Review of The Brain

1962's "The Brain" marked the very first genre film for Oscar-winning cinematographer turned director Freddie Francis (his innocuous debut at the helm was 1961's "Two and Two Make Six"), the third screen version of Curt Siodmak's 1942 pulp novel "Donovan's Brain," first adapted by Republic as "The Lady and the Monster" in 1944, followed 9 years later by Lew Ayres's self titled remake. Republic's initial outing was weighed down by the intrusive non presence of Olympic skater Vera Hruba Ralston, only remaining faithful to its literary source during the second half, while this entry ratchets up the mystery for a sci fi-tinged whodunit venturing further away from Siodmak's prose (not necessarily a bad thing). Peter Van Eyck takes the lead as Dr. Peter Corrie, working with assistant Frank Shears (Bernard Lee) on experiments to determine the life span of a monkey's surgically removed brain, fortuitously nearby when an airplane crash presents them with the brain of ruthless financier Max Holt, introduced right after the opening credits, an imperious nature punctuated by the impulsive tapping of his right thumb. Unlike Erich von Stroheim's characterization in the first version, Van Eyck is no preconceived mad scientist, he performs an unethical operation but remains cooly rational even as he falls under the influence of the calculating brain, anxious to learn the truth behind the crash, accidental or deliberate murder. Corrie's first act in Holt's service is to produce a list of suspects, including Holt daughter Anna (top billed Anne Heywood) and son Martin (Jeremy Spenser), family attorney Stevenson (Cecil Parker), shady chauffer Gabler (George A. Cooper), and grasping mistress Marion Fane (Maxine Audley). Corrie remains the central figure throughout, his possessed moments revealed by that incessant tapping, and this element of the story is left open even after the culprit is exposed in the climax, perhaps a disappointment for some but logical nevertheless. Freddie Francis would go unbilled for additional scenes filmed for Steve Sekely's "The Day of the Triffids," so his next credited assignment became his first at Hammer Films, Oliver Reed's "Paranoiac," Amicus first acquiring his services for 1964's "Dr. Terror's House of Horrors."