The Lady and the Monster

Let's start with the great things. Direction and cinematography are top notch. Pacing is great, exciting. Fantastic Gothic atmosphere at the Castle. Set design and construction were superb; not just the stupendous Gothic castle and mad scientist laboratory, but the creamy art-deco nightclub straight out of a Fred Astaire/Busby Berkeley musical, and the fancy lawyer's office that oozed money. Gorgeous matte paintings and model work. Specialized lighting effects were used liberally and effectively. Good job to all those technicians on all their hard work.

Now to the bad things. Putting aside the way-out concept, I can accept that. After all, this is a science fiction story. But some of the writing is just atrocious. Badly phrased dialog abounds. And why a Gothic castle in the Arizona desert? What was that all about? And ye Gods, Vera Hruba Ralston is just a TERRIBLE actress. I don't see the appeal at all. She's not even really THAT pretty. Richard Arlen is a little stiff. Erich Von Stroheim is awesome at what he does, but certainly no one will ever praise him for his versatile range as an actor.

Yes, much less effective and respectable than the 1953 version, "Donovan's Brain." Check that one out first if you haven't seen it. This movie is a fun little low budget genre flick that does have some advantages to it, but it's certainly not hall of fame material.

THE LADY AND THE MONSTER is the first version of Curt Siodmak's often filmed novel "Donovan's Brain". This first version is largely forgotten, and those that recall it usually dis-miss it as inferior to the 1953 version DONOVAN'S BRAIN with Lew Ayres. While the 1953 version is superior in almost every way, THE LADY AND THE MONSTER is still an entertaining, atmospheric 1940's thriller.

The plot is basically the same, but in this version the living brain of Donovan possesses the mind of scientist Richard Arlen to clear his illegitimate son who has been wrongly convicted of murder. The brain also wants to get revenge on his daughter, whom is just as money hungry and ruthless as Donovan was in "life." Even though Donovan's goals are good, his disembodied brain is still ruthless; he orders the possessed Arlen to kill a girl who gave false testimony at his son's trial.

We can always tell when Donovan is about to possess Arlen, the lighting and Arlen's make-up changes. The 1953 version employed no such tricks, and relied entirely on the acting skills of Lew Ayers. (See my entry on that version). Erich Von Stroheim plays the elder scientist, and as with any film he was in, he was always a commanding presence. There are hints of him having an unhealthy infatuation with Vera Ralston, but this doesn't lead anywhere.

Overall, LADY AND THE MONSTER isn't as good as the later 1953 version, but it is still a decent 1940's horror thriller.

Although I did like my two viewings of Felix E. Feist's 1953 film version of Curt Siodmak's DONOVAN'S BRAIN (with Lew Ayres and Gene Evans), somehow I have yet to acquire it for my home video collection; besides, I am also familiar (from an age-old Italian TV screening) with the later Freddie Francis version entitled VENGEANCE aka THE BRAIN (1962) where Peter Van Eyck and Anne Heywood had the leading roles. What I did acquire very recently, however, is the even rarer original version directed by the reliable George Sherman and starring the great Erich von Stroheim, Contrary to expectations, the latter is neither the monster of the title nor (for the initiated) the man taken over by the dead financial wizard's brain; that unlucky guy is Richard Arlen – the hero of ISLAND OF LOST SOULS (1932) no less – who, as Stroheim's unlikely assistant in his underground experiments, gets to become even more obsessed with their celebrated cerebral specimen than his crazed mentor! From the rest of the cast, Vera Hruba Ralston may have later become Mrs. Herbart J. Yates (when she married the head of Republic Pictures, the studio behind this film) but, frankly, she brought very little to this particular film; on the other hand, it was nice to see Sidney Blackmer – best-known for portraying Adrian Marcato in Roman Polanski's ROSEMARY'S BABY (1968) – albeit in a supporting role of the suspicious attorney. Incidentally, the sequences depicting the blooming romance between Arlen and Ralston and those between Blackmer and Donovan's wife can mostly be written off as mere padding; small wonder, therefore, that the film was shorn of 19 whole minutes (cut down from 86 to 67!) for a later re-release…not to mention being saddled with the highly ludicrous (and utterly misleading) alternate titles of TIGER MAN and MONSTER AND TIGER MAN!! Speaking of titles, despite the sheer similarity to the earlier Paramount horror entry THE MONSTER AND THE GIRL (1941), as can be gleaned from my own reviews of both films, they have nothing whatsoever in content (other than being of the same era and genre). Despite these flaws, I generally liked the film more than I was expecting to and that fact is mostly down to two simple factors: the presence of Erich von Stroheim in front of the cameras and that of celebrated cinematographer John Alton behind them! Even though the quality of the copy I acquired was fairly fuzzy at best, Alton's atmospheric lighting came through just the same – particularly during the atmospheric laboratory sequences and the eerie scenes showing Arlen's 'possession'.

Prof. Franz Mueller (Erich Von Stroheim) is experimenting with keeping the human brain alive after death. A nearby plane crash gives him the perfect test subject in a dying man named Donovan. Mueller and his assistant, Dr. Cory (Richard Arlen) plop Donovan's brain into a tank full of chemicals and strange, unexpected things start happening.

As you might have noticed, this is the original version of the story that would become the 1950's sci-fi classic, DONOVAN'S BRAIN by Curt Siodmak. Personally, I prefer this version, since it has a deeper story and more interesting characters. After all, it's hard to beat Von Stroheim practicing mad science!...

Science fiction/horror from Republic Pictures and director George Sherman. Dr. Patrick Corey (Richard Arlen) and Professor Franz Mueller (Erich von Stroheim) are conducting scientific experiments involving the preservation of life and the mind. When they get the chance to test out a new preservation process on the brain of dying millionaire Mr. Donovan, they take it. They manage to keep his brain alive in tank filled with liquids and electrodes, and soon the brain begins telepathically communicating with Dr. Corey, eventually taking over his mind completely as Donovan attempts to see to unfinished business.

I don't think that I'd ever heard that 1953's Donovan's Brain was a remake, but here's the original. It has some nice ambiance thanks to good set work and some interesting lighting. Von Stroheim seems born to play megalomaniac mad scientists, while leading man Arlen gets to stretch his limited acting chops in what is essentially a dual role. The film's biggest weakness is Czech ice skating champ Vera Ralston, making her lead acting debut. Her command of English was so poor at the time that she learned her lines phonetically, and she really seems to be struggling with her performance.

There is a completely misleading movie poster that made this film look like it was a vampire movie, probably because they were more popular with audiences at the time.