The Black Sleep

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Mitch C It looks lovely and like many movies of that era, it has a visual charm that carries you through the film and often paints over any cracks in the story or acting. Not that this is poorly constructed, but it does suffer from a rather plodding pace and the underuse of some of the finest horror actors of the generation. This is particularly apparent in relation to Legosi who though frail and sadly at the end of his time, would have been better suited to dialogue and plot importance. Rathbone is suited to the role though it's a shame this was released 1 year before the world recognised Peter Cushing as the face of horror for the next decade as he would have elevated the sinister in Cadman to amplify the horror. It's got some nice visuals when it comes to the doctors' failed experiments but it's very Frankenstein-esque and a lot flatter in execution with an idea that delivers less Rated 2/5 Stars •  Rated 2 out of 5 stars 08/30/25 Full Review Audience Member Reginald Le Borg was a banker in Austria and a director in America, making low budget horror at Universal like The Mummy's Ghost and Weird Woman. Released along with The Creeping Unknown, it was ahead of the Shock Theater package that would ignite a new interest in Universal's horror movies. It's also Bela Lugosi's last movie, although footage of him appears in  Plan 9 from Outer Space. Dr. Gordon Ramsay (Herbert Rudley) claims that he is innocent yet remains in jail, guilty of murder, when surgeon Sir Joel Cadman (Basil Rathbone) offers him a chance at redemption. All he has to do is assist him with some experiments, starting with taking a potion called The Black Sleep, which will put him into a deathlike slumber. After the "dead" body of Ramsay is discovered in his cell, Cadman takes the body for burial and revives Ramsay back in his lab. There, he's attempting to learn the mysteries of the brain so that he can bring his wife Angelina (Louanna Gardner) back to life. One of his servants, Mungo (Lon Chaney Jr.) was once Doctor Monroe, one of Ramsay's former teachers. Now he's a monstrous beast barely under control. And then there's the mute -- and frightening -- Casimir (Bela Lugosi). So why do Laurie (Patricia Blake), Odo (Akim Tamiroff, who replaced Peter Lorre, who wanted more than this production could pay for) and Daphnae (Phyllis Stanley) work for him? It turns out that Laurie is Mungo's daughter and wants her father to be normal again. That said, there's an entire basement filled with experiments that haven't worked, broken human beings -- like Tor Johnson -- led by a maniacal preacher named Borg (John Carradine). They're so close to breaking through the doors to the lab... The Black Sleep has a great cast but doesn't do much with them. But it's a fast movie and if you don't think too much -- or want to hear Bela speak -- you may enjoy it. Rated 1.5/5 Stars •  Rated 1.5 out of 5 stars 02/06/23 Full Review Audience Member A smoldering classic, with many of the biggest horror stars of the period. Some say that Chaney and Lugosi were wasted but even their parts were not badly played by them. The story is a bit light for the subject matter, but the actors make it shine. Nice to watch on a cold or stormy night. Rated 4/5 Stars •  Rated 4 out of 5 stars 02/14/23 Full Review Audience Member Rathbone and Tamiroff creepy and Chaney gets some time and Lugosi doesn't get near enough. I really enjoy this movie when it is on. Rated 4/5 Stars •  Rated 4 out of 5 stars 01/12/23 Full Review Audience Member Gets a pass for an interesting story. Lugosi and Chaney are present but not accounted for as they don't even speak! Herbert Rudley is quite good as the hapless prisoner that the main actor in the movie but doesn't get billing. Rathbone is a bore, and well the climax is unintentionally hilarious. Up until the last 15 minutes it very good though. Be warned this is not Lugosi's or Chaney\s or Carradine's best by far. A very good bad B Movie. I've seen worse big production movies recently that are far worse than this one. Rated 3/5 Stars •  Rated 3 out of 5 stars 01/25/23 Full Review Audience Member If only it had Karloff and Price it would have collected nearly all the significant horror actors of that generation. Mostly carried by Basil Rathbone of long-running Sherlock Holmes fame who in this film gets to play the bad guy instead when Scotland Yard comes calling. The rest of the cast was mostly reduced to cliched versions of the Frankenstein monster again and again. Basically about a doc that experiments on other people's brains while alive in some desperate hope to restore his wife from her brain tumor. Rated 2/5 Stars •  Rated 2 out of 5 stars 01/14/23 Full Review Read all reviews

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