The famous Dr. Ernest Sovac's best friend, bookish college professor George Kingsley, is run down while crossing a street. In order to save his friend's life, Sovac implants part of another man's brain into the professor's. Unfortunately, the other man was a gangster who was involved in the accident. The professor recovers but at times behaves like the gangster, and his whole personality changes, including plotting revenge against his rivals. Sovac is horrified but also intrigued, because the gangster has hidden $500,000 somewhere in the city. The doctor continues to treat his friend and, when the professor is under the influence of the gangster's brain, Sovac attempts to have the man lead him to the fortune.
Cast
Boris Karloff as Dr. Ernest Sovac
Bela Lugosi as Eric Marnay
Stanley Ridges as Professor George Kingsley / Red Cannon
The original story treatment was titled Friday the Thirteenth before being changed to Black Friday. In January 1939 Universal announced that Willis Cooper was working on the script, with Bela Lugosi and Boris Karloff probably to star. In August, Kurt Siodmak and Eric Taylor were assigned to write the script. Universal cast Lugosi as the doctor and Karloff as the professor. For unknown reasons, Karloff insisted on playing the doctor. Rather than a straight switch though, Lugosi was given the minor role of a rival gangster, while character actorStanley Ridges was brought in to play the professor. In later years writer Curt Siodmak claimed Karloff felt he wasn't a good enough actor to play the dual role of the kindly professor-turned-murderous gangster, but it is more likely that his distinctive looks and voice could not be changed completely enough to make the switch convincing. The film provided a rare opportunity for Ridges. By December the title had changed to Black Friday. Arthur Lubin reportedly got the job of directing on the strength of his work on The Big Guy. Filming started 27 December 1939. During filming, Manley Hall hypnotised Lugosi on set.
Release
Black Friday had its world premiere in Chicago on February 29, 1940. It was released theatrically April 12, 1940 where it was distributed by Universal Pictures.
Criticism
The New York Times wrote "Lugosi's terrifying talents are wasted... but Karloff is in exquisite artistic form... good holiday fun." Diabolique magazine called it "Lubin's first film to have any kind of lasting legacy... because it features both Boris Karloff and Bela Lugosi, though neither share a scene together. It's a sort of gangster-horror film that involves a brain transplant. Stanley Ridges plays a part clearly meant for Karloff with Karloff playing a role that should have been played by Lugosi and Lugosi being wasted in a part that could have been played by anyone. The film is no classic but it is crisp and no-nonsense, taking advantage of Universal's studio resources, with excellent tempo; Joe Dante later commented it was more like a Warner Bros film in that respect than a Universal one, a judgement that could be made of many Lubin movies from this period."
Home media
Black Friday was released on a DVD as part of The Bela Lugosi Collection on September 6, 2005. Dave Kehr of The New York Times noted that the compilation compiled The Black Cat, The Raven, The Invisible Ray and Black Friday on a single disc, stating that the video quality was acceptable but contained "a lot of video compression".
