-hero here, even as technically a supporting character. Karloff brings a much needed grit to the prison drama, just even in the naturalistic way we see him just reading the newspaper casually in his cell as the idea of escape is spoken. Karloff presenting a man who is quite comfortable in his setting, at least in his own way. The rise though that Karloff brings is with a remarkable intensity where he notes his extended "stay" came from being punished for drinking during prohibition after getting out of prison. Karloff speaks with a calm sneer and a real sense of deadly hate in his eyes. A rare thing though for the time in the way Karloff in a way underplays it. This just with calmness about it as the man speaks towards getting his revenge within his time in prison. This as he speaks almost with a contentment for it. This with almost a glint in his eye that Karloff expresses as though this is one true dream for Galloway. In this way Karloff showing Galloway as a man so comfortable in prison in a way because he has an objective for himself.
Karloff owns the screen here to the point one would wish he were the lead of the film, again in a way that is particularly remarkable when compared to the often stilted and dully broad performances of some of his co-stars. Karloff here expresses an understanding in the ease that one can bring to deliver his menace. This in the moment where a guard, a guard who is the man who caused Galloway's imprisonment, attempts to interrogate the men of his cell. Karloff's quiet invitation towards the man to come into the cell to investigate further is brilliant, as he has all the killer intention yet speaks it so gently all the same. As the film goes on, and continues to be largely inert, a snitch leads to the death of the man. This as we find Galloway speak of the titular code with a strict conviction in Karloff. This leading towards a scene where basically follow Galloway as he carefully murders the man. Karloff is fantastic in this scene and is magnetic in the sheer physical presence he brings. This in the calm deliberate manner he brings to the sequence as he shows Galloway essentially slowly practicing his trade one step at a time. Only losing his cool when his innocent cellmate appears to early, and even here Karloff is great in bringing a true sense of sympathy showing Galloway truly only wishing for the right men to be punished. Nonetheless the man still is accused of it, leading really again for Galloway to be the true hero of the film, and also the only compelling character. Karloff again though is essential in this as he takes the blame while also inflicting his revenge. Karloff again captures a captivating energy that the film otherwise is in short supply of with his performance. This in again delivering on a real intensity where where he brings the visceral hate of the man though in a way where we all are granted almost a cathartic sense of the action as an act of justice. Boris Karloff shows here his capability to grant a captivating humanity in 1931 for two different kinds of "monsters".
Next: 1944 Lead and Supporting (Lineup again seems unlikely)
