jadavix After the success of "The Haunted Strangler", producer Robert Gordon made "Corridors of Blood", another movie with the elder statesman of horror actors, Boris Karloff, in the lead role.He plays a similar character here to the one he played in "Strangler", and has an almost identical character arc. In that film he was a social campaigner driven to clear the name of a long-executed criminal; in "Corridors of Blood", he plays a doctor attempting to discover the first anaesthetic after some of his patients lose their minds due to the pain they experience in surgery.Both roles for Karloff were good men led tragically astray. Here, the role is much more convincing; Karloff was a great actor whose most famous role as Frankenstein's monster didn't even scratch the surface of his talent. You can feel how much this character cares about his patients. He genuinely wants to help them and is surrounded by people who do not share his passion.If his colleagues had been more interested, perhaps Karloff's Doctor Bolton wouldn't have gone so far astray that he starts working for a gang of criminals led by the low-key, terrifying and creepy Christopher Lee. And perhaps he wouldn't have started experimenting on himself with gases, and becoming addicted.You see, "Corridors of Blood" is also a quasi-Jekkyl and Hyde type story, like "Haunted Strangler" was, though it stops short at getting Karloff to take his dentures out. The problem with the movie is that it stops short too much in general, like the filmmakers didn't have the heart to make a horror movie. The set-up is fantastic and could have been used to make a great historical drama. But its descent into horror fails to move us. The movie is also fantastically shot, so why do the scenes of horror make so little impact? It's like they didn't want to take the movie down that road, but had to.

Spikeopath Dr. Thomas Bolton is one of London's top surgeons, brilliant and fast, he is however constantly troubled by the amount of pain his patients go through, for this be a time before anaesthesia. Painstakingly working on a formula to put patients to sleep during surgery, Bolton is convinced he has found a breakthrough, but upon trialling it in front of the board it goes terribly wrong. He continues undaunted, but as he keeps testing the formula out on himself he becomes badly addicted, unable to get the hospital board to sanction his research, he gets involved with a dastardly group of murderers who kill and then sell off corpse's to a suspect doctor.Make no (saw) bones about it, this is a wonderful Boris Karloff performance, the amount of sympathy and earthy fortitude he puts into Dr. Bolton is very impressive. The plot isn't up to much and fans of staple horror requirements will hardly get any titillation from it, but as a crime picture and a character study it comes out smiling and delivers the goods. The sets are very good, check out the frontal entry into the Seven Dials area, and now with better digital transfers the picture's black and white texture ripens the watching experience. It's a film that I suppose is easily forgotten quickly after the viewing, but it's well worth watching for Karloff's turn and an ending that is strangely sad but uplifting at the same time. 6/10

MartinHafer This is a deceptive little film. First off, because it was made and sat for four years before release, you might be inclined to think it is a dud--but that's far from true. The film is very good--good enough to almost earn an 8. Second, while the film has some horrific scenes and features Boris Karloff and Christopher Lee, it is not a horror film but more of a drama. So if you see it, don't expect monsters or madness--instead, there are just bad people and good people doing bad things.The film is set in 1840 and Karloff plays an exceptionally skilled surgeon who is dismayed that there are no drugs to alleviate the suffering of patients during surgery. Basically, people were wide awake and felt EVERYTHING during surgery and amputations! This is true, as the first anesthesias didn't come about until around 1850. Despite his concerns, other doctors didn't share his enthusiasm for change, so Karloff foolishly begins experimenting on himself--inhaling a mixture of various chemicals (including opium). Not surprisingly, he becomes addicted and this once sweet man becomes an unwilling pawn in the seedy underworld.The film gets very high marks for construction, writing, direction and the performance of Karloff. There isn't much I'd change about the film, though fans of Christopher Lee might be disappointed that his role isn't that big and his character isn't that interesting (despite the fact he's a cold-blooded murderer). Give this intelligent little film a watch--it's really very good.

michaeldukey2000 Who'd a thunk that old Boris would discover first Nitrous Oxide and then a powerful opiate based anesthetic that would turn him from respected physician to Raving Junkie? Karloff and you will realized and so will you that this was easily his best film role of the fifties and he tackles it with refined enthusiasm that makes the film a joy to watch along with it's dingy atmosphere and low key creepiness of Christopher Lee as a murderer for profit. Originally lensed in and released in England in 1958 when Lee was just becoming hot on the Hammer circuit this wasn't released in the States until some four years later when Lee was much better known and Karloff's film career was fading.It's not a fantastic film but it sure isn't dull and it's worth It just to see Karloff howling on laughing gas which makes you realize that in his whole career we never got to see him joyous and he sells it here to the max. One of my late night favorites