The Lady and the Monster (1944)

...And she still has the worst line delivery in screen history!Perhaps it was the melodramatic performance of Erich Von Stroheim or the strange set or the way this "A" feature from a "B-" studio was filmed. Perhaps it is because it is a more detailed film of "Donovan's Brain" with excellent character development and even better story telling than the good United Artists remake from just nine years later. So somewhere in the Arizona desert is a gloomy looking mansion where doctors Erich Von Stroheim and Richard Arlen are doing experiments on animals to see if their brains continue to work after the animal's heart has stopped beating and they have been pronounced dead. A monkey dying of lymphoma is experimented on, and the brain continues to thrive for an hour after the poor cute little creature has passed on. This inspires the bellowing Von Stroheim to take the step further: to try it on a human! He has his hands full, being domineering to his nurse (Ralston) who is in love with Von Stroheim's assistant (Richard Arlen) whom Von Stroheim considers unworthy of her. A convenient plane crash gives Von Stroheim an excuse to interrupt Arlen and Ralston's date, sending them to the sight of the crash to retrieve the dead body of a passenger (named Donovan, an alleged financial wizard) for an autopsy. Realizing that while Donovan is dead, his brain is still functioning makes Von Stroheim decided to remove the brain for further experimentation in hopefully using this for the good of society to keep the great deeds and words of great men going. But was Donovan really the great man they believe? A visit from his widow opens up that can of worms, and Arlen is soon used as a vessel to bring Donovan's spirit back to life, not necessarily a good thing.It's easy to see why Herbert J. Yates, the head of Republic Studios, thought he could make a silk purse actress out of a sow's ear non-actress, as Ralston is very photogenic here, but unfortunately, that never transfers onto the screen as either great acting or star quality. She's very hesitant in taking chances, and as a result, comes off bland and unsure of herself. Making matters worse is pairing her opposite two film veterans from the silent era. Arlen, still handsome, is very good in going between his noble assistant and the increasingly evil Donovan, while Von Stroheim blasts his lines as if he was Harry James or Glenn Miller leading their bands. Mary Nash, as Von Stroheim's Mrs. Danvers like housekeeper, gives a slow volcanic rising performance, initially cool and dark, and as she begins to see the sinister things rising around her, daring to stand up to Von Stroheim in some shocking ways. Helen Vinson, as Donovan's widow, and Sidney Blackmer, as her attorney lover, are also memorable in their smaller roles, but the screaming Juanita Quigley as a young girl involved in a plot twist involving Donovan, is majorly annoying.Aided by excellent photography, lighting and the genuinely ghoulish atmosphere, this thriller has enough of an edge to keep you hooked, and for that reason, I rate it two stars higher than its better known 1950's remake. Von Stroheim keeps in character throughout, manages to emote over dramatically without somehow becoming too campy or over-the-top, and Arlen gives it a true touch of class. Even with the complete non-acting of Vera Hruba Ralston, the film stays devoted to its theme of how mankind should not interfere in extending life beyond its expiration date, and how when they do, it turns out to be a complete disaster for everybody involved.

Lady and the Monster, The (1944) ** (out of 4) Professor Franz Mueller (Erich von Stroheim) and his assistant Dr. Cory (Richard Arlen) are doing experiments on keeping the brain of an animal alive but they get their chance at a human one after a rich man named Donovan dies. They end up saving Donovan's brain but soon it begins to take control of Cory and sends him out to finish his bad deeds. Curt Siodmak's novel "Donovan's Brain" has been filmed countless times over the years and there have been even more rip-offs. I've never been a huge fan of the story because none of the film versions have really worked. This includes the first version, which is this Republic chiller that has a few good performances but sadly the end result just isn't all that good. One of the biggest problems is the incredibly slow pace by director George Sherman who never gets anything going. The entire movie runs 86-minutes but it feels nearly twice as long because we just get one boring sequence after another. A lot of the problems are long dialogue sequences that really don't add up to anything. This includes just about everything dealing with the dead man's widow who is trying to figure out where he late husband hid all of his money. The stuff dealing with Cory trying to close out various deals of Donovan's just don't work. Even worse is the silly love connection between Cory and another assistant (Vera Ralston), which really slows the movie down. It's funny to see that the movie would be re-released in 1949 but with nearly nineteen-minutes worth of footage cut out. I'm not one who supports studios cutting down movies but there have been many times where a shorter version helped and I'm going to guess that this is such a case. There are some good elements here and they're mainly the performances. I was really surprised to see how effective Arlen (ISLAND OF LOST SOULS) was. Not only was he very believable as the scientist but his turn as the bad guy was also well handled. The actor did a very good job at mixing the good and the bad and he certainly made the film much better. von Stroheim is also fun in his part, although at the same time you can't help but shake your head when seeing such a great talent playing in a film like this. Ralston is quite annoying in her part but perhaps that was on purpose. THE LADY AND THE MONSTER hasn't had a wide release since it first came out and after finally seeing it I can't say that it was worth the wait.

The Lady and The Monster is a fairly watchable version of Curt Siodmak's novel Donovan's Brain. Siodmak himself, who authored or co-authored such films as Black Friday, The Wolf Man, I Walked With A Zombie and Frankenstein Meets The Wolf Man was never much taken with this version of his story from Republic Pictures. True, it takes quite a while to get going, but it's a pretty good movie overall.Richard Arlen is quite convincing as the research assistant taken over by the mind of a ruthless financier, at times glacial and on other occasions domineering and aggressive. Eric Von Stroheim plays the scientist who keeps Donovan's brain alive after the businessman's body dies in a plane crash. He's a pretty obvious villain from the start without an ounce of sympathy; and headlining is Vera Hruba Ralston as his assistant. She delivers an almost expressionless and deadening performance, and as the direction and cinematography are no great shakes it's left to the story itself to hold the interest. Thankfully it does.The best part of the movie for me is when Arlen's character goes into high gear. Controlled by Donovan, he will stop at nothing to get his unacknowledged son off a murder conviction (it was the financier himself who did the killing), including attempting to run down a school girl witness in the street.This is not really a horror movie despite the title but it does have some of the trappings of the genre - a laboratory sequence slightly patterned after the Frankenstein movies, the mad scientist, Arlen as a sort of monster etc. Perhaps it might have worked better with superior handling and budget. At 90 minutes the pace occasionally slackens but it's well worth a look.

THE LADY AND THE MONSTER is the first version of Curt Siodmak's often filmed novel "Donovan's Brain". This first version is largely forgotten, and those that recall it usually dis-miss it as inferior to the 1953 version DONOVAN'S BRAIN with Lew Ayres. While the 1953 version is superior in almost every way, THE LADY AND THE MONSTER is still an entertaining, atmospheric 1940's thriller.The plot is basically the same, but in this version the living brain of Donovan possesses the mind of scientist Richard Arlen to clear his illegitimate son who has been wrongly convicted of murder. The brain also wants to get revenge on his daughter, whom is just as money hungry and ruthless as Donovan was in "life." Even though Donovan's goals are good, his disembodied brain is still ruthless; he orders the possessed Arlen to kill a girl who gave false testimony at his son's trial.We can always tell when Donovan is about to possess Arlen, the lighting and Arlen's make-up changes. The 1953 version employed no such tricks, and relied entirely on the acting skills of Lew Ayers. (See my entry on that version). Erich Von Stroheim plays the elder scientist, and as with any film he was in, he was always a commanding presence. There are hints of him having an unhealthy infatuation with Vera Ralston, but this doesn't lead anywhere.Overall, LADY AND THE MONSTER isn't as good as the later 1953 version, but it is still a decent 1940's horror thriller.