This film was a bit of a Holy Grail for me - I saw it many many years ago as a a child, (not on the original release - I'm not that old!) and it gave me many a treasured thrill.
So I came back to this film hoping it would somehow survive my growing up and increased critical perceptions. Many a childhood scare has been displayed as utterly terrible by the cold light of adulthood - Man Without A Body is one such movie - so I had some trepidation on going back to it.
I needn't have worried; The Devil Commands still holds up well, and after a slightly slow first half picks up with fine aplomb when Boris Karloff takes up residence in an old New England mansion. And you just know he's up to no good! Karloff plays a respected University professor who is trying to invent a device that can enable the transmission of thoughts across vast distances, a sort of "brain telephone" if you will. On the tragic death of his wife in a car accident Karloff discovers he can still detect her brain waves through the instrument, and begins a new line of enquiry...that of contacting the dead.
Taking up with a spirit medium, played by a splendidly icy Ann Revere, Karloff is soon robbing graves and conducting unholy experiments. The change in his physical appearance about half-way through, is quite startling even today. Boris is in terrific form, giving a restrained and understated performance. And the film has some piquant black and white ghoulish chills. Compared to such bottom of the barrel dross as Lugosi's Ape Man and Karloff's own The Ape, this is a great little "B" well worth checking out.
So I came back to this film hoping it would somehow survive my growing up and increased critical perceptions. Many a childhood scare has been displayed as utterly terrible by the cold light of adulthood - Man Without A Body is one such movie - so I had some trepidation on going back to it.
I needn't have worried; The Devil Commands still holds up well, and after a slightly slow first half picks up with fine aplomb when Boris Karloff takes up residence in an old New England mansion. And you just know he's up to no good! Karloff plays a respected University professor who is trying to invent a device that can enable the transmission of thoughts across vast distances, a sort of "brain telephone" if you will. On the tragic death of his wife in a car accident Karloff discovers he can still detect her brain waves through the instrument, and begins a new line of enquiry...that of contacting the dead.
Taking up with a spirit medium, played by a splendidly icy Ann Revere, Karloff is soon robbing graves and conducting unholy experiments. The change in his physical appearance about half-way through, is quite startling even today. Boris is in terrific form, giving a restrained and understated performance. And the film has some piquant black and white ghoulish chills. Compared to such bottom of the barrel dross as Lugosi's Ape Man and Karloff's own The Ape, this is a great little "B" well worth checking out.