Black Friday
                                                                                                                 
Director: Arthur Lubin
Year: 1940
Rating: 5.5
Teaming up Boris Karloff and Bela Lugosi will give most classic horror film fans a thrill. Especially coming from Universal with a script by Curt Siodmak (Wolfman, I Walked with a Zombie), but the film doesn't really deliver on those expectations. Initially, the two of them had the two main roles but during the planning, changes were made leaving Lugosi with a much smaller role. He and Karloff never even share the screen together. A lost opportunity. Karloff though is wonderful as a reluctant mad doctor type, but the real plaudits have to go to a character actor who comes through with a great performance. His role was supposed to be Karloff's but Karloff doubted his ability to pull it off. And Lugosi would have been a disaster with his accent. Still somehow they should have brought Karloff and Lugosi together, if only to nod to one another.



Karloff plays Dr. Sovac and as the film begins, he is taking that long lonely walk to the electric chair. The flashbacks kick in. It all started with the best of intentions. To save the life of his friend, Kingsley, a kindly well-loved professor of poetry. A Mr. Chips type. As Kingsley crosses the street, gangsters in two cars are shooting it out and he is run over with his brain badly damaged and one of the gangsters has his spine broken.  Well, what is a doctor to do? The obvious. Close the door in the hospital and switch brains. Who would ever notice? The gangster Red Cannon dies and the friend slowly mends. But you might ask, doesn't having the gangster's brain affect him.



Yes and this is where the "mad" in the mad scientist comes out. Red Cannon is said to have hidden $500,000 and it was his cohorts led by Lugosi who were chasing him. The gangster's brain is beginning to seep through and our doctor decides to get the money. But he has to have the gangster dominate so that he can have him go get the hidden cash. But first Cannon wants to kill his old gang. By breaking their spines. Yes, it is ridiculous because I have seen enough of these brain transplant movies to know it is the brain, not the body that dictates who you are. The professor/gangster is played by Stanley Ridges and he is remarkable as he goes back and forth between personalities. Jekyll and Hyde but he does it basically by removing his glasses, slicking his hair back and looking like he wants to hurt someone. Anne Nagel plays the sexy singer and Anne Gwynne (grandmother of Chris Pine) is Karloff's daughter. Not really horror, but very well done with Karloff and Ridges pulling off terrific performances.