Corridors of Blood (1958)

Directed by Robert Day
Written by Jean Scott Rogers

Rated R for drug use and violence

"Corridors of Blood" has been made available to watch for free online by AMCTV here.

"Corridors of Blood" stars an aging Boris Karloff (most famous as Frankenstein's monster in "Frankenstein" (1939)) as Dr. Thomas Bolton, a surgeon who has become famous in 1840's London for his speed and skill at surgery. Speed is particularly important because the film takes place before the invention of anesthesia. Dr. Bolton is horrified by the pain he sees when he operates on conscious patients. His peers tell him that pain during surgery is unavoidable. "Can't have operations without screams. Pain and the knife are inseperable." In spite of this, Dr. Bolton makes it his personal quest to discover and popularize "painless surgery".

In addition to performing surgeries at a large hospital, Dr. Bolton also contributes one day a week to seeing patients in London's seedy "Seven Dials" district, street people and beggars who can't afford to pay for medical assistance. His charity work brings him into contact with some unsavory characters, including "Black Ben", who runs a tavern in Seven Dials. Ben's tavern is home to pickpockets and prostitutes, killers and con-men. Ben himself is the worst of these, working with "Resurrection Joe" (Christopher Lee, "Count Dracula and his Vampire Brides") to trick Dr. Bolton into signing fake accidental death certificates for Ben and Joe's murder victims so that they can sell the cadavers to hospitals for medical research.

While visiting the tavern to see to a patient, Dr. Bolton runs into one of his former patients, an amputee who suffers post traumatic stress disorder associated with the pain of un-anesthetized amputation. When Bolton sees what the horrors of primitive surgery have done to the man, he becomes even more convinced to discover a concoction that will end surgery patients' suffering.

This is where the tale takes a Jekyll & Hyde twist. Bolton begins experimenting on himself, inhaling chemical fumes in an attempt to eliminate the sensation of pain. When he has a partial success with a mixture based on nitrous oxide, he arranges a demonstration of his new technique for the board of directors at the hospital. When his demonstration goes horribly wrong, the Doctor decides he needs stronger chemicals.

So Dr. Bolton begins experimenting with tincture of opium, laudanum and vitriol. He is encouraged by the progress of his research, but testing the drugs on himself is gradually causing him to lose his grip on reality. He cannot discern whether the horrible things he sees while inhaling his potions are real or hallucinatory. His memory suffers and he is constantly late to work. Instead of inhaling what he calls "Formula 28" strictly for his research, he begins to abuse it daily, sneaking around his son and housekeepers to get his fix.

If there's one thing Boris Karloff knows how to play, it's someone on drugs. His face-acting during the "getting high" scenes is so realistic you have to wonder if he was really huffing opium and laudanum during the filming of these scenes.

Though he remembers nothing when he sobers up, Dr. Bolton has, during a series of drug-induced sleepwalking excursions, written even more faked death certificates for Black Ben and Resurrection Joe. When his inability to perform surgery with his former speed and skill nearly kills several patients, the hospital finally suspends Bolton, encouraging him to take a holiday and cease his unhealthy experiments. The hospital's dispensary denies him any further chemicals until he is reinstated. Desperate, Bolton enlists the help of Black Ben and Resurrection Joe to steal the chemicals he needs from the hospital, killing a night watchman in the process.

"And even now, knowing that I've caused the most terrible crimes, I cannot resist the craving for another inhalation." - Bolton

The police suspect Bolton of the hospital robbery/murder when they discover that the items stolen were the same ingredients Bolton requested regularly. A team is sent to the Seven Dials to raid Black Ben's tavern. The ensuing showdown fatally wounds Bolton, but his medical journal is passed down to his son, and becomes the basis for the invention of "painless surgery", as Bolton had intended all along.

I give "Corridors of Blood" an 8/10. It's got some beautiful Hitchcockian black and white cinematography, and manages to be deeply conceptually unnerving without using too much gore. Boris Karloff and Christopher Lee give outstanding performances. The horrors of early medical science are laid bare for all to see. The second half drags a bit, but the descent of Dr. Bolton into madness is a trip worth taking. Watch with popcorn and soda.


Notes on the Criterion DVD:
I recently purchased the Criterion four movie set "Monsters and Madmen". The set includes two horror and two sci-fi films; "Corridors of Blood", "The Haunted Strangler", "First Man Into Space" and "The Atomic Submarine". Upon watching the Criterion transfer of "Corridors...", I was blown away by the image quality. There are virtually no blemishes at all on this transfer. If you watch the free online version of the film, you see right away that it is an aged transfer. The Criterion DVD version is completely remastered and looks shiny and new, even 50+ years later. In addition to a great transfer of the film, the DVD also boasts several interesting special features. An audio interview with actress Yvonne Romain was fairly interesting. I didn't listen to the whole thing, just the part concerning "Corridors..." and the section on "Devil Doll", another great Yvonne Romain horror role. There was also a great featurette called "Corridor Rumors" in which the filmmakers recount their experiences working on the film and working with Boris Karloff. My favorite feature had to be the deleted scenes, which were accompanied by a sneak peak at the letter from the film board that requested these scenes be censored. All of the deleted scenes were just gorier versions of existing scenes, but would have added to the film and made it more visceral as a whole. For hard-core fans, I highly recommend the set "Monsters and Madmen".















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