<< 1 >>
Rating: 
Summary: Boris Karloff and Christopher Lee in the same horror film
Review: "Corridors of Blood" takes us back to the early 19th-Century, when operations were performed without anesthesia. Boris Karloff plays Dr. Bolton, a surgeon who wants to eliminate the pain and suffering patients endure during surgery. However, while experimenting on himself, Bolton becomes addicted to the drugs. Then, during a demonstration of his anesthetic gas, Bolton's patient revives and goes beserk. In disgrace, Bolton ends up in partnership with Black Ben (Francis De Wolff), the owner of the Seven Dials, a disreputable tavern. Black Ben and his hulking assistant Resurrection Joe (Christopher Lee), want to make money selling cadavers to hospitals, so they trade Bolton the drugs he wants in exchange for faked death certificates. This 1963 film was originally entitled "Doctor from Seven Dials" and was shot back-to-back with "The Haunted Stranger," both films directed by Robert Day. This is one of several films in which Karloff tries to do good things for the benefit of mankind but evil ends up as a sort of inevitable result. However, "Corridors of Blood" is one of the few films in which the actor's character does not end up going off on a killing spree. The film starts off well, showing the barbaric surgeries of the day, but once Karloff ends up at the Seven Dials it is just a question of waiting for the final killing spree to begin. A below average film despite Karloff's best efforts, today "Corridors of Blood" is remembered only because it has both Karloff and Christopher Lee.
Rating:
Summary: Boris Karloff and Christopher Lee in the same horror film
Review: "Corridors of Blood" takes us back to the early 19th-Century, when operations were performed without anesthesia. Boris Karloff plays Dr. Bolton, a surgeon who wants to eliminate the pain and suffering patients endure during surgery. However, while experimenting on himself, Bolton becomes addicted to the drugs. Then, during a demonstration of his anesthetic gas, Bolton's patient revives and goes beserk. In disgrace, Bolton ends up in partnership with Black Ben (Francis De Wolff), the owner of the Seven Dials, a disreputable tavern. Black Ben and his hulking assistant Resurrection Joe (Christopher Lee), want to make money selling cadavers to hospitals, so they trade Bolton the drugs he wants in exchange for faked death certificates. This 1963 film was originally entitled "Doctor from Seven Dials" and was shot back-to-back with "The Haunted Stranger," both films directed by Robert Day. This is one of several films in which Karloff tries to do good things for the benefit of mankind but evil ends up as a sort of inevitable result. However, "Corridors of Blood" is one of the few films in which the actor's character does not end up going off on a killing spree. The film starts off well, showing the barbaric surgeries of the day, but once Karloff ends up at the Seven Dials it is just a question of waiting for the final killing spree to begin. A below average film despite Karloff's best efforts, today "Corridors of Blood" is remembered only because it has both Karloff and Christopher Lee.
Rating:
Summary: Boris Karloff and Christopher Lee in the same horror film
Review: "Corridors of Blood" takes us back to the early 19th-Century, when operations were performed without anesthesia. Boris Karloff plays Dr. Bolton, a surgeon who wants to eliminate the pain and suffering patients endure during surgery. However, while experimenting on himself, Bolton becomes addicted to the drugs. Then, during a demonstration of his anesthetic gas, Bolton's patient revives and goes beserk. In disgrace, Bolton ends up in partnership with Black Ben (Francis De Wolff), the owner of the Seven Dials, a disreputable tavern. Black Ben and his hulking assistant Resurrection Joe (Christopher Lee), want to make money selling cadavers to hospitals, so they trade Bolton the drugs he wants in exchange for faked death certificates. This 1963 film was originally entitled "Doctor from Seven Dials" and was shot back-to-back with "The Haunted Stranger," both films directed by Robert Day. This is one of several films in which Karloff tries to do good things for the benefit of mankind but evil ends up as a sort of inevitable result. However, "Corridors of Blood" is one of the few films in which the actor's character does not end up going off on a killing spree. The film starts off well, showing the barbaric surgeries of the day, but once Karloff ends up at the Seven Dials it is just a question of waiting for the final killing spree to begin. A below average film despite Karloff's best efforts, today "Corridors of Blood" is remembered only because it has both Karloff and Christopher Lee.
Rating: 
Summary: Karloff & Lee - together!
Review: Poor Dr. Thomas Bolton (Karloff). He's a compassionate, elderly British surgeon in the days before anesthesia. Tired of seeing his patients undergo excruciating agonies on the operating table, Bolton is working doggedly to concoct a drug which will banish pain and allow his patients to feel nothing during surgery. A failed and humiliating demonstration of his new drug before his professional peers makes Bolton even more determined to prove them wrong when they insist, "Pain and the knife are one." Alas, as Bolton conducts experiments upon himself in pursuit of his dream, he becomes addicted to his own formula. His hands - once known for their speed with a knife in the surgical theatre - shake and betray him. His memory fails him; he can't remember what happens to him while under the sway of his formula. He begins to deteriorate. The hospital's executive committee denies Bolton another chance to prove his work's validity and puts him, more or less, on "informal leave", suspending his privileges at the hospital's dispensary - the only place he can get the drugs necessary for both his research and his addiction. Bolton falls in with a reprehensible crowd of no-gooders, including the elegant but menacing Resurrection Joe (Christopher Lee), a soulless killer with a penchant for smothering his victims with pillows. In return for getting Dr. Bolton the drugs he now craves both for his experiments and for himself, these body snatchers, who have been murdering drunken alehouse customers and passing them off as natural deaths, manipulate Bolton into a Faustian bargain to sign the death certificates of their hapless victims so they might sell the bodies to the hospitals for teaching purposes and collect the money. The reason I gave this DVD only 4 stars, rather than 5, had nothing whatsoever to do with my total enjoyment of this film. Indeed, the print is excellent and the sound quality clear and distinctive. The one complaint I have is that there is only one "extra" on the DVD - the film's original theatrical trailer. I would have liked to have seen at least an interactive cast listing and additional information on the film itself. Other than that, it's great to see Karloff and Lee in the same production. They just ... belong together in a movie frame, I think. The violence is more implied than shown, making poor Bolton's situation even more tragic, and Karloff plays him sympathetically yet strongly. I think anyone who is a fan of Boris Karloff, Christopher Lee or horror films in general will delight in seeing "Corridors of Blood".
Rating:
Summary: Karloff & Lee - together!
Review: Poor Dr. Thomas Bolton (Karloff). He's a compassionate, elderly British surgeon in the days before anesthesia. Tired of seeing his patients undergo excruciating agonies on the operating table, Bolton is working doggedly to concoct a drug which will banish pain and allow his patients to feel nothing during surgery. A failed and humiliating demonstration of his new drug before his professional peers makes Bolton even more determined to prove them wrong when they insist, "Pain and the knife are one." Alas, as Bolton conducts experiments upon himself in pursuit of his dream, he becomes addicted to his own formula. His hands - once known for their speed with a knife in the surgical theatre - shake and betray him. His memory fails him; he can't remember what happens to him while under the sway of his formula. He begins to deteriorate. The hospital's executive committee denies Bolton another chance to prove his work's validity and puts him, more or less, on "informal leave", suspending his privileges at the hospital's dispensary - the only place he can get the drugs necessary for both his research and his addiction. Bolton falls in with a reprehensible crowd of no-gooders, including the elegant but menacing Resurrection Joe (Christopher Lee), a soulless killer with a penchant for smothering his victims with pillows. In return for getting Dr. Bolton the drugs he now craves both for his experiments and for himself, these body snatchers, who have been murdering drunken alehouse customers and passing them off as natural deaths, manipulate Bolton into a Faustian bargain to sign the death certificates of their hapless victims so they might sell the bodies to the hospitals for teaching purposes and collect the money. The reason I gave this DVD only 4 stars, rather than 5, had nothing whatsoever to do with my total enjoyment of this film. Indeed, the print is excellent and the sound quality clear and distinctive. The one complaint I have is that there is only one "extra" on the DVD - the film's original theatrical trailer. I would have liked to have seen at least an interactive cast listing and additional information on the film itself. Other than that, it's great to see Karloff and Lee in the same production. They just ... belong together in a movie frame, I think. The violence is more implied than shown, making poor Bolton's situation even more tragic, and Karloff plays him sympathetically yet strongly. I think anyone who is a fan of Boris Karloff, Christopher Lee or horror films in general will delight in seeing "Corridors of Blood".
Rating: 
Summary: Medical History film a treasure among very few
Review: this film is excellent from a Historical point of view, Times of events, ect are changed, but for detail, correct in everyway. I only have one complaint at the end of the film it says 1840 instead of 1846, but that is a personel fault of mine, !I'm too picky for Medical Historical correctness" Definately based On Horance Wells, (His attempt at painless surgery failed in 1844, too litle gas). there are not enougth Medical History films and this one I watch a lot, Never mind who is in it if you like History films, especially Medical ones add this to your collection.
Rating:
Summary: Medical History film a treasure among very few
Review: this film is excellent from a Historical point of view, Times of events, ect are changed, but for detail, correct in everyway. I only have one complaint at the end of the film it says 1840 instead of 1846, but that is a personel fault of mine, !I'm too picky for Medical Historical correctness" Definately based On Horance Wells, (His attempt at painless surgery failed in 1844, too litle gas). there are not enougth Medical History films and this one I watch a lot, Never mind who is in it if you like History films, especially Medical ones add this to your collection.
Rating:
Summary: Best of the later Karloff's.
Review: This is an old favorite of mine; it also happens to be one of Karloff's best later performances. He's perfect as the kind elderly doctor who gets involved with the wrong people, one of them being Christopher Lee as grave-robber Resurrection Joe (!). And the always good Francis Matthews is, well, good as always. (The film is actually close in tone to "The Body Snatcher", but Karloff's part here is a quite different one.) You really feel deeply for the poor doc, thanks to the great Boris. The b/w movie may look like a Hammer film, but I wouldn't call it a Horror movie. -Sure, it's got some "horrific" scenes, but overall it looks more like a nice period drama stuck with a misleading title. (-If they had to give it such an awful title; something like "Corridors Of Pain" might have been a better choice, considering there are more screams heard than blood seen.) It's not only the best of his last films, but among the very best of his massive and impressive body of work.
<< 1 >>
|
