DONOVAN’S BRAIN (1953)

DONOVAN’S BRAIN (1953)

Tagline: A dead man's brain in a hidden laboratory told him to ... kill ... kill ... kill ... kill ... kill ...

(Sci-Fi, Horror, What’s Up Doc?) [PG]

Note: The MPAA did not give this movie a rating, but it would likely be given a [PG] because you know…brains. 

Perhaps I'll cure Frank and every other alcoholic if I can solve the mystery of Donovan's Brain. I think it's a matter of chemistry how the brain thinks. The problem is to find out what chemical combinations are responsible for success... failure... happiness... misery.

In this one, Dr. Patrick J Cory is working with his wife Janice and Dr. Frank Schratt regarding how brains work. They have only worked with monkeys in the past, but when an airplane crashes they are able to harvest a brain from Warren H. Donovan after he dies in Dr. Cory’s care. Everyone seems to know who Donovan was and that is because he’s a well-known evil man with killer intentions. It doesn’t take long before Donovan’s Brain takes over Dr. Cory causing him to carry out sinister deeds, and only Dr. Schratt and Janice seem to know enough about what is going on to stop it. 

First off, this freakin movie stars Nancy Reagan, “the” Nancy Reagan, the former First Lady. At that time her name was Nancy Davis. She was actually quite an accomplished actress and did a great job in this. She was probably most famous for HELLCATS OF THE NAVY when it comes to acting. Perhaps I shouldn’t be so shocked to see her, but this is the first movie I have seen her or Ronald Reagan in, ever. 

So if there is a lesson to be learned from this movie, it’s that you shouldn’t let your brain be taken over by another brain, especially not someone else’s evil brain. At the very least if you absolutely have to listen to someone else’s brain telepathically and let it control, pick a nice person. I think it’s a pretty simple rule that all brain freaks should be able to go by. 

Acting wise this one is pretty solid. I already mentioned Nancy Reagan who plays Janice Cory and she is fantastic. We also get a really good performance from Lew Ayres as Dr. Patrick J Cory who was probably more famous for BATTLE FOR THE PLANET OF THE APES than for this movie. We also get an outstanding performance from Gene Evans who plays Dr. Frank Schratt. Evans was in a lot of big TV shows in the ’80s ranging from “Murder She Wrote” to “Scarecrow and Mrs. King”, he was also perhaps the only actor I have ever heard of that was born in Holbrook, AZ. 

Cinematically this thing is pretty good, there are a few unnecessary dissolves, but it’s not anything that all that noteworthy. I also liked the score quite a bit, but some of the noises the scientific equipment made were more annoying than it needed to be. 

For me, the middle of this thing was far too slow and by the time it finally picks up again, it just feels like there were a lot of missed opportunities. I get that this was based on a 1942 book of the same name, but it’s still just pretty plain for my taste. By the way, the book this movie is based on had two follow-up books called “Hauser's Memory” and “Gabriel's Body”. Overall this is a pretty decent movie that reminds me a LOT of THE BRAIN FROM PLANET AROUS only that movie was a billion times more interesting and had floating brain aliens. It’s really tough to beat floating-brain aliens. I give this one a 4 out of 7.

GRAPHICS ARE THE PROPERTY OF DOWLING PRODUCTIONS AND ARE USED FOR REVIEW PURPOSES ONLY. 

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