Black Friday (1940)

 Black Friday (1940)

In 1940 Karloff and Lugosi once again appear together on the screen, in a strange film, that is a hybrid of science-fiction/horror and gangster movie.  Lugosi and Karloff are both legendary film monsters, but in Black Friday from 1940, Karloff is playing the role of a doctor who's friend is seriously injured in an accident where he is accidently run down by a mobster's car, and both men are injured.  So Karloff swaps their brains, so that his friend will live and the mobster will die.   He then discovers that the mobster holds a secret to a huge fortune, so he tries to see if the mobster brain in his friend will hold the clues to the location of the money.  Of course we all know how these films work, the his friend develops a split personality, where he is himself at times and the mobster at other times.   Originally Karloff was cast to play the friend, and Lugosi the doctor, but Karloff didn't think that he was good enough an actor to play that role, and he instead was given the role of the doctor, and Lugosi was just pushed into the role of a minor character who is a rival mob boss and also trying to get the hidden money. Karloff plays a role that is very typical of him, but Lugosi really shines as a character outside of his typecasting, and I feel like he proves what a great actor he really is, however it is understandable that situations like this contributed to Lugosi's professional jealousy of Karloff, because he was beginning to be cast in either very low budget films, or more and more getting cast in supporting roles, and Karloff almost always receiving the top billing in the films that feature the two actors together.   

Black Friday was directed by Arthur Lubin, with a screenplay by Curt Siodmak and Eric Taylor.   Siodmak, would revisit the idea of brain transplants in his work, for example he famously used that concept in Donovan's Brain in 1953.  The film was produced and distributed by Universal in 1940.  In some of the criticisms for the film it was commented on how Lugosi's talents are wasted in this film, playing a minor role that really could have been just as well acted by anyone.  Though it is true, I appreciate Lugosi's acting in this film, even with a simple side character he plays it seriously and proves that he is more than just a horror monster actor, and can just as easily convincingly play the role of a mobster in a film.  In a way I feel that Lugosi proves that he is a better actor, because really Boris Karloff's character is the same character that he has played before and will again, there is no new depth to his acting shown here, where Lugosi does prove that as an actor he is more versatile and has more depth of talent. Overall though this is a weird film, that mixes genres in a way that almost works. 

Black Friday stars Boris Karloff as Dr Ernest Sovac, Stanley Ridges plays his friend Professor George Kingsley/Red Cannon (the mob boss whose brain he gets), Virginia Brissac plays his wife Margaret Kingsley, Anne Gwynne plays Dr. Sovac's daughter Jean Sovac, Bela Lugosi plays rival gangster Eric Marnay, and Anne Nagel plays Cannon's girlfriend Sunny Rogers.  The film has a great cast, though it is interesting how Bela Lugosi gets second billing for the film, though he is cast as a minor character, that overall sees little screen time, and for Karloff there is nothing new that he brings to this film, just the same type of role he is always cast as.  This is a strange film, but I think overall it is an effective film and one that I found enjoyable to watch. 

If you haven't seen Black Friday I would recommend checking it out, though it isn't really a classic, and isn't a must-see film by any means.  I think seeing Lugosi as a mob boss though is definitely worth checking out, he is such a great actor in almost any part that they put him in, he takes every roll so seriously, and he is my favourite actor for a reason.  I don't know that this is a film worth seeking out, but if you find it as part of a horror film collection, it is worth watching, it is part of Universal's Bela Lugosi DVD collection, which is totally worth getting.  Over all just a strange film, that doesn't deliver as much horror as it does some good ol suspense.