One of the ultra cheap horror films made by Republic studios, this came towards the end of the original golden era for straight horror. Eric Von Stroheim plays the obsessed, chain smoking scientist who seeks to keep a brain alive after bodily death. His motives initially seem honourable but of course as the film progresses this changes towards evil intent. The brain in question, kept after a crash kills the central (but of course unseen) character of Donovan is kept alive and begins to transmit its will telepathically. In truth until this point the film is rather slow with a very long set-up. However once the possession kicks in the film goes into another gear and it's murderous grimaces all round. Eric Von Stroheim looks suitably menacing but seems weary and doesn't give the manic performance needed to lift his part unlike his earlier THE CRIME OF DR CRESPI where madness almost literally exudes from the screen . The madness is left to Richard Arlen who twists his face into evil leers to great effect. As the power of the brain increases the horror is piled on as Donovan tries to straighten out his murderous and fraudulent affairs through Arlen. Of course, in the end the brain along with Stroheim is destroyed and Arlen lives on with his girl, the curiously named Vera Hruba Ralston.
The horror is a long time coming and for what seems an age the film plays like a low budget sci-fi film but once it gets going, the excitement is piled on towards the end. Indeed, just keeping up the plot twists concerning Donovan's convuluted beyond death schemes is interesting. The sets are rather impressive for a low budget film with the castle, crackling with electricity and drenched in shadow providing a moody backdrop. A seemingly evil but benign house keeper adds to the mystery and overall the film is lacking a sense of abandoned delerium found in films like THE MONSTER AND THE GIRL (often confused for this due to the title). However, it's still vintage low budget thrills done without humour or campness. The film went on to be remade number of times, notably as DONOVAN'S BRAIN. There are lots of nice little touches and who can forget the line "The brain, it lives". 7/10.
Special Thanks to Mark Coyle for this Movie Review.