Corridors of Blood

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.

Karloff is great in this tale of a compassionate surgeon who is looking to relieve the pain and suffering that he inflicts through his life-saving surgery. In the process of developing an anesthetic, he becomes addicted to his formula and is used as a pawn of criminals.

This is not a horror film at all but a good story about the historical problems facing surgery before anesthetic. There are murders for profit, there is the suggestion of painful bloody surgery but they do not really show it. There are no real disturbing scenes. This movie was billed as horror but most horror fans would probably object to this classification. It is, however, a good solid movie about a very real problem, surgery before anesthetic and a man who looked to find the secret to painless surgery.

If you are looking for a horror movie, you wont find it here...but you will find a pretty good movie with the bonus of Christopher Lee as a ruthless criminal killer called Resurrection Joe.

If Boris Karloff's character of a Victorian doctor looking for an anesthetic had the benefit of some scientific journals he might have read about Morton, Long, and Welles over in America experimenting on such a project. In Corridors Of Blood the lines of experimentation that Karloff was pursuing held a lot of danger for everyone concerned.

Corridors Of Blood casts Boris Karloff as a respected London surgeon of the early Victorian era who is seeking a method of painless surgery. But those Americans I cited were using a form of Nitrous Oxide and eventually developed Ether. Karloff has decided to use a concoction that has as its base Laudanum which is an Opium derivative.

The results are what you would expect, Karloff breathing in the fumes of his experiment becomes an addict and starts frequenting the seamier sides of London for Laudanum for his experiments and more for himself. A pair of cutthroats played by Francis DeWolff and Christopher Lee aid him in his search, for a price.

Corridors Of Blood is a moody atmospheric thriller set in Oliver Twist London. Look also for a good performance by Nigel Green as the police inspector looking to break up the den of vice and corruption that Karloff has fallen into. Definitely a must for Karloff fans.

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.