The Man with Nine Lives (1940)

Director:

Nick Grinde

Writers:

Karl Brown (screenplay)
Harold Shumate (story)

Release Date:

18 April 1940 (USA)

Genre:

Mystery | Sci-Fi

Tagline:

He kills in the name of science...Tombs of ice for the living...Chambers of horror for the dead!

Plot:

A medical researcher visits the deserted home of a pioneer in cryogenic science who disappeared 10 years earlier and finds him frozen in ice but still alive.

Plot Keywords:

Cancer | Cryogenics | Experiment | Ice | Human Guinea Pig

Cast

Boris Karloff	...	Dr. Leon Kravaal
Roger Pryor	...	Dr. Tim Mason
Jo Ann Sayers	...	Nurse Judith Blair
Stanley Brown	...	Bob Adams
John Dilson	...	District Attorney John Hawthorne
Hal Taliaferro	...	Sheriff Ed Stanton
Byron Foulger	...	Dr. Henry Bassett
Charles Trowbridge	...	Dr. Harvey
Ernie Adams	...	Pete Daggett
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Bruce Bennett	...	State Trooper (uncredited)
James Conaty	...	Doctor Spectator (uncredited)
Eddie Dew	...	Doctor Spectator Listening to Explanation (uncredited)
Minta Durfee	...	Frozen Therapy Patient (uncredited)
William Marion	...	Doctor Spectator (uncredited)
Charles Miller	...	Doctor Spectator Explaining Procedure (uncredited)
Ivan Miller	...	Sheriff Haley (uncredited)
Wedgwood Nowell	...	Doctor Spectator (uncredited)
Cyril Ring	...	Doctor Spectator (uncredited)
Landers Stevens	...	Doctor Spectator (uncredited)
Lee Willard	...	Frozen Body of Jasper Adams (uncredited)

Directed by
Nick Grinde		(as Nick Grindé)

Writing credits
Karl Brown		(screenplay)
Harold Shumate		(story)

Produced by
Irving Briskin	....	producer (uncredited)
Wallace MacDonald	....	producer (uncredited)

Cinematography by
Benjamin H. Kline		(director of photography) (as Benjamin Kline)

Film Editing by
Al Clark

Art Direction by
Lionel Banks

Second Unit Director or Assistant Director
Arthur S. Black Jr.	....	assistant director (uncredited)

Sound Department
Edward Bernds	....	sound engineer (uncredited)

Music Department
Mischa Bakaleinikoff	....	composer: stock music (uncredited)
Gerard Carbonara	....	composer: stock music (uncredited)
Ben Oakland	....	composer: stock music (uncredited)
Karol Rathaus	....	composer: stock music (uncredited)
Morris Stoloff	....	musical director (uncredited)
Gregory Stone	....	composer: stock music (uncredited)

Other crew
Dr. Ralph S. Willard	....	technical advisor

Production Companies

• Columbia Pictures Corporation

Distributors

• Columbia Pictures (1940) (USA) (theatrical)
• Favorite Films (1947) (USA) (theatrical) (re-release)
• RCA/Columbia Pictures Home Video (1984) (USA) (VHS)
• Screen Gems (1958) (USA) (TV)
• Sony Pictures Home Entertainment (2005) (USA) (DVD)
• Sony Pictures Television (????) (USA) (TV)

Also Known As:

Behind the Door (UK)

Runtime:

74 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono (Western Electric Mirrophonic Recording)

Certification:

Canada:G (Ontario) | USA:Approved (PCA #6183) | USA:TV-G (TV rating)

Company:

Columbia Pictures Corporation

Goofs:

Plot holes: When Dr. Mason uses the "standard" method of reviving Dr. Kravaal, it doesn't appear to be anything more than placing him near a fire and putting blankets on him. He asks his nurse for "more coffee," but it's unclear what he's doing with the coffee which would help him resuscitate the doctor as Kravaal is unconscious and can't be drinking it.

Quotes:

[first lines]
opening title card scroll: Added to the many miracles performed by modern science that have accounted for the saving of thousands upon thousands of human beings, comes its newest and most modern discovery - frozen therapy. ¶Estimates of how long frozen therapy can produce a state of suspended animation range from days to years...

Obscure Science Fiction

A doctor researching "frozen therapy" seeks out Boris Karloff, the therapy's originator. Boris has been missing from his island laboratory for ten years. After ignoring requests to stay off the island by locals, the doctor and his beautiful nurse discover Boris frozen in secret caves beneath the lab. Boris has been frozen along with a host of villagers. Through flashback it is learned these others came to arrest Boris for murder ten years earlier and they all wound up being gassed and frozen. This is the proof Karloff needs to vindicate his research. He sets out to duplicate his accidental results, his methods become increasingly Machiavellian. Ultimately he is his own undoing. This movie is hard to catagorize. The film makers tried to add shock to an interesting scifi story. The film succeeds in spite of the efforts to punch it up. The acting is uneven but overall this is a top notch "B" effort. The science is very plausible, a rarity in old laboratory films. See it and be pleasantly surprised