| MacBlayne | 25th October 2015 10:14 AM |
Corridors of Blood was surprising. With the cast (Boris Karloff and Christopher Lee as Resurrection Joe), I was expecting some grisly Burke & Hare type film, where Lee would kidnap homeless people for Karloff's mad surgeon to operate on.
But no, it's actually a tragic drama. Karloff plays a 19th century surgeon called Thomas Bolton, who is trying to create an anesthetic for his patients. He does this by experimenting different gasses on himself. Sadly, as he gets closer to cracking the formula, he becomes addicted to the chemicals and his mind starts to fade. Soon, he finds himself embroiled in Burke & Hare style shenanigans in a desperate attempt to fund his research and addiction.
What impressed me about Corridors of Blood is that although it has a plot that would have made old Ronnie Reagan proud, it never looks down on Bolton. In fact, the film applauds Bolton by the end - as his goal was a noble one.
I watched The Knick a short while back and it was interesting to notice the similarity between the two. Both Karloff's Bolton and Clive Owen's John Thackery are brilliant surgeons, always trying to their best for the patient. Both invent new methods to try and cure their patients. Both end up resorting to chemical assistance to help them through the day. Only difference is that while Bolton is a genuinely lovely man who falls into depravity, whereas Thackery is massive bastard to begin with. | 