Donovan's Brain

A reanimated brain psychically manipulates a man to help it continue to avoid income tax even after its death. One must wonder how many times a week Donald Trump beats off to this premise.

Sci-Fi das Antigas #1

An evil brain gets a second chance at life and uses every resource available to clear its corpse of income tax evasion. And you thought The Emperor leveraging trade agreements was the embodiment of The Dark Side! Of all the hair brained... brain transplant films this is perhaps the most unimaginative use of an imaginative situation. Ayres and Evans are quite good as buddy Docs though, playing off each other well. The pacing feels brisk and is well shot but there's not much else to recommend.

This conceptually interesting mixture of sci-fi and noir, competently acted and directed, just misses rising above the ordinary. Points of interest: 1) Nancy Davis (later Reagan) practicing her adoring wife look on her mad scientist husband, 2) a nice thematic use of lightning as life-taking, rather than life-giving, for the monster, and 3) a fine Jekyll and Hyde performance from Lew Ayres. Minus: the sinister floating brain looks really stupid and silly.

Competent and watchable but kind of ordinary