Moustroll Good movie but grossly overrated

Console best movie i've ever seen.

Freeman This film is so real. It treats its characters with so much care and sensitivity.

Scarlet The film never slows down or bores, plunging from one harrowing sequence to the next.

Coventry I often wonder… Instead of receiving a salary, were horror icons paid per word that they said in the old days or something? The amount of old (1930s, '40s and '50s) horror movies in which great actors appear, and even receive top billing, but hardly have any lines or dialogs is enormous. Particularly Bela Lugosi and Lon Chaney Jr. were specialists in this, although this probably had something to do with the fact that they were both very unreliable due to their alcoholism/drug addiction issues in the fall of their careers… The very first screen is perhaps the best thing about "The Black Sleep", because that's the opening image that lists the names of Basil Rathbone, Bela Lugosi, Lon Chaney and John Carradine underneath each other. What an awesome line-up for a horror movie, you'd think, and we even get a little cherry on top of the cake when also the name of Tor Johnson appears on the second credits' screen! Yes, the line-up is definitely incredible at first sight, but I've rarely witnessed a bigger waste of talents. Basil Rathbone – history's greatest Sherlock Holmes – is the only one with a prominent role, whereas the others merely just serve as set decoration. Lugosi is a mute butler (again…), Chaney Jr is a mad-raving brute (again) and Carradine appears as a kind of wizard but I honestly don't understand who his character was and what his role added to the plot. Purely talking in terms of plotting "The Black Sleep" does form an interesting footnote in horror movie history, as it somewhat builds a bridge between the old-fashioned mad scientists from the Universal era (Victor Frankenstein and such…) and the more emotionally tormented mad scientists from the 1960s and onwards. The former group contains merely just megalomaniac geniuses, whereas the latter group is driven by severe personal problems, usually to cure their terminally ill wives or to save their daughters that got horribly deformed in accidents. The classic French masterpiece "Les Yeux Sans Visage" (1959) was officially the first and most famous of the 'tormented scientist' flicks, but perhaps "The Black Sleep" was really the first one. Physician Joel Cadman (Rathbone) is looking for a cure for his wife's brain tumor and therefore conducts unorthodox experiments in a remote old castle, primarily experiments that teach him how the human brain is mapped and structured. He uses an oriental drug, nicknamed black sleep, that puts the patient in a death-like coma and subsequently cuts open their skull to explore the brain functions. Unfortunately things usually go awry during this process and therefore the castle is full of failed experimental subjects. "The Black Sleep" benefices from the professional direction by Reginald LeBorg and strong performance of Basil Rathbone, but the screenplay is often boring and there disappointingly aren't any real Grand Guignol highlights. As stated already, the phenomenal cast is underused and it's a bit sad that Lugosi's very last role is such a pitiable one.

callumr444 When I say 1950's horror version of The Expendables I mean it's got a few cast members who are either horror legends or have a notable horror role. Here we have Lon Chaney Jr ( The Wolf Man) Bela Lugosi (Dracula) in his last role, John Carradine ( I guess his most famous horror role would be Dracula also), Tor Johnson ( a few Ed Wood horrors) and Basil Rathbone ( although mostly famous for the Sherlock Holmes he had a memorable part in Son Of Frankenstein). Now with such a bunch of capable even brilliant actors you'd think we'd have a horror masterpiece instead we get crap.Rathbone plays a surgeon in the 1800's who's wife has fallen into a coma due to brain tumor and because of the limited knowledge at the time he doesn't know how to operate without risking death or brain damage so he puts people under a thing called the black sleep and operates in them to learn more about it and of course he messes up every time and he keeps them hidden in a cellar in his house. Lon Chaney Jr is the only one who actually gets the chance to scare anybody as a mute patient of the doctor who due to the operation now attacks his daughter who is assisting the doctor every time he sees her. Bela Lugosi in his last role after a few years of Ed Wood movies is Rathbone's butler and is also mute because according to the director he couldn't handle dialogue due to his illness he would shorty die after the film was completed such a sad end. Carradine and Johnson are also patients who don't show up until the end. The film is just boring until the last five minutes and the horror legends apart from Rathbone were wasted and not given a chance to show what they could do. Unless your a fan of any of the cast I'd skip this one.

dougdoepke Fairly classy horror feature. Of course, Rathbone, with his blade-like nose and parsed speech, could impart class to a Bugs Bunny cartoon. Here he's a mad doctor—what else—who's researching brains in order to cure his comatose wife. Meanwhile he's accumulated an all-star line-up of horror performers to help—a raving John Carradine, a ravaged Lon Chaney, a hulking Tor Johnson, a decrepit Bela Lugosi, and a slimy Akim Tamiroff. With a mob like this who needs special effects. Actually, most of the time is taken up with high-brow discussion of medical ethics. Naturally, Rathbone thinks ends justify means, while Rudley considers each life precious. Thus, unlike Rathbone, Rudley thinks research has its ethical limits. In fact, actor Rudley carries much of the narrative. A relative unknown, he gets lesser billing behind the all-stars. Nonetheless, he proves a very capable actor and foil for Rathbone. However, he's not the usual handsome hero and rescuer of damsels in distress. I'm not sure what the producers were reaching for here with the literate script and extended dialogue. Still, there are a few good jolting moments, like when a maniacal Carradine makes a first appearance. Then too, the movie came out at a time when Roger Corman's rubber monsters were dominating the screen, especially drive-ins. Anyway, it's a good chance to catch several horror icons in their declining years (Lugosi would pass just several months after), along with the incomparable Rathbone, a strikingly pretty Blair, and one of Hollywood's many unsung talents, Herbert Rudley.

TheFinalAlias Now THIS is a cast! The screen's greatest horror stars: Basil Rathbone! Star of "Son of Frankenstein", "Tower of London", and 'Hound of the Baskervilles'! Lon Chaney Jr! Star of "The Wolf Man", "Man-Made Monster", and "Spider Baby"! Bela Lugosi! Star of "Dracula", "The Raven", and "Murders in the Rue Morgue"! John Carradine! Star of 'Bluebeard", "House of Frankenstein" and "Face of Marble"! Tor Johnson! Star of "Bride of the Monster", "Plan 9 from Outer Space', "The Unearthly'! and Akim Tamiroff! Yeah, Akim! Star of such horror classics like...uh....uh...I dunno, maybe he snuck in through the back?Any fan coming in to "The Black Sleep' eager to see his favorite horror stars cavorting in a 'Bat pack' of the horror genre will be sorely disappointed, as Basil Rathbone(more of a mystery star and villain in costume dramas than a horror specialist) and Akim Tamiroff(playing a role intended for Peter Lorre) get the juiciest roles, and the rest are relegated to cameos at best. This dilemma has made the "Black Sleep" more of a "Black Sheep" among horror fans, but there are worse things to lose sleep(hehe heh) over, and if you stop yer' whinin' for a minute, you'll find this to be a perfectly satisfying, and quite literate, Gothic horror film which, as has been pointed out, spreads the seeds of what would be sewn in the oncoming Hammer films cycle the following year.Herbert Rudley plays Dr. Gordon Ramsay, a neurosurgeon(and TV chef) who is about to be hanged for the murder of a moneylender which he did not commit. He is saved by his former mentor, Sir Joel Cadman(Rathbone)who has discovered a drug which places people in a death-like coma which he acquired under mysterious circumstances(Friar Laurence needed the money you see, after that little Montague/Capulet scandal...). He arranges to have the body delivered to his wisecracking tattoo artist henchman Udo(Tamiroff); a lecherous gypsy who thinks he's the reincarnation of dozens of things. Cadman offers Ramsay the chance to hide out in his seaside manor in return for his assistance in performing experimental brain operations. Having no real choice, but grateful to the doctor, our hero accepts.(Hmmm, hero is framed and sent to prison, becomes mad doctor's assistant, what Hammer Frankenstein movie did I see this in? It may have had a MONSTER in it, FROM HELL possibly).Right from the beginning, it becomes apparent that Cadman's medical practice is not what it seems, first, the butler named Cassimir(Lugosi) is mute, apparently as a result of Cadman's experiment, second, a gigantic homicidal maniac named Mungo(Chaney Jr) is loose! Mungo, a mute tard dressed like a medieval highwayman, runs around trying to rape/strangle a servant girl named Laurie, but all it takes to calm him is a command from Cadman's aged but attractive housekeeper, and then he's gentle as a lamb.Ramsay recognizes Mungo as Dr. Munroe, a kindly professor from medical school. Cadman claims that he operated on Munroe to save him from paralysis, but accidentally destroyed his capacity to reason. This should be final proof that Cadman isn't as benevolent as he seems, I don't know about you, but if a formerly gentle college professor became a gigantic strangler because of a guy's experiments, who also changed his name to that of a circus gorilla and gave him clothes a few centuries out of style, I'd be mighty suspicious! It doesn't help that Laurie turns out to be Munroe's daughter(!!!). The clincher comes when Ramsay witnesses Cadman's callous experiment on a sailor's exposed brain(An amazingly graphic scene for this film's era), then there's the implication that there have been past victims of the experiments, and more to come, as Cadman is ruthlessly devoted to his secret goal....Rathbone gives what is probably his best horror performance. His character is ABSOLUTELY a prototype for Peter Cushing & Whit Bisssel's portrayals of Baron Frankenstein, but with a considerable depth of character, as Cadman has a rather sympathetic goal(his wife is dying of a brain tumor). This also makes him a prototype for Vincent Price's various Poe-villains. Rathbone masterfully portrays a good man who has become pure evil through his ruthlessness and obsession. Rudley is a refreshingly mature and unattractive leading man, and his romance with Laurie is very convincingly played. The girl playing Laurie generates a lot of sympathy too, as she battles the monster her father has become. Chaney is legitimately menacing as Mungo, but also pitiable. Akim Tamiroff's wisecracking gypsy provides a great contrast to the dour Cadman: He may be more likable, but he's just as evil. John Carradine is a laugh riot as a test subject who thinks he's a medieval crusader("KILL THE INFIDELS!!!").I was expecting Ed Wood-level trash, but the superb acting and literate dialogue(overlooking the plot holes and requisite horror trappings)won me over. I really enjoyed this. Don't miss it.~