QUICKIE: The crazy Dr. successfully transplants brains!
PLOT: A rich, old woman subsidizes a Dr. who uses atomic power to transplant brains. Two sexy (and one homely) foreign housekeepers are hired with the idea of transplanting the old woman's' brain into a young sexy woman's head.
SUMMARY: I knew if I watched enough of these hokey old films eventually the mad scientist/Dr. would succeed at transplanting brains, or mix and matching body parts to create a successful mesh of a human instead of a killer monster. This is that movie! The Dr. transplants the brain of a dog into a man, a cat's brain into a woman, and then a woman's brain into the cat. (Just ignore the size difference there.) The story becomes about the maids discovering what is really going on in the household and trying to escape before they are killed and used as lab rats. The story itself was really interesting and the characters completely believable without the usual over the top trying to be scary stuff. I was surprised at how good this one was and what a great sense of satisfaction I had at the end of the film.
Horror Collection - Disc #32-B
The Atomic Brain ~ 1964 -BW
The Admiral Was A Lady ~ 1950 -BW
QUICKIE:
Stop that girl I think she's cute.....
Stop that girl or I'll have to get a job.....
Stop that girl because I'm in love with her....
PLOT: Four unemployed veterans work hard at staying unemployed and all is going well until "the Admiral" (Wanda Hendrix) catches the eye of Jimmy Stevens (Edmond O'Brien), the gangs' ring leader. Rudy Vallee plays Peter Pedigrew the jukebox king, who bribes the gang to get the Admiral back together with her fiance or else he'll get the vets' some jobs. Hillary Brooke plays Mrs. Shirley Pedigrew (Peter's ex-wife) who has stolen the Admirals' fiance.
SUMMARY: This is just a silly movie from start to finish. Four veterans have set up deals all over town so the gang goes from place to place all day doing little errands, without actually being employed, as then they'd lose their veteran unemployment pension. Once the Admiral starts meddling in their lives we find the deeper reasons for the veterans' lives being what they are. It's a cute and fun movie. Nothing too heavy. The Admiral keeps trying to get back to Wala Wala to get married and the gang has to stop her from leaving through various ruses.
His Double Life ~ 1933 -BW
QUICKIE: A sweet movie based on a misunderstanding. I think it's a 1930's chick-flick!
PLOT: Priam Farrel (Roland Young) is a celebrated artist but a social recluse. When his valet dies of a sudden illness, a mix-up leads to the body being identified as Farrel's. The timid artist then assumes the identity of his former servant, but finds himself faced with constant dilemmas as a result.
SUMMARY: I like movies about painters. I like movies about old high society. I like Roland Young, so I was going to like this movie. Some may consider it boring. There's no gun play, sex appeal nor car chases. No mad scientists and crazed monsters. Unless you count the scores of morons who never let Farrel clarify his identity. What else can the man do to prove who he is but paint?
I love the unspoken morality of this movie: the wife who loves him and doesn't care what his name is, or about his former life, she loves him just the same. The greedy people who crawl through the woodwork of this mans life once he's dead. How we never know how we really effect someone elses' life. Farrel gets to go to his own funeral, and it's a moving and funny moment. It's amusing how people act after thinking he's dead and Farrel is talking to them about himself.
Things get complicated when Farrrel begins painting again, and his paintings are recognized and sold as "Farrels", who should be dead. So he ends up in court and must prove his identity in a very unconventional way. What's very interesting is he can get away with saying over and over, "I don't care, this isn't my lawsuit, I just want to paint!" As an artist, I sympathize with the frustration of the ridiculousness of the bureaucratic world which keeps the artist from self expression. I could read such themes into this movie forever, but I'm tired now. It's a good movie, it may bore some, but I found it simply wonderful.
The Devil Bat ~ 1940 -BW
QUICKIE: Bela Lugosi stars in a (kinda vampirish) bat movie! Can you believe it?!!!
PLOT: (from IMDB): Dr. Carruthers (Bela Lugosi) feels bitter at being betrayed by his employers, Heath and Morton, when they became rich as a result of a product he devised. He gains revenge by electrically enlarging bats and sending them out to kill his employers' family members by instilling in the bats a hatred for a particular perfume he has discovered, which he gets his victims to apply before going outdoors. Johnny Layton (Dave O'Brien), a reporter, finally figures out Carruthers is the killer and, after putting the perfume on himself, douses it on Carruthers in the hopes it will get him to give himself away. One of the two is attacked as the giant bat makes one of its screaming, swooping power dives.
SUMMARY: Wow! Bela Lugosi plays a mad scientist/Dr. (again!) who is doing secret experiments (again!) on bats to make them grow gigantically big. He also trains his monster bats to be killers (again!) when they smell a certain scent. He tricks certain members of the Heath family into wearing the new cologne which has the scent that attracts the killer bat.
Even though the story is so similar to so many other mad scientist plots, this is still a good film and worth a watch. Bela movies are always enjoyable, he's a good actor and really plays it up. I love the scenes where he throws the switch and the electricity makes the bat grow. It's like a tribute to Frakenstein, and it made me laugh and cackle "It's A-live!". Of course, it never made a fried bat.
There's also the boy/girl love story, the rich uncle/father, the newspaper man and the dumb police. This movie has it all folks! But because the plot is such a repeater the movie is just good and not great. Still enjoyable though, Bela movies always are.
Suzanne Kaaren plays Mary Heath the niece/love interest, and Donald Kerr provides most of the comedic relief playing 'One-Shot' McGuire, the newspapers' photographer. Who trys to get a picture of the devil bat while also romancing the Heaths' French maid (Yolande Donlan). Did I forget to mention the French maid?
Sinister Hands ~ 1932 -BW
QUICKIE: It's another game of "Who Murdered the Millionaire?"
PLOT: During a séance at an elderly millionaire's house, the millionaire is murdered. The detectives investigating the crime discover that everyone who was at the séance had a motive for killing the man.
SUMMARY: You will NEVER guess who did this one because it makes no sense at all and no reason is ever given for why he did it. The final scene has the round up of the usual suspects and each one is gone over for their motive and alibis, except the one who really did it. My copy was so badly edited it was laughable. Still, I always like these movies. Lots of proper handsome men in tuxedos, Ladies in satin ball gowns, a huge, gorgeous manor and very civilized, polite murder. I mean, why else do we watch these films, if not for that?
Devil Monster ~ 1946 -BW
QUICKIE: Part documentary, part fishing trip footage, part Hollywood movie.
PLOT: A schooner disappears at sea without a trace. Years later, evidence of possible survivors prompts the mother of the schooner's mate Jose to hire a tuna boat to investigate. They discover the lad living happily on a South Seas island, and, when he refuses to leave with them, they abduct him. However, Jose gets revenge by leading the ship into the lair of a mysterious giant manta ray.
SUMMARY: This film couldn't quite make up it's mind what kind of a movie it wanted to be. It starts as a film where mom and the girl want Jose brought home. Our hero with point and gawk severely over plucked eyebrows decides to go on his first voyage to find Jose. The film then turns into a documentary of the Galapogos Islands, showing us the islands and various sea life and then tries to get back to the reason for the movie: Jose. Yes, they find him happy as a clam on an island, enjoying fame as the big fisherman. Jose has no interest in leaving, so he is kidnapped and brought home. The skipper lets Jose drive, and he goes into the "devil's cove", where the devil monster lives. This thing is some giant manta-ray with a claw, and Jose battles it to it's death, losing an arm in the process. They also catch a giant haul of tuna and head home. Jose returns to the glee of the two ladies. It's really a rather boring fishing film.
The Brain That Wouldn't Die ~ 1962 -BW
QUICKIE: The decapitated head knows allllllllllllll...... & she'll get you, you psycho Dr., you! and your ugly monster in the closet too!
PLOT: After a car crash, a man keeps his wife's head alive in his laboratory. As if this weren't enough, an evil beast pounds and screams from a locked room adjacent to the lab.
SUMMARY: Darling I love you and I just can't let you go! This psycho Dr. has serious co-dependency issues. His girl is killed in a car crash, but he manages to keep her head alive in his creepy laboratory/basement while he's out looking for a body to attach the head to. Unbeknownst to him, the serum is giving his girl super mental powers so she can communicate telepathically with the monster in the closet. Funny how she plots and schemes the DR.'s demise, seeing as she's just a head. Amusing to watch the Dr. scouting bodies for his girl. Just as he finds the perfect body, the monster in the closet ends up killing the assistant, and then the psycho Dr.. The film ends with another fire destroying the laboratory.
Creature Double Feature: You should really follow this film up with (The) Head -1959 -bw which is a somewhat similar story, but the head is successfully attached to a body and the girl freaks out.
View this movie on Google Video: HERE
