The Lady and the Monster

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Movie
German title The Lady and the Monster
Original title The Lady and the Monster
Country of production United States
original language English
Publishing year 1944
length 82, republished in 1949 , 67 minutes
Rod
Director George Sherman
script Frederick Kohner ,
Dane Lussier
production George Sherman
music Gonzalo Roig ,
Walter Scharf ,
Jack Sherr ,
Augustin Rodriguez
camera John Alton
cut Arthur Roberts
occupation

The Lady and the Monster is a 1944 US- made film directed by George Sherman and based on the horror novel "Donovan's Brain" by Curt Siodmak . In addition to Vera Hruba Ralston , Richard Arlen and Erich von Stroheim are cast in the leading roles.

action

The story begins on the edge of an Arizona desert . Professor Franz Mueller, a brilliant scientist, has settled there in a Gothic castle. Together with his assistant Dr. Patrick Cory, he conducts experiments with animals. They conserve the brains of deceased monkeys to see how long they'll keep responding.

When a plane crashes nearby, Dr. Mueller called and brought a survivor to the castle. The man dies and Mueller takes his brain and puts it in an electrolytic solution to keep it alive. The dead person is the industrialist and millionaire William H. Donovan. Mueller's experiments with his brain soon lead to the fact that the brain sends telepathic messages to the assistant Cory and at times even takes complete possession of him: Corey's thoughts are now the thoughts of Donovan, which force him to follow the dictates of the dead man.

Since Donovan left next to nothing in his will for his wife Chloe, Chloe's attorney and lover Eugene Fulton hopes to get through Donovan's brain to find out where Donovan has hidden his fortune. So he keeps to himself that he knows the scientist's secret experiments.

Janice Farrell, a young woman who lives and works in the castle and is in love with Cory, feels increasingly unsettled by his change in character. Not only Mueller, but also she realizes that the brain has taken possession of Cory's body and is imposing its will on him. Cory withdraws large sums of money from Donovan's hidden accounts in order to get the convicted murderer Roger Collins out of prison. Collins refuses to help, however, as he does not believe in a release as long as the young Mary Lou, who witnessed the crime, sticks to her testimony. Janice learns from investigator Grimes, who has been hired by Chloe Donovan and her lawyer, that Cory is trying to bribe the witness to withdraw her testimony. Grimes knows of Donovan's dirty dealings, with which he tried to get rid of his opponents and unwelcome business partners. He assumes that Mary-Lou should now be silenced in the same way. In fact, Donovan used Cory's body in an attempt to get rid of Mary Lou in a car accident. When Janice tries to stop Cory, he tries to kill her.

Now Mueller's former lover, the housekeeper Missis Fame, intervenes and feeds the brain with sedatives , so that it loses control over Cory, who has now regained his old consciousness. Cory tells Janice that Collins is Donovan's illegitimate son and that Donovan himself committed the murder for which Collins was convicted.

After his return to the castle, Cory tries in vain to persuade Mueller to stop his experiments. A fight ensues between the men, with Mueller being shot by the housekeeper and Donovan's brain being thrown on the floor. Cory ensures that Collins is finally released from prison while awaiting a brief sentence for his involvement in the brain experiment. Janice assures Cory that she will wait for him.

production

Production notes

It is a Republic Production screened film that was shot at Republic Studios in Hollywood .

The critics took offense again and again at the title The Lady and the Monster , because it was simply misleading, since the film is not primarily about a lady and secondly it does not really contain a monster. The greenish man with the claws depicted on various film posters has absolutely nothing to do with the film. It can be assumed that both the title and the poster have their origins in trying to lure fans of the monster film into the cinemas.

background

Ralston was a Czech figure skater who ended up in the United States, where she married Herbert Yates , the founder and president of Republic Studios. He often tried to use her as the lead actress in a movie, although her lack of talent for the profession was evident. She even won an award for Worst Actress Ever.

Rivets on the Poster reported that long-time Republic Pictures director George Sherman stopped working with the studio because of this film for fear that he would have to make another film with Vera (Hruda) Ralston. Ralston spoke little English and learned her lines phonetically, often without knowing exactly what she was talking about. John Wayne , who had made two films with her for Republic, also threatened to never work for the studio again if he was to shoot with Ralston again. In 1959, Yates was forced to retire from top management under pressure from dissatisfied shareholders. That also meant the end of Ralston's acting career.

Soundtrack

  • Yours (Quiéreme Mucho) ,

Differences between book and film

Instead of the small house and doctor's office in the novel, we get to see an imposing property in the film, known as The Castle . The story is based close to the book, at least closer than the film adaptation of 1953 Donovan's Brain (original title Donovan's Brain ) and 1962 A dead man seeks his murderer (OT The Brain ). The main character in the book is Dr. Patrick Cory, who only played the assistant role of Dr. Mueller holds. This Dr. A club-footed mad scientist, Mueller is a character invented by the screenwriters, as is the character Janice Farrell. In addition, Dr. Cory is married in the book, Janice is his girlfriend in the film, but Dr. Mueller is in love, although she is not interested in him as a man.

reception

publication

The film premiered in the United States on April 17, 1944. It ran in Mexico on December 8, 1944, in Sweden in August 1945, in Portugal in August 1946 and in Belgium (Brussels) in February 1948. It was also published in Brazil, Spain, the United Kingdom, Greece and Italy .

In the US, the film was also released under the other titles Monster & Tiger Man and Tiger Man . The original title of the script was The Monster and the Lady . The working titles were The Green Monster and The Monster . The film was advertised on the movie posters as follows: The most amazing story the big screen has ever told! A great scientist with limitless powers, drawn into strange, lawless experiments by the lure of a fabulous beauty in a woman! Feels like a scream in the night! or: An inevitable fate awaited them ... ruled by the will of a brilliant scientist who was overwhelmed by insurmountable longings! or also: its strange beauty led him to penetrate the unknown ... the forbidden secrets of love ... and life!

criticism

Avoire-Alire said the film could not choose between the genres of horror film, science fiction and thriller, which made it seem torn. Fortunately, Erich von Stroheim was able to sublimate all of this in his scenes, he gave his character a demonic depth. Exactly the opposite applies to the Czech-born actress Vera Ralston, who always looks awkward in her scenes and whose charisma leaves much to be desired.

For Fantastic Movie Musings and Ramblings, however, this early adaptation of the novel was much more horror-oriented than the more famous version from the 1950s. It is interesting to compare the two films with each other. The participation of Erich von Stroheim was, as expected, a lot of fun and his presence contributed to a better ending than the 'Hand of God' in the later version. Again it was said that Vera Hruba Ralston was pretty terrible. All in all, the film is okay.

Scifist praised that the film was well shot in Gothic noir style and that Erich von Stroheim and Richard Arlen were good actors. All of this fails, however, because of the hideously wooden drama of the Czechoslovakian skater and friend of the studio boss Eva Hruba Ralston in her first role in a feature film. The film is certainly not the best, but historically quite remarkable because it is the first of its kind. The idea of ​​brain transplantation is of course of central importance for the entire Frankenstein tradition. The Lady and the Monster is also probably the first film in which a brain without a body can be seen. But what makes the film so special are the breathtaking lighting and photography by John Alton.

On Horror Incorporated you could read one of the few reviews that Ralston didn't completely piss off. It has been pointed out that leading men of the time were known to step down from projects in which Ralston was supposed to play. She was so ridiculed in the industry, which was a real shame. Because she was not the worst actress and one could not blame her for taking over the leading roles offered to her. And if you hadn't heard and read over and over again how bad it was, you would probably have dismissed its performance with average.

Cinefania highlighted the work of the camera as particularly valuable and spoke of a narrative aesthetic by cameraman John Alton, reminiscent of Goya's visions in the close-up shots with faces illuminated from below or completely covered except for the eyes. Every shot is exactly as it would have been in a good film in the 1930s, whose expressionist legacy is still alive.

Filmfanatic was also very impressed by John Alton's camera work, which featured creepy, shadowy Gothic sets and breathtaking noir cinematography. Again, Erich von Stroheim was praised, whereas Vera Hruba Ralston was also certified as a notoriously terrible performance. The film is not necessarily worth seeing, but is always worth a look if you have the opportunity to see it.

Derek Winnert found that this was a thoroughly ridiculous story that also embarrassed itself with poor performance. Nevertheless, it also offers a nice mix of annoying moments, especially when it is nearing its climax and Stroheim's extremely exaggerated performance also offers pure joy.

Also rivets on the posters paid tribute to Erich von Stroheim and his performance respect and wrote, despite the presence of defects, this is an elegant version of the story, which you give preference over the other two films, because these, after all, no Erich had had von Stroheim.

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b The Lady and the Monster sS the telltalemind.com (English, including illustrations of numerous film posters and film images).
  2. ↑ a b c The Lady and the Monster sS scifist.wordpress.com (English). Retrieved August 24, 2018.
  3. ↑ The Lady and the Monster sS moria.co.nz (English). Retrieved August 24, 2018.
  4. ↑ a b c The Lady and the Monster (1944) sS rivetsontheposter.wordpress.com. (English, including the original film). Retrieved August 24, 2018.
  5. ^ The Lady and the Monster - Le cerveau lent sS avoir-alire.com (French). Retrieved August 24, 2018.
  6. ↑ The Lady and the Monster sS fantasticmoviemusings.com (English). Retrieved August 24, 2018.
  7. ↑ The Lady and the Monster sS untitledhorrorincorporatedproject.blogspot.com (English). Retrieved August 24, 2018.
  8. ^ The Lady and the Monster sS cinefania.com (Spanish). Retrieved August 24, 2018.
  9. ↑ The Lady and the Monster sS filmfanatic.org (English). Retrieved August 24, 2018.
  10. ↑ The Lady and the Monster sS derekwinnert.com (English). Retrieved August 24, 2018.