mark.waltz Live forever! Thanks to the experiments of scientist Boris Karloff, the minds of living creatures can be changed. It worked on chimpanzees, and Karloff longs to make it work on humans. But somewhere along the line, his methods leads to his madness, and he uses it for revenge...and for obsession. Pretty assistant Anna Lee has a great deal of respect for him (at first), until he goes off on a room full of scientists, indicating that he is mad. We get that through the clever use of special effects, and this leads to twists and turns that makes this film extremely powerful.Karloff's character is pretty much the same as he has been in many films, most obviously "The Man They Could Not Hang" and "Before I Hang". The difference between the three films, as far as this one is concern, is the quality of the script and the ways that it makes you think about eternal youth. The moral questions that came into my head we're certainly very strong, and it is one that will make me highly recommend this to classic film fans who may never heard of it. As for Lee, it was one of two films in which she co-starred with Karloff, the other being the Val Lewton cult classic, "Bedlam". A fantastic supporting cast and some truly magnificent dramatic and suspenseful moments makes me praise this all the more.

csteidler "There's always something queer about a genius," argues brainy and beautiful young doctor Anna Lee; she is leaving the medical establishment—and ditching her handsome boyfriend—to join exiled former colleague Boris Karloff, whose brilliant past work has been recently overshadowed by his pursuit of ideas and research just a little too weird. Brilliant and eccentric, yes; but is he mad? "I shall show you strange things about the mind of man," Karloff says. In his complex and visually impressive laboratory, he claims to have developed a process to take the "thought content" out of one brain and put it into another—basically, to switch brains. He tries it on two chimps…but would it work on humans? Lee and Karloff are both very good, especially in the wonderfully intense scenes in which they spar over the limits, the purpose, the morality of science. Each character derives strength, meets powerful resistance from the other; each actor seems to draw energy from the other's presence as well. The supporting cast includes John Loder as the boyfriend who would prefer that Lee stay in the city and marry him; he follows her out to the sticks and eventually manages to get mixed up in the plot. Not exactly the standard dashing rescuer—in fact, quite the opposite. A very exciting climax tops off this suspenseful and well-written thriller. A gorgeous and fully furnished mad scientist's laboratory, too!

The_Void The thirties was, without doubt, one of the golden ages for the horror genre; you've got all the classics that are still iconic to this day with films like Dracula, King Kong and Frankenstein, and then you've also got a core of overlooked yet excellent films such as Mad Love, Island of Lost Souls and this one; The Man Who Changed His Mind. The order of the day for this flick is mad science, and the science featured here is certifiably mental as we focus on a mad scientist that has developed a method to switch people's minds. Naturally, we don't get a lot of information on how this process actually works; we see some crass looking computers and whatnot, but the methods behind the story are not important in the least anyway. What is important is the story of the scientist. After a breakthrough, he presents his findings to his fellow doctors; but naturally nobody believes him and the crowd leaves his lecture in fits of laughter. Disheartened, the once upstanding and honest doctor decides that it's about time he started looking out for number one; and uses his invention for personal gain.The film stars horror icon Boris Karloff, and Karloff is, as always, excellent in the lead role. He fits into the mad scientist role brilliantly and, as usual, is one of the film's strongest assets. The story that is sprung from the base concept is really well done too; the film only runs for just over sixty minutes so obviously there isn't a great deal of time to explore too much, but the plot we do get it witty and entertaining, and certainly ensures that The Man Who Changed His Mind is a fun film to watch. Despite the fact that the plot is a bit silly and there are a few jokes thrown in, the tone of the movie is mostly serious and that benefits the story, which is rather dark at its core. The supporting cast, which includes Anna Lee, Cecil Parker, Frank Cellier and John Loder all fit into their respective roles well and that helps to make The Man Who Changed His Mind satisfying on the whole. The film may not one of the very best films to come out of the thirties; but it's certainly a very good little horror flick and I highly recommend it fans of classic horror.

Doghouse-6 This is one of the earliest examples of the "mad scientist" characterization that would become so much a part of Boris' stock in trade over the following decade. What's most interesting about THE MAN WHO CHANGED HIS MIND is that it is not as much science fiction as it is an observation of what we might today call the "PR machine," and it takes some lacerating swipes at journalism, publicity and self-promotion.Karloff is Dr. Laurience, a reclusive scientist who believes he can transfer the consciousness (or soul?) from one brain to another. Ably assisted by Dr. Clare Wyatt, Laurience draws the interest of newspaper publisher Lord Haslewood (whose son, Dick, is Clare's fiancé). Eager to promote his foundation, Haslewood offers to sponsor Laurience's work - without knowing exactly what it is. Before the dust settles, Haslewood feels swindled, Clare feels suspicious and Laurience feels used, vowing to employ his work to his own ends rather than for the benefit of mankind.Boris' performance is exuberant, and supporting players Anna Lee, John Loder and Donald Calthrop are effective, but Frank Cellier, as Lord Haslewood, walks away with the picture whenever he is on screen. Without giving too much away, let's just say that Cellier is called upon to portray more than one personality, and provides the film with its most enjoyable scenes.THE MAN WHO CHANGED HIS MIND definitely has its moments, along with a little something to say. With its takes on the press and the pitfalls of corporate control, it not only conveys messages to which we can relate today, but illustrates how little some things have changed in 70 years.