The Brain Machine (1955)

One can only assume that the distributors,RKO Teleradio Pictures,wanted to utilise some of the success enjoyed by The Quatermass Experiment by tacking on a 10 minute sequences at the beginning which justify the use of a title which really hasn't got anything to do with the rest of the film.Elizabeth Allen plays the leading role and is clearly not a woman to be tricked with.In real life she sued MGM because they took away from her the leading roles in The Citadel and Goodbye Mr Chips.She lost on appeal and never worked in Hollywood again.The film develops as a routine crime film.However Maxwelo Reed has an intriguing revolver which fires 12 times without reloading.

THE BRAIN MACHINE is actually the second film I've seen with this title; the first was a rubbishy 1977 US science fiction film about a computer experiment gone wrong. Despite the title, this BRAIN MACHINE is in fact an above-average British thriller with film noir aspects. The title refers to a brain scan being conducted in the opening twenty minutes, but this merely sets up the plot and doesn't feature for the rest of the more traditional story.Underrated character actor Patrick Barr tackles a lead role for once, playing a doctor hunting for his wife who has been kidnapped by a desperate small time criminal, played by Joan Collins's husband Maxwell Reed. Elizabeth Allan gives a fine performance as the wife in peril, coolly holding it together during the more difficult moments, even if her character doesn't take advantage of her situation and is content to go along with things when she has the opportunity to escape at times.This low budget tale is well paced and has a solid script that brings to life various supporting characters. Familiar faces like Bill Nagy and a youthful Anthony Valentine show up along the way, and there's plenty of murderous twists and even the odd bit of action to keep the story moving along nicely. I enjoyed it.

After a science-fiction type opening, the film develops into a neat and engrossing little thriller, with lively playing by the leads. The central performance of the much underrated Maxwell Reed is especially noteworthy, and the film is all the more impressive for his presence. In fact, was there anyone better in this type of role, in British cinema, during that particular time? It is also interesting, for its time, in that there is a distinct undercurrent of attraction for Reed's character, Frank Smith, by Dr Roberts (Elizabeth Allan) which is clearly magnified during the closing scene of the film when her estranged husband Dr Allen (Patrick Barr) is also present. All-in-all an enjoyable little thriller which, although rarely screened, is well worth catching.

The most bizarre aspect of this competent minor British kidnap thriller is its completely inappropriate packaging as science fiction. The 'Brain Machine' of the title refers to an electroencephalograph which is used by psychologists to identify brainwave patterns characteristic of psychotics. That is indeed a futuristic concept, but the eponymous machine actually only features in the first ten minutes or so. The title sequence is very techy, and the theme tune is the same as the TV serial version of 'Quatermass and the Pit'. Indeed, the opening scene, where the brain machine is introduced to us, is highly reminiscent of scenes in Quatermass, 'X the Unknown' and similar pictures. But after that, the whole thing settles down into thriller mode, with a traditional nick o' time climax. Enjoyable, but misleading.