The Black Sleep (1956)

User Rating:

5.8/10   

Director:

Reginald Le Borg

Writers:

Gerald Drayson Adams (story)
John C. Higgins (writer)

Release Date:

June 1956 (USA)

Genre:

Horror | Sci-Fi

Tagline:

Out of the evil brain of a twisted scientist comes a fantastic robot army - crushing all barriers...feeding on beauty - lusting to claw the world apart!

Plot:

Sir Joel Cadman, a mad scientist, kidnaps his victims and cuts open their brains in an effort to discover a means to cure his wife's brain tumor.

Plot Keywords:

Brain | Anesthesia | Brain Tumor | Abbey | England

Cast

Basil Rathbone	...	Sir Joel Cadman
Akim Tamiroff	...	Odo the Gypsy
Lon Chaney Jr.	...	Dr. Munroe aka Mungo
John Carradine	...	Bohemund
Bela Lugosi	...	Casimir
Herbert Rudley	...	Dr. Gordon Angus Ramsay
Patricia Blair	...	Laurie Munroe (as Patricia Blake)
Phyllis Stanley	...	Nurse Daphne
Tor Johnson	...	Mr. Curry
Sally Yarnell	...	Female Subject
George Sawaya	...	Sailor-Subject
Claire Carleton	...	Carmona Daly

Also Known As:

Dr. Cadman's Secret (USA) (reissue title)

Runtime:

82 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono (Western Electric Recording)

Certification:

USA:Unrated | Sweden:(Banned) | Canada:PG (Ontario) | UK:X (cut)

Company:

Bel-Air Productions

Trivia:

The last film project of actor Bela Lugosi.

Goofs:

Revealing mistakes: When the evil doctor's last victim is uncovered, her facial muscles react visibly just before they pronounce her dead.

Movie Connections:

Featured in "Svengoolie: The Black Sleep (#1.10)" (1995)

A major revelation and treat for fans of classic horror cinema

The Black Sleep is a film I have only just seen for the first time, thanks to TCM. I'm a die-hard devotee of vintage horror films. As such, I have known about this movie for decades from the occasional reference to it in those dear old monster magazines of the 1960's and 1970's. Now that I've finally seen it, wow.

The ensemble of noir horror film stars assembled for this feature is unparalleled. I got pretty excited just to see the line-up during the opening credits. And I'm happy to report that none of them are wasted, each has a pretty cool character role to play, and puts in a good, sometimes great performance.

After the tantalizing title credits, the story gets underway quickly. The plot is taut and well-conceived, but what really got to me was the vivid characterizations. In fact, this film has given me a whole new clue about where those clever script-writer blokes at Britain's Hammer studios might have gotten their radical new concept of Dr. Frankenstein (with his riveting mix of elegance, obsession with his vision of what he's trying to do, and ruthlessness of determination to not let anyone or anything stop him). "The Black Sleep" features Basil Rathbone in a role that clearly foreshadows Peter Cushing's Frankenstein. It strikes me as ironic because in 1939 Rathbone played Dr. Frankenstein (in "Son of Frankenstein") but his characterization in that film was more consistent with the Universal Studios concept of the character (as originated by Colin Clive). The unscrupulous manner in which a medical assistant is recruited (by deception, blackmail, or whatever) to the mad scientist's cause, the sheer strength of will and personality dominance of the mad scientist, the refined sense of style and taste that contrast so dramatically with the psychopathic lack of conscience--all this and more appears in Rathbone's character, as it did for the first time the following year in Hammer's Frankenstein films. But "The Black Sleep" adds one extra motive and personality element we never saw in the Hammer Frankenstein films: the mad doctor's anguish over his comatose love, hidden away from prying eyes.

Lon Chaney Jr. probably drew upon his previous portrayal of Lenny ("Of Mice and Men") for the role he plays here. But after Basil Rathbone steals every scene, it's John Carradine who steps up to challenge him for scene chewing. This is an actor who has been in so many horror films, quite a few of them as undistinguished as can be, too often wasting his talents. If you're a Carradine fan and have ever lamented this, I'm pleased to prescribe "The Black Sleep" as the cure--his part and acting in this film are must-see. For my price of admission, this film has the best-acted, best-realized roles ever played by Carradine and Rathbone, both. Their greatest moments on screen may well be right here in this little, under-seen low budget masterpiece.

This is a surprising, unsung classic, highly recommended for lovers of the old black and white horror films.