This film I actually never heard of until I was working my way through the horror movie encyclopedia. I wasn't really sure what this one was about aside from the little blurb in there. I have now given it a second viewing, as this is a horror film from 1940. Since I had seen it previously, I didn't make it a featured review. The synopsis is Dr. Sovac (Boris Karloff) transplants the brain of a gangster into his professor friend's body to save his life, but there's a side effect that causes a dangerous split personality.
We begin with a man in prison and he is being led to be executed, which we learn is the scientist of Dr. Sovac. On the way he stops and gives his journal to a newspaper reporter that he claims was the only one who was fair to him during this whole ordeal. The repoter then reads through it, showing us the events that led him to where he is now.
It happened on Friday the 13th. We see an English professor by the name of Professor George Kingsley (Stanley Ridges) as he's finishing up class. He might not be returning next year, as he has to go before a regent board and his students seem to genuinely like him. He cannot drive though, so his friend of Dr. Sovac meets him along with his daughter Jean (Anne Gwynne) and George's wife Margaret (Virginia Brissac). We see that George is somewhat clumsy. He goes to cross the street, but at the same time there is a car chase and gunfire. It appears that one car has a group while the other is trying to flee them. The lead car crashes, hitting George in the process.
Both men are put into an ambulance and Dr. Sovac goes with them. We learn that the man who was driving is a gangster known as Red Cannon and the other car were filled with is former crew. He is paralyzed as he broke his spine. He asks Dr. Sovac to help him, which he tries to. His friend passes away and Dr. Sovac sees the opportunity to perform an experiment
Dr. Sovac successfully performs a brain switch in order to help his friend continue to live. It is a success, but Margaret notices some difference in the way that George acts. Dr. Sovac learns that Red hid away half a million dollars. He gets the idea that maybe some of the memories are still there and wants to see if he can find this money to open up his own laboratory. A trip to New York is taken with just the two men.
George shows that he has some memories, but they're faint. It also seems they come with headaches. Dr. Sovac's plan is to take George to some of the old places to jar some memories, but he discovers that he can push him to become Red. He has other ideas, as a gangster. Revenge and getting his girlfriend, Sunny Rogers (Anne Nagel), are what he thinks. The problem though is that George is still in there as well and Dr. Sovac has some leverage. There is a lot of money at stake and deciding who to trust in this corrupt tale.
I have to say that this is an interesting take on the Jekyll/Hyde concept. At first I was confused as to how he could have both personalities, but it does state in the film that there are parts of both brains. A full transfer would have made him be one or the other as I would understand it. This is just an interesting concept and one that we would see quite a bit throughout the Frankenstein films of the latter Universal and in the Hammer films for sure.
What I also find intriguing is that there really are a group of just horrible characters. You'd think that Dr. Sovac is a good guy as he just wants to save his friend. I feel that we should have a bit more of his character fleshed out though. He becomes a villain almost immediately after learning of the money. There is the theme here that money is the great corrupting factor sure.
We really get this idea with Eric Marnay (Bela Lugosi), Red, Sunny and the rest of the gang. All of them are just your typical gangsters. I do like the 'no honor amongst thieves' or however that saying goes. Sunny is confused about Red being in the body of the professor. It almost seems as well that she was with him out of fear. Regardless, I think that Marney, Red and Sunny don't really break any new ground, but it works for what they needed.
Aside from that, the only good characters are George, Jean and Margaret. I feel bad for the latter, as she just wants her husband back. She doesn't realize that he died. I do think they shouldn't have rushed the change to Dr. Sovac though to establish some of his humanity before he becomes villainous. I understand that Karloff was good at playing this, but I digress there.
I do think that the acting was good though, don't get me wrong there. Karloff is great as this guy who comes off on the outside as good, but harboring some horrible secrets. Lugosi is fine as the gangster in the film. He really doesn't get a lot of screen time in the movie shockingly, even though he's billed pretty high. Ridges though steals the show. He has to play two different characters and I think he does a great job there. The rest of the cast is fine with rounding this movie out as well.
There's not really a whole lot to talk about other than that. The movie is a bit boring, which is shocking for something that runs 70 minutes. I think the lack of some character depth is the reason to be honest. We don't really get anything in the way of effects, but it also isn't necessarily a film like that. I do think they missed some opportunities where people are shot to make it look a bit more real and they don't. The soundtrack also didn't really stand out to me.
I still think that the acting is good in carrying most of this movie with an interesting, different take on the Jekyll/Hyde concept. The movie though is just lacking a bit from the things laid out above and just needed more to fill out the story to really work for me. I still think that this isn't a bad movie. My rating this time around would be that it is just over average. Also as a warning, this is from 1940 and in black and white. If either are an issue, I would avoid this movie then.
We begin with a man in prison and he is being led to be executed, which we learn is the scientist of Dr. Sovac. On the way he stops and gives his journal to a newspaper reporter that he claims was the only one who was fair to him during this whole ordeal. The repoter then reads through it, showing us the events that led him to where he is now.
It happened on Friday the 13th. We see an English professor by the name of Professor George Kingsley (Stanley Ridges) as he's finishing up class. He might not be returning next year, as he has to go before a regent board and his students seem to genuinely like him. He cannot drive though, so his friend of Dr. Sovac meets him along with his daughter Jean (Anne Gwynne) and George's wife Margaret (Virginia Brissac). We see that George is somewhat clumsy. He goes to cross the street, but at the same time there is a car chase and gunfire. It appears that one car has a group while the other is trying to flee them. The lead car crashes, hitting George in the process.
Both men are put into an ambulance and Dr. Sovac goes with them. We learn that the man who was driving is a gangster known as Red Cannon and the other car were filled with is former crew. He is paralyzed as he broke his spine. He asks Dr. Sovac to help him, which he tries to. His friend passes away and Dr. Sovac sees the opportunity to perform an experiment
Dr. Sovac successfully performs a brain switch in order to help his friend continue to live. It is a success, but Margaret notices some difference in the way that George acts. Dr. Sovac learns that Red hid away half a million dollars. He gets the idea that maybe some of the memories are still there and wants to see if he can find this money to open up his own laboratory. A trip to New York is taken with just the two men.
George shows that he has some memories, but they're faint. It also seems they come with headaches. Dr. Sovac's plan is to take George to some of the old places to jar some memories, but he discovers that he can push him to become Red. He has other ideas, as a gangster. Revenge and getting his girlfriend, Sunny Rogers (Anne Nagel), are what he thinks. The problem though is that George is still in there as well and Dr. Sovac has some leverage. There is a lot of money at stake and deciding who to trust in this corrupt tale.
I have to say that this is an interesting take on the Jekyll/Hyde concept. At first I was confused as to how he could have both personalities, but it does state in the film that there are parts of both brains. A full transfer would have made him be one or the other as I would understand it. This is just an interesting concept and one that we would see quite a bit throughout the Frankenstein films of the latter Universal and in the Hammer films for sure.
What I also find intriguing is that there really are a group of just horrible characters. You'd think that Dr. Sovac is a good guy as he just wants to save his friend. I feel that we should have a bit more of his character fleshed out though. He becomes a villain almost immediately after learning of the money. There is the theme here that money is the great corrupting factor sure.
We really get this idea with Eric Marnay (Bela Lugosi), Red, Sunny and the rest of the gang. All of them are just your typical gangsters. I do like the 'no honor amongst thieves' or however that saying goes. Sunny is confused about Red being in the body of the professor. It almost seems as well that she was with him out of fear. Regardless, I think that Marney, Red and Sunny don't really break any new ground, but it works for what they needed.
Aside from that, the only good characters are George, Jean and Margaret. I feel bad for the latter, as she just wants her husband back. She doesn't realize that he died. I do think they shouldn't have rushed the change to Dr. Sovac though to establish some of his humanity before he becomes villainous. I understand that Karloff was good at playing this, but I digress there.
I do think that the acting was good though, don't get me wrong there. Karloff is great as this guy who comes off on the outside as good, but harboring some horrible secrets. Lugosi is fine as the gangster in the film. He really doesn't get a lot of screen time in the movie shockingly, even though he's billed pretty high. Ridges though steals the show. He has to play two different characters and I think he does a great job there. The rest of the cast is fine with rounding this movie out as well.
There's not really a whole lot to talk about other than that. The movie is a bit boring, which is shocking for something that runs 70 minutes. I think the lack of some character depth is the reason to be honest. We don't really get anything in the way of effects, but it also isn't necessarily a film like that. I do think they missed some opportunities where people are shot to make it look a bit more real and they don't. The soundtrack also didn't really stand out to me.
I still think that the acting is good in carrying most of this movie with an interesting, different take on the Jekyll/Hyde concept. The movie though is just lacking a bit from the things laid out above and just needed more to fill out the story to really work for me. I still think that this isn't a bad movie. My rating this time around would be that it is just over average. Also as a warning, this is from 1940 and in black and white. If either are an issue, I would avoid this movie then.