‘Instrument of terror!’
The Brain is a 1962 science fiction murder mystery film with horror touches directed by Freddie Francis (Paranoiac; The Skull; The Vampire Happening) from a screenplay by Robert Stewart and Philip Mackie, loosely based upon Curt Siodmak novel Donovan’s Brain.
The film stars Anne Heywood (Ring of Darkness), Peter van Eyck (The Thousand Eyes of Dr. Mabuse), Cecil Parker, Bernard Lee, Maxine Audley and Jeremy Spenser. It was British-West German co-production, also released as Ein Toter sucht seinen Mörder (translation: “A Dead Man Seeks His Murderer”). The English language working title was Vengeance.
Plot teaser:
Called to a private aircraft crash scene, Dr. Peter Corrie (Peter van Eyck) tries to save the only survivor but realising their is no hope, decides to use the dying man’s brain in his own unique experiments.
However, it emerges that the brain belonged to ruthless millionaire industrialist Max Holt, a man with many enemies. The doctor soon finds that he has been possessed by the dead tycoon’s dominating personality and becomes obsessed with finding out who murdered him…
Reviews:
“Freddie Francis shoots in intensive closeups on forelit faces all in black-and-white, which emphasises a stark naked tension that was characteristic to 1960s thrillers. One of the more unusual parts is the casting of Peter Van Eyck. Van Eyck’s clipped Germanic directness and single-minded determination gives the film undeniable resonances of WWII German experiments.” Moria
“Francis, always a better director of than of science fiction, plods through Mackie and Stewart’s well-thumbed script.” Phil Hardy (editor), The Aurum Film Encyclopedia: Science Fiction
” …makes the old material work effectively.” John Stanley, Creature Features
Choice dialogue:
“I’m in no mood to listen to a violent psychopath!”
Cast:
- Anne Heywood as Anna Holt
- Peter van Eyck as Dr. Peter Corrie
- Cecil Parker as Stevenson
- Bernard Lee as Dr. Frank Shears
- Jeremy Spenser as Martin Holt
- Maxine Audley as Marion Fane
- Ellen Schwiers as Ella
- Siegfried Lowitz as Mr. Walters
- Hans Nielsen as Immerman
- Jack MacGowran as Furber
- Miles Malleson as Dr. Miller
- George A. Cooper as Thomas Gabler
- Victor Brooks as Farmer at Crash Site (uncredited)
- Allan Cuthbertson as Da Silva (uncredited)
- John Junkin as Frederick (uncredited)
- Bryan Pringle as Dance-Hall MC (uncredited)
- Patsy Rowlands as Young Woman at Dance Hall (uncredited)
- Alister Williamson as Inspector Pike (uncredited)
