Donovan's Brain

When evil millionaire Donovan dies on his operating table, scientist Dr. Patrick Cory (Lew Ayres) seizes the opportunity and removes Donovan's brain, which still shows signs of life. He manages to keep the brain alive in a tank in his laboratory, where it grows in size in a short time as well as exhibiting telepathic abilities. Soon Donovan's brain becomes powerful enough to force his will on Cory and make him do his bidding.

Entertaining '50s sci-fi with few bells & whistles but an enjoyable cast and decent ideas. Lew Ayres is good. I like to imagine this is what happened to Dr. Kildare: he left medicine to become a research scientist and things went horribly wrong. Nancy Davis (Reagan) does a fine job, though her obedient housewife role is likely to draw criticisms from the huff & puff crowd. Gene Evans is great as Ayres' surgeon buddy with a drinking problem who gives Ayres the inevitable "you're playing God" speech. Steve Brodie is fun as a nosy reporter who gets what's coming to him. Based on a novel by screenwriter Curt Siodmak (The Wolfman, I Walked with a Zombie, Earth vs. the Flying Saucers, etc.). Siodmak doesn't write the screenplay here. The movie was adapted before as The Lady and the Monster and Siodmak didn't write that either. Not sure why he didn't try to write his own movie version of the novel. This is a good sci-fi flick, though the middle is little more than Ayres going from place to place barking orders at people and handing out money. The beginning and ending are best. Not a lot of action, which won't sit well with everybody, but I was never bored.

When the noir cycle was running down (and out) in the early 1950s, the new spate of "sci-fi" movies could lay claim to being among its bastard offspring. These programmers about atomic mutants, mad scientists and monsters from the night sky took over the quick-and-dirty, bottom-of-the-bill status the noirs once occupied. Rarely, however, did they boast their known and seasoned casts or their distinctive visual style (how could they? They were all set out in the damn desert).

But they also inherited some noir veterans. Donovan's Brain was directed by Felix Feist (The Devil Thumbs A Ride, Tomorrow Is Another Day) and originally written by Curt Siodmak (Berlin Express).

Scientist Lew Ayres works on keeping monkey brains alive outside their bodies. When a powerful millionaire dies in a car crash conveniently nearby, Ayres volunteers to resuscitate the brain and succeeds beyond his hopes. In its electromagnetic bath, the organ pulsates and glows, developing telepathic powers. Soon it's taking over Ayres' personality; he starts living Donovan's life and continuing his dirty work, all the way to Washington.

Ayres' wife (Nancy Davis at her most charmless and plain-jane) grows alarmed, and plans to unplug the brain. Trouble is, it can sense hostility and defend itself....

Feist applies some practised suspense techniques to the story, and with Joseph Biroc's photography the movie doesn't look bad, either. But it's high point is Ayres as he shifts from mild researcher to the insolent, despotic Donovan. He makes the hour and a half something more than just passable.

A doctor tries to keep a brain alive after the body dies, but the brain is too powerful and soon commands the doctor around. With the deceased man's mob connections, life is soon troublesome for the brilliant doc.

Starring Nancy Davis (the future Nancy Reagan) and written by Curt Siodmak, who had written many sci-fi and horror films (most notably "The Wolf Man")... this came from his original novel of the same name.

Although not the original film version of this story (that would be "The Lady and the Monster" in 1944) it went on to influence a great many other films and television shows, from "Star Trek" to Stephen King's "It". (The "Star Trek" influence is on the episode "Spock's Brain", though it should be noted that a character in this film does say, "I'm a doctor, not an electrician." Bones?)

Made in an age when the science fiction film genre was dominated by giant insects and monsters from beneath the sea (not that there's anything wrong with those) "Donovan's Brain" stands out as a more understated (and under-appreciated) gem.

A movie about a dead financier's brain being kept alive in a fish tank as it takes over the minds of people around it could easily become silly; in fact it would be hard for such a premise NOT to be silly (which is why Steve Martin loosely adapted the premise for his comedy "The Man with Two Brains.")

But thanks to deliberate pacing and fine performances from its cast, what could have been an exercise in the ridiculous becomes instead a surprisingly effective film. The very reserved script keeps "techno-babble" to a minimum as the story unfolds, and a low budget limits most of the visual and special effects to the very basic, but rather than feeling "cheap," the film's spare quality instead tends to limit distractions from the story.

In 1944's "The Lady and the Monster" (a lesser and earlier adaptation of Curt Siodmak's novel) the brain's takeovers were signaled obviously, using lighting and musical cues. But in "Donovan's Brain" you know the brain has taken control solely due to the controlled and subtle performance of Lew Ayres, who indicates a transformation in Dr. Cory by as little as a change in posture and a hardening of his expression (no such kudos for Steve Brodie as Herbie Yocum, whose inane "zombie walk" stands out in its cheesiness.) Gene Evans also did well in the movie playing Cory's assistant Dr. Frank Schratt, and future first lady Nancy Davis turns in a serviceable, if somewhat wooden, performance as Cory's steadfast wife.

"Donovan's Brain" will not be anyone's favorite movie; coming out in a year which also saw the release of classics like "The War of the Worlds," "The Beast from 20,000 Fathoms," "It Came From Outer Space" and "Invasion from Mars," it's not even anyone's favorite sci-fi movie of 1953. But although it's not considered a classic, this small film far overcomes its B-movie title. It's better than it sounds, and well worth a look.

Dr. Patrick "Pat" J. Cory (Lew Ayres) is researching brains with his assistant and friend Dr. Frank Schratt (Gene Evans) and his wife Janice Cory (Nancy Davis, a.k.a. Nancy Reagan) through experiments with monkeys in a laboratory in his house. When an airplane crashes nearby his house, there is only one near-death survivor, the millionaire Warren H. Donovan that is brought still alive to his care. However Donovan dies and Dr. Cory decides to use his brain in his experiment keeping it alive in a tank. Pat, Schratt and Janice research about the life of Donovan and they discover that he was a ruthless and evil man. Soon Donovan's brain imposes his personality to Dr. Cory and possesses him to get rid of his enemies and to live again in his body. Schratt and Janice sees the transformation of Dr. Cory and plan to destroy the brain. Will they succeed in their intent?

"Donovan's Brain" is an entertaining B-movie with a combination of sci-fi and horror and a story in the style of Frankenstein, with a mad doctor and the result of his experiment. The conclusion is corny and commercial and would be better and better if the brain survives in the end. My vote is six.

Title (Brazil): "O Cérebro Maligno" ("The Evil Brain")