The Man with Nine Lives

Nick Grinde once again directs Boris Karloff, this time as Dr. Kravaal, a pioneer in cryogenic research who was interrupted in his cancer research when a relative of the wealthy man he was operating on brings in the authorities, who force Kravaal to take them to his island home to prove his work viable. Unfortunately, their interference leads to the patient's death, and all five men end up frozen for 10 years, until Dr. Mason(played by Roger Pryor) and Nurse Blair(played by Joanne Sayers) visit his home and revive him, but Kravaal picks up right where he left off, endangering all their lives... Good thriller with another fine performance from Karloff; good sets and atmosphere aid imaginative plot.

A doctor researching "frozen therapy" seeks out Boris Karloff, the therapy's originator. Boris has been missing from his island laboratory for ten years. After ignoring requests to stay off the island by locals, the doctor and his beautiful nurse discover Boris frozen in secret caves beneath the lab. Boris has been frozen along with a host of villagers. Through flashback it is learned these others came to arrest Boris for murder ten years earlier and they all wound up being gassed and frozen. This is the proof Karloff needs to vindicate his research. He sets out to duplicate his accidental results, his methods become increasingly Machiavellian. Ultimately he is his own undoing. This movie is hard to catagorize. The film makers tried to add shock to an interesting scifi story. The film succeeds in spite of the efforts to punch it up. The acting is uneven but overall this is a top notch "B" effort. The science is very plausible, a rarity in old laboratory films. See it and be pleasantly surprised

A doctor (Roger Pryor) studying cryogenics visits the deserted home of Dr. Leon Kravaal (Boris Karloff), a pioneer in the field who went missing ten years before. Uncovering a secret passage in the basement, he and his nurse girlfriend (Jo Ann Sayers) find Kravaal and four other men frozen in ice. They successfully revive Kravaal, who then revives the others. It turns out Kravaal had frozen himself and the others years before when they tried to arrest him. So now the somewhat mad doctor holds them all hostage while he tries to recover his original formula.

Very interesting and entertaining Karloff mad scientist movie. The subject of cryogenics (never called that here, just frozen therapy) is ahead of its time. The rest of the cast is fine but obviously it's Karloff's show the whole way. Intriguing premise with fun execution. A solid "B" movie that's highly enjoyable.

It's an unusually intelligent storyline for a horror flick. In short, what are the ethical limits to scientific experimentation, even in finding a cure for cancer. Using what is now called "cryogenics", Dr. Kravaal (Karloff) crowds those limits while experimenting with a cancer cure on a remote island. Unfortunately, the promising experiments require live subjects who may not be so lucky. Dr. Mason (Pryor), one of the men trapped on the island with Kravaal, is torn by Kravaal's challenge to conventional ethics. So he's the one we sympathize with as we struggle with the same dilemma-- just how much can be sacrificed in finding a cure.

By no means does Karloff ham up his role. Instead he's perfect as a dedicated and distinguished medical scientist, more obsessed than evil. Except for actor Brown's overdone Adams, the rest of the cast also manages conflicted roles. Credit Columbia for the riveting sets-- for example, the cabin about to be eaten by dead plants, the many dingy underground scenes that really do look subterranean, the laboratory that really looks worked in. All in all, it's an unusually well mounted flick for its subject matter. If there's a problem, it's with the absence of a clear bad guy to heighten a sense of horror amid the dark surroundings. I don't get a sense of menace common to the genre. Instead, the 74-minutes is more like a "think piece", which all in all, may be more worthwhile than a good scare.

This little known gem from 1940 is impressive for a few reasons: first, it stands head and shoulders above most of the B movies of the era, largely due to a good script and a great performance from Boris Karloff. Also, while made in the midst of the Universal horror period, it demonstrates some of the best elements of that genre, however it also pre-figures the oncoming decade of sci-fi flicks of the 50s, but with a more intelligent, and mysterious, plot than most of the B sci-fi films that followed. It also incorporates some noir elements such as shadowy images, gun play, etc. The Man with Nine Lives is also known under the alternative title Behind the Door (which is actually more accurate).