Corridors of Blood

Corridors of Blood is a 1958 British-American horror film directed by Robert Day. It starred Boris Karloff and Christopher Lee. The original music score was composed by Buxton Orr. The film was marketed with the tagline "Tops in Terror!" in the US where MGM only released it in 1962 as a double feature with an Italian import called Werewolf in a Girls' Dormitory.[5]

Corridors of Blood
Theatrical release poster
Directed byRobert Day
Produced byJohn Croydon
Charles F. Vetter
Written byJean Scott Rogers
StarringBoris Karloff
Christopher Lee
Betta St. John
Finlay Currie
Francis Matthews
Music byBuxton Orr
CinematographyGeoffrey Faithfull
Edited byPeter Mayhew
Production
company
Amalgamated Productions
Distributed byMetro-Goldwyn-Mayer
Release date
  • December 1958 (1958-12)
Running time
86 min.
CountryUnited Kingdom
United States[1]
LanguageEnglish
Budget£90,000[2][3] or £200,000[4]

Plot

An 1840s British surgeon, Dr. Thomas Bolton (Boris Karloff) experiments with anesthetic gases in an effort to make surgery pain-free. While doing so, his demonstration before a panel of his peers ends in a horrific mishap with his patient awakening under the knife; he is forced to leave his position in disgrace. To complicate matters, he becomes addicted to the gases and gets involved with a gang of criminals, led by Black Ben and his henchman Resurrection Joe (Christopher Lee). Unfortunately, this shady partnership leads Bolton to further ruin, culminating in his unwitting participation in murder — for which he becomes the first victim of a blackmail scheme.

Cast
ActorRole
Boris KarloffDr. Thomas Bolton
Betta St. JohnSusan
Finlay CurrieSupt. Matheson
Francis MatthewsJonathan Bolton
Adrienne CorriRachel
Francis de WolffBlack Ben
Basil DignamChairman
Frank PettingellMr. Blount
Christopher LeeResurrection Joe
Nigel GreenInspector Donovan
Yvonne RomainRosa
Howard LangChief Inspector

Production

After the success of The Haunted Strangler, producer Richard Gordon looked at making a follow up with Boris Karloff. At one stage a colour remake of Dracula was discussed, as was an adaptation of The Facts in the Case of M. Valdemar. Eventually producer John Scott discovered a screenplay by Jean Scott Rogers based on the early days of anesthesia, originally called Doctor from Seven Dials.[3]

Executive producer Richard Gordon and interviewer Tom Weaver talk about the making of Corridors of Blood on the audio commentary of the Criterion DVD, available as part of the 2007 set Monsters and Madmen.

Release and reception

The movie was made in 1958 but, because of upheavals at MGM at the time, was not released until 1962 on a double feature with an Italian import called Werewolf in a Girls' Dormitory.[3] According to MGM records, the film made a profit of $14,000.[6] It was considered a commercial disappointment and was the last film from Amalgamated Productions.[2]

Leonard Maltin awarded the film two and a half out of a possible four stars.[7]

See also

References
  1. Criterion Collection
  2. John Hamilton, The British Independent Horror Film 1951–70 Hemlock Books 2013 p 42-47
  3. Tom Weaver, The Horror Hits of Richard Gordon, Bear Manor Media 2011 p 80-95
  4. Stephen Jacobs, Boris Karloff: More Than a Monster, Tomahawk Press 2011 p 422
  5. "Werewolf In A Girl's Dormitory". www.dvddrive-in.com.
  6. The Eddie Mannix Ledger, Los Angeles: Margaret Herrick Library, Center for Motion Picture Study.
  7. Leonard Maltin (2015). Classic Movie Guide: From the Silent Era Through 1965. Penguin Publishing Group. p. 136. ISBN 978-0-14-751682-4.
This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.