The Man Without a Body (1957)

One of the reasons I love low budget sci-fi movies is that the requirement of the genre to come up with at least something reasonably out of the ordinary results in them occasionally having to rush into realms of strangeness where better movies would fear to tread; and I particularly love OLD sci-fi movies because of their occasional interesting imagery and considerable period charm (cameraman Brendan Stafford duly delivers on both counts with this potboiler shot in 50's London). Unfortunately contemplation of the simple existence of 'The Man Without a Body' is far more appealing than actually having to sit through it.Veteran exploitation producer Guido Coen presumably decided that it was time to try his hand at a sci-fi quickie, but 'The Man Without a Body' still looks and feels more like one of his cheap crime pictures, with a reanimated head grafted on to the plot the way Dr. Philip Merritt eventually grafts one on to his hapless assistant Dr Waldenhouse - which provides the film with its funniest scene as his new creation lumbers out on to the streets. ("You know it's remarkable it's alive, this head mounted on your assistant's body" nonchalantly observes Dr. Alexander (Norman Shelley). "That was quick thinking on your part, doctor, I must admit.") Presumably based on a nodding acquaintance with old Frankenstein movies, screenwriter William Grote (probably a pseudonym, since it's his sole film credit) introduces one truly original idea to this otherwise entirely derivative mishmash by coming up with the astonishing idea of resurrecting the head of that old sixteenth century fraud Nostradamus to provide bullying millionaire Karl Brussard (George Coulouris) with his final desperate bid for longevity; although "original" is probably not quite the word to describe it. Separated from Nostradamus's body at Brussard's behest by a drunken, struck-off surgeon (Tony Quinn) who sneaks into his crypt, Brussard then smuggles the head through customs back to London in a hatbox. As played by Michael Golden, Nostradamus conveniently speaks English, and Coulouris's attempt to employ his brain as a sort of high-definition VHS tape by browbeating him into accepting that his memories and personality are now those of Brussard is what makes this film one of a kind.It took two credited directors - one American - to bring this shambles to the screen, and in addition to Robert Hutton as the inevitable American leading man, 'The Man Without a Body' also manages to have two foreign-accented leading ladies: good girl Julia Arnall from Austria and bad girl Nadja Regin from Serbia.

Karl is an egotistical wealthy rich guy who's got a terminal brain tumor so he goes to London to see Dr. Phil who's been doing some stuff with monkey heads so Karl figures he can do a brain transplant on him but he's gotta find a real brainy brain to train into his brain when it's transplanted into his noggin. Got that? Good. One day he's in Madame Toussad's wax museum, sees and hears about Nostradamus and decides thats whose brain he wants. He pops off to France, hires a boozy Dr. And has him cut off Nostra's head and brings it back to London, hidden in a plaster bust of his no-good, two-timing girl friend who the customs inspector refers to as " your daughter". She's a tad younger than Karl and is playing footsie with Dr. Phil's assistant.Cut to Nostradamus' head on a table in Dr. Phil's laboratory filled with dials and gages, tubes, wires, a pumpy thing and other assorted mad but likable scientist pseudo Dr. Frank N. Stein. Naturally, Nostra comes alive and begins talking. Karl is excited, he has a stroke, but hestill wants Nostra's brain, Then he kills his cheatin' girlfriend and her lover, Dr. Phil's assistant, too. So then Dr. Phil cuts off his killed assistant's head, sews Nostra's head on his body. Nostra head wakes up confused, is violent, escapes and the townsfolk chase him with torches into a building with stairs that lead up an up and up to a belfry. Karl chases him and takes a dive, splat, onto the floor below; the Nostra body sails to the floor too, only Nostra's head is attached to the rope of the bell 'cause he wrapped it around the rope so it was torn from the body. Then the movie is over.

George Coulouris generally played character roles and occasionally second leads. In "The Man Without a Body", he gets his "big chance" to play the lead role in a movie. He should have passed—the movie is so ridiculous that it's laughable.Coulouris played a long line of rich and stuffy businessmen or industrialists, and here he's at it again. Unfortunately, his character is diagnosed with a deadly brain tumor and told to go home and die. Coulouris has a different idea, however: he schemes to exhume and steal the head of 16th-century philosopher Nostradamus, and implant that purloined brain in his skull. His new brain, Coulouris reasons, will have visions of the future, so it'll be great for business! Geez, why didn't I think of that? Coulouris travels to France, makes off with Nostradamus' head (which had been buried for 400 years), and smuggles the head back to the U.S., where he enlists the help of the local mad doctor, Robert Hutton. Somehow, Hutton is able to "activate" Nostradamus' head, so the good doctor and Coulouris can have some pretty interesting conversations with Nostradamus about his prophecies. Hutton's assistant is killed, so Hutton—apparently not wanting to waste a perfectly good 400-year-old head—transplants Nostradamus' head onto the assistant's body. The Nostradamus/assistant transplant guy naturally gets loose and goes for a stroll, falling to his death after a few preposterous scenes.I certainly hope Coulouris and Hutton were well-paid for this mess, because the film truly is dreadful. Imaginative? Yes. Good? Not at all. However, the animated conversations with a Nostradamus' old, old head are sort of entertaining, even if they're entertaining in the wrong way. You've been warned.

Man Without a Body, The (1957) * 1/2 (out of 4) A wealthy businessman learns he has a brain tumor but thankfully he's met a doctor who's doing experiments on head transplants. The rich man decides to steal the head of Nostradamus and put on his body. There are a few interesting ideas scattered throughout the film but the poor direction and screenplay doesn't allow anything good to happen. I think a better screenplay could have made this one of the better horror films of its era but what we end up with is nothing more than a disappointment. The film is way too slow and overly long, which is never good for a horror film.