What if you were a scientist doing brain research on monkeys and all of a sudden a dead rich tycoon's brain falls into your hands? Well in this yarn first concocted by Curt Siodmak and adapted to film several times, you'd take that brain dump into a fish tank, attach a few electrodes and then let the overpowering personality of the dead tycoon begin to control your every move. Sounds like a plan don't it.
Donovan's Brain stars Lew Ayres as the addle-pated scientist who seems bereft of common decency despite his kind demeanor. He's married to Nancy Davis who indulges her man in his every whim and assisted by Gene Evans who cannot help himself but also pick up the slack. Evans plays a doctor who is also an alcoholic and Ayres covers for him repeatedly which is a sign of a solid friend of sorts, but shows quite early in this story that his ethics are squishy.
This is a low-budget item, but there's plenty of money on hand to tell this tale of power and greed. This a workmanlike story which does just what's needed to keep the narrative moving forward and does so with decent effectiveness until the very end where it all kind of falls apart a bit. The ending is not terrible, but it's unsatisfying in many ways and I'll say little here to undermine its effect.
I do recommend this movie, it's a remarkable bit of science fiction.
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