Anne Heywood

Peter van Eyck

Cecil Parker

Bernard Lee

Ellen Schwiers

Siegfried Lowitz

Hans Nielsen

Jeremy Spenser

Maxine Audley

Jack MacGowran

Miles Malleson

George A. Cooper

Dieter Borsche

Ann Sears

Irene Richmond

Allan Cuthbertson

Bandana Das Gupta

Alister Williamson

Patsy Rowlands

Bryan Pringle

Freddie Francis

Robert Banks Stewart

Philip Mackie

Curt Siodmak

Kenneth V. Jones

Robert Huke

Science Fiction

Crime

Horror

The Brain

Raymond Stross Productions

CCC Filmkunst

Germany

United Kingdom

Instrument of Terror!

An adaptation of film noir legend Curt Siodmak's novel, Donovan's Brain, The Brain offers up a murder mystery narrative to go with the mad science angle. It's not particularly thrilling but it does tick along nicely and director Freddie Francis has a keen eye for scene staging. Cast features Peter Van Eyck, Anne Heywood, Cecil Parker and Bernard Lee, and they all do what is required to make the material work. Stand out moments involve some delightfully monstrous paintings, a lie detector scene and all the sequences where Van Eyck is possessed by the brain of the powerful industrialist who was murdered by person or persons unknown. Good and safe "B" schlocky fare for the so inclined. 6/10

English