#368: DAY, Robert: Corridors Of Blood (1959)
MONSTERS AND MADMEN {Spine #364}
Screenplay by Jean Scott Rogers.
Double-billed with an Italian film dubbed into English (Werewolf in a Girls’ Dorm [1961]), Corridors wasn’t released for several years after it was made.
DAY, Robert (United States)
Corridors Of Blood [1959]
Spine #368
DVD
DVD
In 1840s London, Dr. Thomas Bolton dares to dream the unthinkable: to operate on patients without causing pain. Unfortunately, the road to general anesthesia is blocked by a ruthless killer (Christopher Lee), as well as Bolton's devastating addiction to his own chemical experiments.
87 minutes
Black & White
Black & White
Monaural
1:33:1 aspect ratio
Criterion Release 2006
Director/Writer
Screenplay by Jean Scott Rogers.
Robert Day was 37 when he directed Corridors of Blood.
Other films by Day in the Collection:
The Film
“Pain and the knife are inseparable”
So goes the main theme of Corridors of Blood, which is not really the horror picture it is advertised as — but is, in fact, a sort of bio-pic of someone like Horace Wells, whose own real-life story is actually much more gruesome than anything in this Richard Gordon production.
The story concerns the invention of anesthesia for use in operations. Boris Karloff (Dr. Thomas Bolton) is terrific as the surgeon whose experiments result in his becoming addicted to his chemical formulations — making him a target for the bad guys, Black Ben (Francis De Wolff, terrific) and Resurrection Joe (Christopher Lee).
Shot on MGM’s English studios, Day had plenty to work with (among the many fantastic English actors, Finlay Currie [Superintendent Matheson] will be instantly recognizable — he was the convict, Magwitch, in David Lean’s Great Expectations (1946) [Spine #31]).
Originally titled The Doctor from Seven Dials, the producers rightly recognized that an international audience wouldn’t know that Seven Dials was a real London neighborhood full of unsavory characters. Today:
The film is a bit schizophrenic. One of the producers — John Croydon — hated the festive atmosphere in Black Ben’s gloomy saloon; and there is a great contrast between those scenes and the ones with a serious Karloff doing his work.
All in all, a serious work terribly marketed.
Although this takes place in the mid-nineteenth century, experimentation with nitrous oxide did not stop even into the mid-twentieth century. My uncle, Nathan Saul — a dentist — died in the mid-30’s after working with anesthesia, apparently alone while doing so:
Today, pain and the knife are, in fact, separable.
Also of interest is a film on this subject by Preston Sturges — The Great Moment (1944).
Film Rating (0-60):
The Booklet
51
The ExtrasThe Booklet
Twenty-four page booklet featuring an essay by Maitland McDonagh who discusses both this film and The Haunted Strangler (Spine #367); and Croydon’s account of working with Karloff on both films.
Commentary
With Gordon and Tom Weaver, extensive details about the production.
For example, this film had a budget of £90,000. Karloff’s salary was $37,000.
Interviews
With director Day, and a long audio interview with Yvonne Romain (Rosa).
Censor cuts
Most interesting, showing the letter from the Hays office and showing the three short trims they insisted upon.
Trailer
First, the way the film was marketed as a horror pic; second, a look at how bad the print must have looked before Criterion lovingly restored it.
Exploitation
A gallery of stills and posters and publicity materials.
Extras Rating (0-40):
Comments
Post a Comment