''The Black Sleep'' is a 1956 American
independent
Independent or Independents may refer to:
Arts, entertainment, and media Artist groups
* Independents (artist group), a group of modernist painters based in the New Hope, Pennsylvania, area of the United States during the early 1930s
* Independ ...
horror film
Horror is a film genre that seeks to elicit fear or disgust in its audience for entertainment purposes.
Horror films often explore dark subject matter and may deal with transgressive topics or themes. Broad elements include monsters, apoca ...
directed by
Reginald LeBorg
Reginald Le Borg (11 December 1902 – 25 March 1989) was an Austrian film director. He was born in Vienna, Austria with the surname Groebel and directed 68 films between 1936 and 1974.
Le Borg made a series of low-budget horror films at Un ...
, and written by
John C. Higgins
John Clarence Higgins (April 28, 1908 – July 2, 1995) was a Canadian-American screenwriter.
History
During the 1930s and early 1940s, Higgins worked on mostly complex murder mystery films, including the Spencer Tracy film '' Murder Man'' ( ...
from a story by
Gerald Drayson Adams
Gerald Drayson Adams (June 25, 1900 – August 23, 1988) was a former business executive and literary agent when he began writing for films in the 1940s. The Oxford University-educated Adams specialized in action/adventure and western films. His ...
. It stars
Basil Rathbone
Philip St. John Basil Rathbone MC (13 June 1892 – 21 July 1967) was a South African-born English actor. He rose to prominence in the United Kingdom as a Shakespearean stage actor and went on to appear in more than 70 films, primarily costume ...
,
Lon Chaney Jr.
Creighton Tull Chaney (February10, 1906 – July12, 1973), known by his stage name Lon Chaney Jr., was an American actor known for playing Larry Talbot in the film '' The Wolf Man'' (1941) and its various crossovers, Count Alucard (Dra ...
,
John Carradine
John Carradine ( ; born Richmond Reed Carradine; February 5, 1906 – November 27, 1988) was an American actor, considered one of the greatest character actors in American cinema. He was a member of Cecil B. DeMille's stock company and later Jo ...
,
Bela Lugosi
Béla Ferenc Dezső Blaskó (; October 20, 1882 – August 16, 1956), known professionally as Bela Lugosi (; ), was a Hungarian and American actor best remembered for portraying Count Dracula in the 1931 horror classic ''Dracula'', Ygor in ''S ...
, and
Akim Tamiroff
Akim Mikhailovich Tamiroff, russian: Аким Михайлович Тамиров (born Hovakim Tamiryants; October 29, 1899 – September 17, 1972) was an Armenian-American actor of film, stage, and television. One of the premier character act ...
.
Tor Johnson
Karl Erik Tore Johansson (19 October 1902 or 1903; sources differ – 12 May 1971), better known by the stage name Tor Johnson, was a Swedish professional wrestler and actor. As an actor, Johnson appeared in many B-movies, including some famous ...
appears in a supporting role. The film was produced by
Aubrey Schenck
Aubrey Schenck (August 26, 1908, New York City – April 14, 1999, Murrieta, California) was an American film producer from the 1940s through the 1970s.
Biography
The son of George Schenck, a Russian immigrant theatrical manager, and Mary Schen ...
and
Howard W. Koch
Howard Winchel Koch (April 11, 1916 – February 16, 2001) was an American producer and director of film and television.
Life and career
Koch was born in New York City, the son of Beatrice (Winchel) and William Jacob Koch. His family was Jewish. ...
, as part of a four-picture finance-for-distribution arrangement with
United Artists
United Artists Corporation (UA), currently doing business as United Artists Digital Studios, is an American digital production company. Founded in 1919 by D. W. Griffith, Charlie Chaplin, Mary Pickford, and Douglas Fairbanks, the studi ...
.
The film marked Bela Lugosi's last complete role before his death in August 1956, although some scenes featuring Lugosi were later included in
Ed Wood
Edward Davis Wood Jr. (October 10, 1924 – December 10, 1978) was an American filmmaker,
actor, and pulp novel author.
In the 1950s, Wood directed several low-budget science fiction, crime and horror films that later became cult cla ...
's ''
Plan 9 from Outer Space
''Plan 9 from Outer Space'' is a 1957 American independent science fiction-horror film produced, written, directed, and edited by Ed Wood. The film was shot in black-and-white in November 1956 and had a theatrical preview screening on March 15 ...
'' (in which Tor Johnson also appears), completed in 1957 but not released for
distribution Distribution may refer to:
Mathematics
*Distribution (mathematics), generalized functions used to formulate solutions of partial differential equations
* Probability distribution, the probability of a particular value or value range of a vari ...
until 1959.
The film was released as a
double feature
The double feature is a motion picture industry phenomenon in which theatres would exhibit two films for the price of one, supplanting an earlier format in which one feature film and various short subject reels would be shown.
Opera use
Opera ho ...
with the 1955 British film ''
The Creeping Unknown
''The Quatermass Xperiment'' (a.k.a. ''The Creeping Unknown'' in the United States) is a 1955 British science fiction horror film from Hammer Film Productions, based on the 1953 BBC Television serial '' The Quatermass Experiment'' written by N ...
'' (the title of the re-edited American release of the British film ''
The Quatermass Xperiment
''The Quatermass Xperiment'' (a.k.a. ''The Creeping Unknown'' in the United States) is a 1955 British science fiction horror film from Hammer Film Productions, based on the 1953 BBC Television serial ''The Quatermass Experiment'' written by Ni ...
''). ''The Black Sleep'' was supposedly re-released in 1962 under the title ''Dr. Cadman's Secret'', but it is not clear that it received distribution under that name.
Plot
In a London prison in 1872, Dr. Gordon Ramsay is awaiting execution for the murder of a man named Curry, despite his claims of innocence. He is visited by renowned surgeon Sir Joel Cadman, who offers him a chance to save his life in exchange for assisting Cadman with experiments at his estate. Cadman gives Ramsay a potion that he calls "The Black Sleep," which induces a deathlike state that can lead to actual death if an antidote is not administered in time. The next morning, Ramsay is discovered in his cell, apparently dead, and Cadman takes the body, supposedly for burial, with his assistant Odo.
When Ramsay is revived at Cadman's estate, he is startled by screams from a young woman named Laurie, who is being attacked by a large man named Mungo. The only person who can control Mungo is Cadman's nurse, Daphne, who quiets the attacker and leads him away. Later, Cadman and Daphne visit the bedroom of Cadman's wife Angelina, who is comatose from an inoperable
brain tumor
A brain tumor occurs when abnormal cells form within the brain. There are two main types of tumors: malignant tumors and benign (non-cancerous) tumors. These can be further classified as primary tumors, which start within the brain, and seconda ...
. Cadman vows that he will find a way to operate on Angelina and save her life. However, when he next meets with Ramsay, Cadman tells him that he is conducting experiments on human brains to help restore creatures like Mungo and his mute servant Casimir to normal condition. Mungo, it turns out, was actually a Doctor Monroe, one of Ramsay's former teachers, whom Cadman claims he is trying to help through his research.
In a hidden laboratory/operating room in the manor, Ramsay observes Cadman's experiment on a man's brain, with Lucy and Daphne assisting. He is taken aback, though, when he sees
cerebral fluid leaking from the subject's exposed brain, indicating that he is still alive. Cadman regards potential brain injury as a necessary risk for the greater good that his experiments will produce, testing different regions of the brain to map their functions. That night, though, Laurie tells Ramsay that she thinks she can trust him and that she is actually Dr. Monroe's daughter. Her father's current state as "Mungo" was caused by an operation by Cadman. When confronted by Ramsay, Cadman admits that he was responsible and says that he is working to reverse and atone for his mistakes, but he does not mention his wife and her condition.
Back in London, Odo has slipped the Black Sleep potion to a woman who knows the truth about the man Curry whom Ramsay was alleged to have killed. When the police arrive looking for her, Odo claims not to know where she is and disposes of the antidote that could revive her. At Cadman's manor, Ramsay and Laurie have concluded that Cadman's last subject was the still-living Curry and seek further evidence. In a hidden dungeon, they find locked cells with other living subjects of Cadman's experiments, all now mad and disfigured. Cadman, Daphne, Mungo, and Casimir capture Ramsay and Laurie but drop the cell keys as they leave.
Cadman reveals Angelina's condition to Ramsay. He had expected to conduct an operation that required a second woman subject, but when he learns that Odo had let the intended victim die, decides to use Laurie instead at Odo's suggestion. Cadman is interrupted, though, by the arrival of police detectives looking for Odo. Meanwhile, Ramsay tries to revive the anesthetized Laurie and manages to drug Mungo while Daphne is out of the room. The nurse herself is confronted by Cadman's victims, who have escaped from the dungeon with the dropped keys. Led by a maniacal preacher named Borg, they cast Daphne into the fireplace, and she flees, screaming and aflame.
Ramsay revives Laurie but Mungo awakens at the same time and attacks her. He is stopped, though, by Borg and the other victims who then turn on Cadman as he enters the room with his comatose wife. Backing away, Cadman falls over stair rail and plunges to his death with Angelina. The police finally arrive with Odo and Casimir in custody, and Ramsay and Laurie depart as a new day breaks.
Cast
*
Basil Rathbone
Philip St. John Basil Rathbone MC (13 June 1892 – 21 July 1967) was a South African-born English actor. He rose to prominence in the United Kingdom as a Shakespearean stage actor and went on to appear in more than 70 films, primarily costume ...
as Sir Joel Cadman
*
Akim Tamiroff
Akim Mikhailovich Tamiroff, russian: Аким Михайлович Тамиров (born Hovakim Tamiryants; October 29, 1899 – September 17, 1972) was an Armenian-American actor of film, stage, and television. One of the premier character act ...
as Odo the Gypsy
*
Herbert Rudley
Herbert Rudley (March 22, 1910 – September 9, 2006) was an American character actor who appeared on stage, films and on television.
Early life
Rudley was born in 1910 in Philadelphia and attended Temple University. He left Temple after winnin ...
as Dr. Gordon Ramsay
*
Patricia Blake as Laurie Munroe
*
Phyllis Stanley
Phyllis Stanley (30 October 1914 – 12 March 1992) was a British actress.
Personal life
During World War II, she shared a flat in West End of London with the Scottish heiress Jane Corby.
Partial filmography
* ''Leave It to Blanche'' (1934) ...
as Daphnae
*
Lon Chaney Jr.
Creighton Tull Chaney (February10, 1906 – July12, 1973), known by his stage name Lon Chaney Jr., was an American actor known for playing Larry Talbot in the film '' The Wolf Man'' (1941) and its various crossovers, Count Alucard (Dra ...
as Dr. Munroe aka Mungo
*
John Carradine
John Carradine ( ; born Richmond Reed Carradine; February 5, 1906 – November 27, 1988) was an American actor, considered one of the greatest character actors in American cinema. He was a member of Cecil B. DeMille's stock company and later Jo ...
as Borg
*
Bela Lugosi
Béla Ferenc Dezső Blaskó (; October 20, 1882 – August 16, 1956), known professionally as Bela Lugosi (; ), was a Hungarian and American actor best remembered for portraying Count Dracula in the 1931 horror classic ''Dracula'', Ygor in ''S ...
as Casimir
*
Tor Johnson
Karl Erik Tore Johansson (19 October 1902 or 1903; sources differ – 12 May 1971), better known by the stage name Tor Johnson, was a Swedish professional wrestler and actor. As an actor, Johnson appeared in many B-movies, including some famous ...
as Mr. Curry
*
George Sawaya
George Frances Carey Sawaya (August 14, 1923 – September 17, 2003) was an American actor and stuntman. He was best known for playing the role of Detective Lopez on Jack Webb's '' Dragnet''.
Life and career
Sawaya was born in Los Angeles, ...
as Sailor Subject
*Sally Yarnell as Female Subject
*Peter Gordon as Det. Sgt. Steele
*
Claire Carleton
Claire Carleton (September 28, 1913 – December 11, 1979) was an American actress whose career spanned four decades from the 1930s through the 1960s. She appeared in over 100 films, the majority of them features, and on numerous television ...
as Carmoda Daily
*John Sheffield as Det. Redford
*Clive Morgan as Roundsman Blevins
*Louanna Gardner as Angelina Cadman
*
Aubrey Schenck
Aubrey Schenck (August 26, 1908, New York City – April 14, 1999, Murrieta, California) was an American film producer from the 1940s through the 1970s.
Biography
The son of George Schenck, a Russian immigrant theatrical manager, and Mary Schen ...
as Prison Coroner's Aide (uncredited)
Production
Producer Howard W. Koch described the film's genesis as typical of his arrangement with United Artists, with script, cast, and other elements being driven by the budget given by the company. Initial director Allen H. Miner was replaced by Reginald Le Borg because of Le Borg's previous experience with horror films. Le Borg also added dialogue to a scene with Dr. Cadman discussing his wife in order to increase an element of sympathy with the character and consulted with a neurosurgeon to create realistic details of Cadman's operation on a living brain.
Release
Produced during 1955, the film was released to theaters in the early summer of 1956. This was just ahead of the TV syndication, through
Screen Gems
Screen Gems is an American brand name used by Sony Pictures' Sony Pictures Entertainment Motion Picture Group, a subsidiary of Japanese multinational conglomerate, Sony Group Corporation. It has served several different purposes for its parent ...
, of two decades of Universal
monster movie
A monster movie, monster film, creature feature or giant monster film is a film that focuses on one or more characters struggling to survive attacks by one or more antagonistic monsters, often abnormally large ones. The film may also fall under ...
s, under the package title
Shock Theater
''Shock Theater'' (marketed as ''Shock!'') is a package of 52 pre-1948 classic horror films from Universal Studios released for television syndication in October 1957 by Screen Gems, the television subsidiary of Columbia Pictures. The ''Shock The ...
. Writer Higgins, director LeBorg, and stars Rathbone, Chaney, Carradine, and Lugosi had all been significantly associated with Universal
horror film
Horror is a film genre that seeks to elicit fear or disgust in its audience for entertainment purposes.
Horror films often explore dark subject matter and may deal with transgressive topics or themes. Broad elements include monsters, apoca ...
s or related
B movies
A B movie or B film is a low-budget commercial motion picture. In its original usage, during the Golden Age of Hollywood, the term more precisely identified films intended for distribution as the less-publicized bottom half of a double feature ...
. In its casting, ''The Black Sleep'' is similar to Universal's two "houseful" of monster films released in the mid-40s, ''
House of Frankenstein'' and ''
House of Dracula
''House of Dracula'' is a 1945 American horror film released and distributed by Universal Pictures Company, Universal Pictures. Directed by Erle C. Kenton, the film features several Universal Horror properties meeting as they had done in the 19 ...
'', only relying on a completely new cadre of human monsters.
On its double bill with ''The Creeping Unknown'', ''The Black Sleep'' was financially successful, with the two films earning $1,200,000 more than their total cost.
Critical reception
Amongst contemporary reviews, ''
Variety
Variety may refer to:
Arts and entertainment Entertainment formats
* Variety (radio)
* Variety show, in theater and television
Films
* ''Variety'' (1925 film), a German silent film directed by Ewald Andre Dupont
* ''Variety'' (1935 film), ...
'' wrote that the film "plays the horror tale fairly straight so what's happening is not too illogical until the finale wrapup, when all restraint comes off and the melodramatics run amok. ...Basil Rathbone is quite credible as the surgeon, enough so that the brain operations he performs will horrify many viewers"; and ''The Motion Picture Exhibitor'' noted that "Rathbone has a grand time as the mad scientist, assisted nobly by some of the best names in the horror field. Audiences should be frightened plenty, and past experience proves that this can mean good grosses... Sure, a lot of it is corny, but it is all good fun in a grisly, frightening manner."
John Stanley calls the film "Barely watchable, despite a zoo-like cast.". According to Michael Weldon, "Never before (or since) have so many horror actors been brought together and told to act like mongoloids. Never have so many actors been wasted. Only Basil Rathbone and Akim Tamiroff get to play semirational characters."
[Michael Weldon, ''The Psychotronic Encyclopedia of Film''. London: Plexus 1983, p. 63.]
Home media
''The Black Sleep'' was released by Kino on Blu-ray in 2016 and contains audio commentary by Tom Weaver and David Schecter.
See also
*
List of American films of 1956
A list of American films released in 1956
''Around the World in 80 Days'' won the Academy Award for Best Picture.
A-B
C-D
E-I
J-M
N-R
S-Z
See also
* 1956 in the United States
Sources Footnotes
References
*
*
External links
19 ...
References
External links
*
*
''The Black Sleep''at Basilrathbone.net
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Black Sleep, The
1956 horror films
1956 films
American science fiction horror films
Films directed by Reginald Le Borg
Films scored by Les Baxter
Mad scientist films
Films set in 1872
Films set in England
United Artists films
1950s English-language films
1950s American films
American black-and-white films