Corridors of Blood

This is a deceptive little film. First off, because it was made and sat for four years before release, you might be inclined to think it is a dud--but that's far from true. The film is very good--good enough to almost earn an 8. Second, while the film has some horrific scenes and features Boris Karloff and Christopher Lee, it is not a horror film but more of a drama. So if you see it, don't expect monsters or madness--instead, there are just bad people and good people doing bad things.

The film is set in 1840 and Karloff plays an exceptionally skilled surgeon who is dismayed that there are no drugs to alleviate the suffering of patients during surgery. Basically, people were wide awake and felt EVERYTHING during surgery and amputations! This is true, as the first anesthesias didn't come about until around 1850. Despite his concerns, other doctors didn't share his enthusiasm for change, so Karloff foolishly begins experimenting on himself--inhaling a mixture of various chemicals (including opium). Not surprisingly, he becomes addicted and this once sweet man becomes an unwilling pawn in the seedy underworld.

The film gets very high marks for construction, writing, direction and the performance of Karloff. There isn't much I'd change about the film, though fans of Christopher Lee might be disappointed that his role isn't that big and his character isn't that interesting (despite the fact he's a cold-blooded murderer). Give this intelligent little film a watch--it's really very good.

Boris Karloff gives a decidedly compassionate performance as a London surgeon madly trying to develop a gas of some kind to use in operations to relieve his patients of the inevitable pain that comes with surgery. The film chronicles much of the trial and error, ridicule from colleagues, and unfortunate reliance on opium based gas that surrounds Dr. Bolton, Karloff's character. Karloff walks in two circles: the first is at the hospital where he works with his son and is surrounded by other doctors and students - the second is a very poor part of the city where he helps the poor and is taken advantage of by a section of thieves and killers led by Black Ben(nice performance by Mr. De Wolf) and Resurrection Joe(played in a characteristically eerie fashion by Christopher Lee). Lee and De Wolf have a side business of killing wayward drunks and selling their bodies to the hospital. All they need is a signature from a doctor...that is where Karloff comes in. Although the film is not a "horror" film, it has some horror elements. Karloff really gives a nice, in-depth portrayal of a man destined to find a new way. The film has a great cast of British stalwarts such as De Wolf, Lee, Finlay Currie and Nigel Green. Production values are low, but the quality of film based on the budget used is exceedingly good.

Boris Karloff gives one of his best performances as a tormented doctor trying to invent anaesthesia. In the process he becomes addicted to the narcotics and begin associating with various London low-lifes - including grave-robber Christopher Lee in a rivetting performance.

This is less horror than an atmospheric character study - and it is really very good.

Probably somewhat mistitled to sell movie tickets, this is really not a horror film. Karloff plays Dr. Thomas Bolton, a 19th century surgeon at a time before anesthesia, who is renowned for his speed and accuracy. This is needed as the patient must be strapped down and is screaming the entire time the operation is in progress.

Bolton wants to come up with a drug that will allow painless surgery, but his colleagues seem unmoved by the patients' pain, and even say weird puritanical things like the pain is necessary for healing. In a parallel plot, a group of blackguards who inhabit a filthy bawdy pub in a poor part of London have discovered that smothering very drunk people who will not be missed and selling their bodies to doctors is an easy way to make good money.

So, going it alone, Bolton concocts a potion that he thinks might work, trying it out on himself as he tweaks the formula. While he is under the influence of this potion he is in a dream like state, and when he regains full consciousness he feels that whatever he did was a dream. What he doesn't realize until it is too late is that he is becoming addicted to these drugs - it effects his mind and hands to the point where he is a danger in the operating room. The hospital suspends him, and cuts off his supply of drugs. This is where the doctor and the murderers find they can help each other out. Bolton HATES what he is doing - signing off on death certificates of murder victims saying they died of natural causes in return for the criminal gang stealing drugs for him- but his addiction is ruling him as it rules all addicts.

This is satisfying if you know what you are getting yourself into. It's how the noble pursuit of a humane physician goes completely awry. If you are literally looking for corridors of blood you will be disappointed. And apparently that was what happened when this film was released four years after its production, in 1962 on a B horror double bill. Made by MGM when it was in its downward spiral, for some reason it is not in the Turner Classic Movies library.

Dr. Thomas Bolton fights for the use of anesthetic in surgery and uses himself as a guinea pig but soon finds himself addicted.

After the success of "The Haunted Strangler", producer Richard Gordon looked at making a follow up with Boris Karloff. At one stage a color remake of Dracula was discussed as was an adaptation of The Facts in the Case of M. Valdemar. Eventually producer John Scott discovered a screenplay by Jean Scott Rogers based on the early days of anesthesia, originally called Doctor from Seven Dials.

From what I can gather, the film was put on hold for a few years between shooting and release, and ultimately made a very small profit. This is unfortunate, given the casting of Karloff and Lee, but there is no denying that this film is somewhat inferior to "Haunted Strangler". The fact it was marketed as terrifying seems a bit odd and false... it has some horror elements, but is definitely not scary in any sense.