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The Black Sleep (1956)

This is one of those campy horror movies, two decades after the great originators, that fans will really love and newbies or outsiders will have trouble getting.

I'm mostly a fan, but even as the titles rolled and I couldn't believe the great cast, I was aware that this was 1956, that Bela Lugosi and Lon Chaney Jr. were well past their prime. And the lead, Basil Rathbone, was playing an evil doctor (a shade like Dr. Frankenstein, pushing moral boundaries with his surgery), was more known as Sherlock Holmes. Still, along with John Carradine, what a cast!

And this is really Lugosi's last uncompromised appearance in any movie, even though he plays a mute and we don't get to hear him. ("Plan 9" comes after this, but Lugosi's role there is famously limited.) He's terrific! And Chaney's appearance is also mute, a brief each time, and not such a big deal. (Once there is nice, corny subjective p.o.v. camera as he attacks his prey.)

The plot? The title? Well, it's all a bit obvious what's happening, though the opening twenty minutes is more a straight drama that actually suggests a really good movie is ahead. A man is on death row, and Rathbone visits him and gives him the Black Sleep potion, which puts him into a fake death and he is carted away and revived. That doesn't give too much away. For the rest of the movie the potion is really just used as anesthesia at the crazy doctor's castle and is no big deal.

There is the pretty girl in a coma, a misunderstood nursing assistant who is daughter of the Chaney character, another nurse who is oddly cold and efficient (and not a Nazi--this is all 1872), and then there is the main character, the man from death row, who happens to be a crack surgeon that the evil doctor needs for his research.

For the middle half of the movie you see minor tensions and some brain surgery that is meant to seem cutting edge and unscrupulous. Then, in a huge surprise, almost as if the director woke up, a bunch of old patients appear out of nowhere (maybe they escaped their cells). And it's a bit of absolute mayhem, with Carradine playing an angry Moses type, and it's pretty crazy.

Look, I said too much perhaps but you should know this isn't a great movie. But it's great camp. It's silly, it's filled with icons from the old days, and it's not so badly made at all, edited well and filmed better than you would think for this nadir of Hollywood productions. This is around the time of the new Castle low budget films, and early Corman stuff, but this one is clearly from the old school of 1930s Hollywood. See it on those terms and like it!

While Plan 9 from Outer Space is often considered to be Bela Lugosi's last film, considering that movie consisted of test scenes meant for a different movie, the actual final picture of which Lugosi actively participated in should actually be this one. He plays a mute butler who doesn't really do much but still has somewhat of a presence and is nothing to be ashamed about. He is joined here by fellow horror stalwarts John Carradine (gloriously hammy here), Lon Chaney, Jr., and fellow Ed Wood-directed series castmate Tor Johnson. The star is Basil Rathbone as a mad doctor who performs brain surgeries because of a secret I don't want to reveal here. Herbert Rudley is his reluctant assistant and Patricia Blair (or Blake as she's credited here) is the daughter of Chaney who plays another mute who was once a functioning human being. There's also an amusing performance by Akim Tamiroff as another associate of Rathbone's. Other cast members worth noting: Phyllis Stanley as Rathbone's nurse, Sally Yarnell as another of the underground "patients", Claire Carleton as a "customer" of Tamiroff's, and John Sheffield as a Scotland Yard detective investigating the whole thing. I thought this was a very effective chiller that was underrated considering the cast. So on that note, I'm recommending The Black Sleep.

Most ratings of this film give it a one star or bomb rating, however, "The Black Sleep" is not as bad as some would have you believe. Mind you it's not a great film, but in fact is an adequate programmer that compares favorably with any thing turned out by Universal or Monogram in the 40s.

Basically, it's a mad scientist film with Basil Rathbone emoting as usual, in the lead role. But then old Basil was always way over the top. Herbert Rudley is the nominal hero - the good scientist who is rescued from the gallows by Rathbone.

In the supporting cast are many seasoned veterans. Akim Tamiroff is good as the procurer of Rathbone's "subjects". Playing various mutants are Lon Chaney Jr., John Carradine (in yet another over the top performance) and poor old Bela Lugosi.

Lugosi nearing the end of his life looks sick, tired and underweight. Chaney is totally wasted. Had the producers beefed up his part, "The Black Sleep could have been a much better picture. They could have combined his role with that of the Rudley character, for example.

Given all of its limitations, "The Black Sleep" is good way to pass an hour and twenty minutes if you don't expect too much going in.

Dr Cadman saves the life of an old student, Ramsay, by giving him a drug nick named the "black sleep" prior to his going to the gallows. The drug simulates death and Ramsay is believed to have died before the hangman could have his way with him. Cadman revives Ramsay and has him help with his operations mapping the centers of the brain. Of course Cadman is mad, his desire to help his wife who is in a coma, has reduced him to using means that are less than savory. Tension mounts as Ramsay's good nature clashes with Cadman and the weird things that are going on in the house.

Somehow this little gem slipped under my radar and it wasn't until recently that I even knew this movie existed. With a cast that would be the delight of any classic horror movie fan (Basil Rathbone, Bela Lugosi,Lon Chaney, John Carradine, Tor Johnson, Akim Tamiroff) this is a one of those movies that they don't make any more. This is an odd mix of what you think of as classic horror and modern graphic visuals with a moody castle passageways and graphic brain operations and disfigured monsters. It walks that fine line of being link between the Universal style horror films of the 30's and 40's and the drive in monster fare of the 50's and 60's (it feels like a black and white version of the Hammer Frankenstein films or something like Blood of the Vampire) . Its a great deal of fun, and more than a tad creepy and tense since you really can't be sure whats going to happen next. In its way its a classic of its kind.

My only real complaint is that the casting of Lugosi, Johnson and Carradine is a bit misleading since Lugosi only has a few scenes as a mute butler, and Carradine and Johnson only show up in the final 15 minutes. They are really no more than cameos and don't deserve the high placement in the credits they receive.

Definitely high on my recommend list to anyone who likes classic style horror. This is a movie to search out and enjoy late on a rainy Saturday night.

Oddly enough The Black Sleep was some years ahead of its time medically speaking. The title refers to a drug from India that scientists Basil Rathbone uses to do that. Today it's a technique to enable recovery from certain illnesses or injuries. But being that this is Basil Rathbone mad scientist you know the drug will be used for all kinds of nefarious purposes.

Rathbone gets Dr. Herbert Rudley out of prison to assist him by use of his coma inducing Black Sleep. Rudley is in prison for a murder he didn't commit. When he 'dies' before the death sentence is carried out that's the end of it. But Rathbone has a lot of work for Rudley to do, operations on some willing and not so willing patients. What it's all about you have to see The Black Sleep for.

If you do see it you're in for a treat because with a cast of scene stealing actors such as Bela Lugosi, Lon Chaney, Jr., and John Carradine, this is not to be missed. All three of their characters are products of Rathbone's failed experiments. Carradine in particular is joy. He plays a deranged man who thinks he's a Crusader King and he's overacting outrageously and I'm loving every minute of it. Also in the film is Akim Tamiroff as a gypsy grave robber who also aids Rathbone.

All these people have legions of fans still. So if you want to see a film that's a combination of Frankenstein and the Island of Dr. Moreau with a great cast you can't miss with The Black Sleep.