What a waste of my time!!!

Slow pace in the most part of the movie.

Your blood may run cold, but you now find yourself pinioned to the story.

The story, direction, characters, and writing/dialogue is akin to taking a tranquilizer shot to the neck, but everything else was so well done.

Peter van Eyck was a good actor but no matter how good he was, he could not save this movie from failure. It's a cheap story with the brain of a very rich Romanian, Max Holt, who died in an plane "accident" and then had a very "intimate" relationship with the doctor Peter Corrie, played by van Eyck. Only if you're a fan of van Eyck.

***SPOILERS**** It took a lot of brain power for billionaire industrialist Max Holt to survive after in air explosion of his private plane that only it-his brain-survived. With Dr. Peter Corrie, Peter Von Eyck, assigned to do an autopsy on the what looked like dead Max Holt he noticed that his brain was still active and against regulations, as a man of medicine, keeps it alive on ice for farther study or until he can find a body to attach it to. This leads Dr. Corrie to notice that the brain-Max Holt's-is starting to somehow communicate to him the reason he was murdered not died in a plane accident as well as the motives of those who murdered him. It turned out that Max Holt who was a low life scum*g all his life was about to turn over a new leaf in death by informing the world of a new drug that that he had the right to and kept under wraps, while he was alive, that can cure cancer and the man who invented it. It seems that in death Holt saw the evil in his ways and now wants to rectify it by saving millions of people to make up for it. Max or Mr. Holt is also using Dr. Corrie to identify and bring to justice the person who planted a bomb on his plane that killed him and the entire crew as well! ***SPOILERS***The third version of this brain of a movie after "The Lady and the Monster" in 1944 and the far more popular "Donovan's Brain" in 1953 the "Brain" has a lot of gray matter to it in that its made to be far more likable then the previous two. Here it tries to save humanity instead of destroying it that in the end keeps it from being dislike by those watching and turning it's enemies, who tried to both kill and exploit it into the villains of the movie who in the end get everything that's coming to them.

Freddy Francis directs another retelling of Donovan's Brain.This is the story of a rich SOB industrialist who is killed, however his brain is saved. As scientists try to study the still living organ the personality of the "dead" man begins to exert itself on those around the brain tank.Good, with expressive black and white photography, this too is a bit unremarkable and slightly dull, which is odd considering Francis' films tend to have a bit more life in them, even when they are poor.Interesting to see Bernard Lee (M from the early Bonds) in a different sort of role. Not bad but not really the gripping drama I wanted at 2am to keep me awake...it put me out.

Not having seen any of the previous versions of this story, the film this one reminded me more of is Lucio Fulci's (!!) 1990 shocker "Voices from Beyond". The plotlines are different but still share some similarities, as they both involve revenge from beyond the grave, rich families with hidden secrets, a murder investigation carried out on behalf of the murdered man himself, etc. Unfortunately, "The Brain" takes an interesting sci-fi concept and turns it into a forgettable murder mystery; you won't exactly be on the edge of your seat trying to figure out "who-did-it". What's more, the chintzy production makes the movie look as if it were made in the 40s. (**)