THE LADY AND THE MONSTER

Donovan's Brain

THE LADY AND THE MONSTER (1944). Director: George Sherman. 

Professor Franz Mueller (Erich von Stroheim) is a weird scientist who lives and works in a big old place called the Castle. He has two assistants: Janice (Vera Hruba Ralston), who is the object of his unwanted affections; and Dr. Patrick Cory (Richard Arlen), who is also in love with Janice. Mueller is obsessed with the idea of keeping a brain alive after death, and he gets his chance when a plane accident victim, wealthy W. H. Donovan, is brought to his estate. Although Cory goes along with it, he has serious misgivings, especially after the brain takes control of his mind and tries to get him to do things Donovan never had a chance to do while alive, such as getting his innocent son (William Henry of New Orleans Uncensored) acquitted of murder, and trying to run a child witness over with a car. 

Ralston and Arlen

Although The Lady and the Monster is not without flaws and has dull stretches, it improves as it goes along and turns out to be the somewhat superior version of the novel Donovan's Brain, which was also filmed under that title almost ten years later. Vera (Hruba) Ralston is billed above the title. Her husband ran Republic studios, which released this film, and was determined to turn her into a star, even though she perhaps lacked that all-important presence. Richard Arlen makes a better impression, although von Stroheim gives a strange, not terribly good performance along the lines of the one he delivered in The Crime of Dr. Crespi almost ten years earlier.

Richard Arlen and Sidney Blackmer

An interesting touch in the film is the way Arlen looks increasingly demonic the further he falls under Donovan's control. Sidney Blackmer acts with his customary authority as a lawyer that isn't sure of Arlen's motives or that he wants to work with him. Mary Nash is also effective as the sympathetic housekeeper, Mrs. Fain. William Henry only gets one scene and is adequate. The movie has an exciting climax involving a car and then a struggle on a cliffside. In the remake the brain begins to grow bigger but that doesn't happen in this version. 

Verdict: Okay brain movie with some suspense. **1/4.