BLACK FRIDAY (1940)
Stanley Ridges plays Professor Kingsley, a mild mannered professor of English literature, who accepts a ride to the train station in a car driven by the family of his friend, the neurosurgeon Dr. Sovac (Boris Karloff). Stepping out of the car momentarily to run an errand, Kingsley is struck by an out-of-control car driven by Red Cannon, a notorious gangster, who has just been shot by members of his former gang, led by Bela Lugosi. Dr. Sovac accompanies Prof. Kingsley and Red Cannon (who is expected to recover from his injuries) to the hospital. Kingsley's recovery is declared hopeless. But after the treatment team has all gone home (ahem), Sovac siezes on the opportunity to perform clandestine brain surgery (!!), removing part of Red Cannon's brain and transplanting it into Kingsley's unconscious body. Cannon's now deceased body is taken to the morgue, and Kingsley makes a full recovery, with no one the wiser about what has happened. Kingsley soon finds himself troubled by strange dreams, however, and Dr. Sovac decides to further his experiment by subtlely trying to awaken the memories of the former gangster in Kingsley's mind. Soon the Red Cannon personality emerges fully, taking over Kingsley's body and using it to stalk the members of his former gang (who in turn are searching for Cannon's hidden loot) and wreak violent revenge. As the events unfold Dr. Sovac is presented with a long string of moral quandries, and he seldom fails to make the wrong choice.
While most of the Universal Horror films I have reviewed up to this point have been gems, BLACK FRIDAY is more of a mixed bag, no better or worse than an average episode of the THE TWILIGHT ZONE (1959-1964). The story is an implausible mashup of Jekyll & Hyde, Al Capone, and Frankenstein. The shooting is flat, capturing the actors unimaginatively on dull, brightly lit sets, squandering numerous opportunities to ratchet up the drama. Although the film is only 71 minutes it feels 10 minutes too long. But BLACK FRIDAY is blessed in its casting. Although Bela Lugosi's mobster character is underutilized and the film criminally fails to place him in any scenes with Karloff, he still gives one of his most naturalistic and affecting performances as he realizes he is being hunted to the death by his former colleague. He is so good that the studio falsely claimed in promotional material that he had been hypnotized on the set into believing in his own death. Boris Karloff is welcome as ever doing what he does best--humanizing despicable characters. Incredibly, both of these actors are upstaged by Stanley Ridges, a largely unremembered performer, who was so good at playing his character's dual personality that I ended the film unsure whether two different actors had played the role. In addition to the casting, BLACK FRIDAY can boast of some exciting stuntwork and more than the usual quotient of period violence. On balance, the film is undeniably pleasurable, although it comes off as less revolutionary than Universal's earlier films.
Universal Classic Horror Blog Series Rating:
4 - For everyone
3 - For horror fans only
2 - For classic horror fans only
1 - For Pete's sake
0 - Paging MST3K
Note: This film, MURDERS IN THE RUE MORGUE (1932), THE BLACK CAT (1934), THE RAVEN (1935), and THE INVISIBLE RAY (1936) are all part of The Bela Lugosi Collection, which I was able to borrow from the library. Black Friday refers not to the day after Thanksgiving but to Friday the 13th, which in 1940 was evidently deemed to be an unsuitable title for a horror film.
While most of the Universal Horror films I have reviewed up to this point have been gems, BLACK FRIDAY is more of a mixed bag, no better or worse than an average episode of the THE TWILIGHT ZONE (1959-1964). The story is an implausible mashup of Jekyll & Hyde, Al Capone, and Frankenstein. The shooting is flat, capturing the actors unimaginatively on dull, brightly lit sets, squandering numerous opportunities to ratchet up the drama. Although the film is only 71 minutes it feels 10 minutes too long. But BLACK FRIDAY is blessed in its casting. Although Bela Lugosi's mobster character is underutilized and the film criminally fails to place him in any scenes with Karloff, he still gives one of his most naturalistic and affecting performances as he realizes he is being hunted to the death by his former colleague. He is so good that the studio falsely claimed in promotional material that he had been hypnotized on the set into believing in his own death. Boris Karloff is welcome as ever doing what he does best--humanizing despicable characters. Incredibly, both of these actors are upstaged by Stanley Ridges, a largely unremembered performer, who was so good at playing his character's dual personality that I ended the film unsure whether two different actors had played the role. In addition to the casting, BLACK FRIDAY can boast of some exciting stuntwork and more than the usual quotient of period violence. On balance, the film is undeniably pleasurable, although it comes off as less revolutionary than Universal's earlier films.
Universal Classic Horror Blog Series Rating:
4 - For everyone
3 - For horror fans only
2 - For classic horror fans only
1 - For Pete's sake
0 - Paging MST3K
Note: This film, MURDERS IN THE RUE MORGUE (1932), THE BLACK CAT (1934), THE RAVEN (1935), and THE INVISIBLE RAY (1936) are all part of The Bela Lugosi Collection, which I was able to borrow from the library. Black Friday refers not to the day after Thanksgiving but to Friday the 13th, which in 1940 was evidently deemed to be an unsuitable title for a horror film.