Black Friday (1940 film)
| Black Friday | |
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Theatrical release poster
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| Directed by | Arthur Lubin |
| Produced by | Burt Kelly |
| Written by |
Curt Siodmak Eric Taylor |
| Starring |
Boris Karloff Béla Lugosi Stanley Ridges Anne Nagel Anne Gwynne |
| Music by | Hans Salter |
| Cinematography | Elwood Bredell |
| Edited by | Phil Cahn |
| Distributed by | Universal Pictures |
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Release date
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Running time
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70 minutes |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
| Budget | $125,750 |
Black Friday is a 1940 American science fiction film starring Boris Karloff. Béla Lugosi, although second-billed, has only a small part in the film and does not appear with Karloff. Writer Curt Siodmak would revisit this theme again in Donovan's Brain (1953) and Hauser's Memory (1970).
The famous Dr. Ernest Sovac's best friend, bookish college professor George Kingsley, is run down while crossing a street. In order to save his friend's life, Sovac implants part of another man's brain into the professor's. Unfortunately, the other man was a gangster who was involved in the accident. The professor recovers but at times behaves like the gangster, and his whole personality changes. Sovac is horrified but also intrigued, because the gangster has hidden $500,000 somewhere in the city. The doctor continues to treat his friend and, when the professor is under the influence of the gangster's brain, Karloff attempts to have the man lead him to the fortune. Béla Lugosi plays a gangster also trying to get his hands on the cash.
The original script cast Lugosi as the doctor and Karloff as the professor. For unknown reasons, Karloff insisted on playing the doctor. Rather than a straight switch though, Lugosi was given the minor role of a rival gangster, while character actor Stanley Ridges was brought in to play the professor.
The film provided a rare opportunity for Ridges.
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Wikipedia