Black Friday (1940)

 BLACK FRIDAY (1940)

By Ralph Santini - ***

Black Friday is rather strange but entertaining horror film that stars Boris Karloff and for some reason seems to top bill Bela Lugosi. It’s obvious Universal Pictures decided to that because they knew that they couldn’t’ release the film unless it happened. The sad news about this is that he was actually reduced to a minor role and that doesn’t seem to be, in my opinion, thankful. However director Arthur Lubin manages to help the film come alive mainly because of a character originally meant for Karloff but replaced by another actor named Stanley Ridges and that really makes the movie an interesting b-film with a reasonable blend of the horror and gangster film genre. Lugosi seemed to be originally cast in the focusing main role of that Karloff plays; the studio however agreed with Karloff that he wasn’t right for the part. Nonetheless this I find this to be an underrated, chilling film regardless of Lugosi’s rather small role.

Karloff replaces Lugosi’s casting role as Dr. Ernst Sovac, a talented surgeon who is about to bid farewell to a close friend, easygoing English professor George Kingsley (Ridges). When Kingsley is on his way to an eastern University he is suddenly killed in a road accident involving the near-murder of crime boss Red Cannon by his gangsters lead by, yes, Bela Lugosi. That’s right Lugosi’s role is actually one of the gangsters that betrays their crime boss by trying to kill him. Dr. Sovac forms an idea to perform a “dangerous and illegal” operation that consists of a brain transplantation that mixes Red’s brain into Kingsley’s body. Kingsley has apparently been resurrected but Dr. Sovac discovers that when the gangsters “killed” Red Cannon, it’s been revealed that he actually hid $500,000 and thus the surgeon decides to invite Kingsley to New York with him. Dr. Sovac continues his experiment by make Kingsley take a nap and make him wake up with Red Cannon’s brain. The results, however, go haywire when Cannon decides to use Kingsley’s body by getting revenge on his gang killing them little by little.

I agree with many reviewers that the film’s main asset is Stanley Ridges winning portrayal of his Jekyll and Hyde persona of both the good-natured, honest college professor Kingsley and the vicious, murderous mob boss Red Cannon. Ridges was generally character actor with not much fame and that’s why the film is considered by many a rare opportunity for him. But I really don’t mind that because I don’t care whether an actor is famous or not, I care about the story which I personally think is one of the most underrated I have ever witnessed. Also, Edward Breddell’s black and white cinematography is exciting and broody. It was used in a time when horror films were not gory and this is what helps the movie to become as scary as you can get at least for the year it was produced. Critics have often complained that Bela Lugosi’s role was underused for this screenplay and I’ll agree to that point. Since Carl Laemmle’s resignation from Universal the new management did not seem to be interested in casting Lugosi in that many major roles for the studio. That might explain their decision to cast Lugosi as the gangster and unfortunately that disqualified him for having a scene with Karloff in this film. I think that’s probably the film’s biggest flaw. I don’t want to give away many spoilers but there is one particular scene that I find absolutely compelling about Bela Lugosi and that is when he gets trapped in a closet by his boss and begs him desperately to let him out before he dies. This was done with a surprising dark, realistic tone for 1940 standards.

This is one of those few minor Universal Horror films that I actually find pretty decent, if not subtle. Sure Lugosi’s role is rather small and not too thankful, but I don’t mind that. I only recommend this film to horror buffs that enjoy its Mad Scientist sub-genre and that really works because I don’t think you can go wrong with Boris Karloff playing Mad Scientists. Stanley Ridges does steal the show, mind you, but he’s still superb and I think that’s what makes this B-film, in my opinion, work. I’d say give it more than one viewing and you judge for yourself whether you like or not. My point is that Black Friday is, in my opinion, a rare gem in b-film sort of way.