Karloff, in Edgar G Ulmer's The Black Cat (1934).
Ah, these men of the 30s and 40s B's, keeping up appearances in their suits and smoking jackets, pining away for their lost wives. Lingering before her portrait or erm, well, lovingly studying her embalmed body in their unwavering dedication to the notion of eternal marriage. How romantic, this love that never fades and drives them all slowly insane.
Invisible Ghost is a terrible movie, let's not kid ourselves. It's full of B-movie chestnuts, including the nightmarish court scene convicting an innocent man, the older wealthy man living in his exquisitely furnished home with his dutiful and gorgeous adult daughter. We even have twin brothers. Much of Invisible Ghost makes no sense. So... Bela Lugosi's house has been the scene of multiple murders, you say? And nobody thinks it odd that the whole famdamily stays there without starting to point fingers at one another? The story is that Lugosi's wife has absconded with a strange man, only to end up in a terrible car wreck that kills her lover and unhinges her mind. Weirdness creeps into this somewhat stilted film: Lugosi's gardener finds the runaway wife and keeps her in his basement until the best time to inform his boss that she's returned home, not wanting to expose the family to her temporary insanity. Lugosi of course is not quite mens sana himself we discover; he has a bit of a fissure in his own psyche. Not particularly original but in some instances eerie... a temporarily mad Lugosi is stricken with murderous intent, creeps into his daughter's bedroom where she is sleeping, slips off his housecoat and holds it out like a garrote...
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