Donovan's Brain
Tags: murder

Plot synopsis:
The movie opens with the credits and the title over a train approaching and stopping at a station. Sitting in a car, waiting for her husband, is Janice Cory (Nancy Reagan, credited as Nancy Davis). Dr. Patrick J. Cory (Lew Ayres) has just arrived on the train. They drive home to a remote spot outside of town in Green Valley. Cory brought a monkey home, and Janice is concerned because it is cold. They walk in the house and Cory calls for his alcoholic assistant, Dr. Frank Schratt (Gene Evans). He is passed out in front of the fireplace. Cory tells his wife to put on some coffee, he needs Schratt's assistance and sober. Janice brings the monkey into the lab. Cory and Schratt are already there and washing up. Their goal is to extract the monkey's brain and keep it alive; four previous attempts on older subjects were failures. In a large fish tank they place the monkey brain. They hook it up to various support equipment, but initially there is no activity. They increase the voltage and a strong alpha wave appears and remains steady. Janice starts taking notes as her husband dictates details of the procedure. The phone rings, it is the chief ranger asking for Dr. Cory's help. There has been an airplane crash. Some of the passengers may still be alive.At the crash scene, Cory meets the ranger and some other men. They carry the body away from the smoking wreckage on a stretcher. He examines the man and says he'll never make it to a hospital. Chief Tuttle (James Anderson credited as Kyle James) suggests they take him to Cory's house. His house has a lab with a fully equipped Operating Room. Cory thinks the chances are slim, but worth it. At the house, the men carry the body directly to the lab. Tuttle informs Cory, "If you pull him through Doc you'll be set for life. That's Warren H. Donovan. He's supposed to be worth a hundred million." Donovan is in very bad shape, both legs gone and his chest is crushed. Cory and Schratt operate but his pulse stops. Cory asks Schratt to make out the death certificate. Schratt is a practicing physician, but Tuttle has it out for him. He called for Schratt at the hospital, but Schratt was at the Cory home and drunk. Tuttle has an ulterior motive for his hostility towards Schratt; he wants his brother to have Schratt's job at the hospital. Cory walks away from the operating table and gets an idea. He checks and finds alpha waves present on the recently deceased Mr. Donovan. He talks Frank Schratt into helping him remove Donovan's brain. Frank and Janice are horrified. Janice points out that it is against the law, and he could lose his medical license.Now a human brain occupies the fish tank in the lab. Cory explains his goal, "If this brain lives, maybe we can discover how it thinks." Schratt finishes his drink and leaves for home. Schratt returns a few days later to drop off some chemicals, and collect Dr. Cory. They have to go to town and see the hospital administrator, Higgins (Stapleton Kent) and Webster (Peter Adams). Cory is there to vouch for Schratt's professional competency. Higgins seems to be satisfied and tells Cory that Donovan's son and daughter are waiting to see him. Dr. Cory assures Donovan's children, Chloe (Lisa Howard) and Tom (Michael Colgan) that everything possible was done for their father. They ask about any communication he may have made or if any papers were found with his body. Cory then meets with the press. He is asked about Tuttle's brother replacing Schratt at the hospital. As he is leaving, Herbie Yocum (Steve Brodie) introduces himself. He is a freelance photographer. He is following Donovan's death. He wants to get a photo of the operating table. He already visited the morgue and noticed that Donovan had stitches in his head, even though the plane crash injuries did not involve his head. Suspecting Yocum knows more than he admits, Cory reluctantly agrees to Yocum's unusual and ghoulish request. Yocum takes his pictures of the table and another of the tank with Donovan's brain.The brain is starting to respond to outside stimuli. By the seventh day, the brain is growing and absorbing nutrients. Cory suggests they give the brain a voice, so they can hear it anywhere in the house. Schratt returns to the Cory home with a suitcase. He was fired from the hospital and will live with the Cory's full time. Cory wants to research Donovan's life. He wants to try telepathy to communicate with the brain. Frank and Janice think this is a very foolish and unproductive use of his time. The research yields a very unflattering picture of W.H. Donovan. He was a very unpleasant and unscrupulous individual; even his children hated the man. He was a tax cheat and the IRS had an ongoing case against him. That was his focus of attention when he was involved in the plane crash.Cory goes into the lab to check on the brain. A few hours later Cory is still there. The brain in the tank is pulsating. Cory's left hand begins to twitch. He sits at his desk and begins to write something with his left hand, then falls asleep. Dr. Schratt returns the next morning from fishing. Janice, still in her robe, complains that her husband never came to bed. Cory picks up some papers and asks, "Did you write this?" The note states, "get to N. Fuller, WH Donovan." Janice and Frank deny knowledge. Cory get up and bolts from the room with the note in hand. In the living room he looks for a sample of Donovan's handwriting and signature. He finds a magazine article and compares the two--they match.Cory tries to find out who this N. Fuller is. He drives into town, but even at that distance, the brain calls him home. Cory is now walking with a limp and rubbing his side as Donovan did in life. The brain falls asleep and Cory returns to normal. Janice and Frank try to convince Cory he's being drawn in a little too far with his experiment. Cory is then repossessed and orders a taxi and charters a private plane. He flies to Los Angeles and checks into a hotel and bumps into Yocum and brushes him off. He stops at a bank and tries to make a large withdrawal of cash. Yocum is watching him from outside. The teller directs him to the bank manager, Mr. MacNish (John Hamilton), who asks for identification. Since the customers account was always accessed by mail, MacNish has no way to verify things. Cory withdraws $27,000 and leaves the bank. MacNish immediately calls the Treasury Department to report. Cory's next stop is the Aloe Supply Company. He orders scientific equipment and pays cash and orders it delivered to his home back in Green Valley. He stops at a tailor and orders six suits and demands one be available by morning. He orders a fabric that was the favorite of Donovan. As usual, Yocum is outside watching each transaction.At the law offices of Fuller, Barton & Fuller, Cory pays a visit and asks for Nathaniel Fuller. He is told Fuller will be tied up until after lunch. After an exchange with the secretary and Fuller over the intercom, Fuller (Victor Sutherland) reluctantly agrees to see Cory. Cory convinces Fuller to get Donovan's "Washington Advisor" to meet under threat of blackmail--something about endorsed checks. Yocum is still following Cory around town and follows him back to the hotel.Two treasury agents, Mr. Smith (Paul Hoffman) and Brooke (Harland Warde) pay Cory a vist in his hotel room. He refuses to answer their questions. When they threaten to have him arrested, he throws them out. Yocum enters as the treasury agents leave. He shows Cory an article he wrote on Donovan's brain, clearly blackmail. Cory returns to Green Valley by private plane late that afternoon.Janice and Frank examine the brain. Cory comes in still possessed as Donovan. The brain falls asleep and Cory returns to himself. Frank tells Cory that he thinks the brain was reading his mind and knew he meant it harm. The equipment he ordered as Donovan arrives. He got an automatic feeder, good for a year; amplifiers for increasing the brains output; temperature control, and a generator for uninterrupted power.The next morning, Frank goes to the garage and tries to force the lock on the new power supply. The brain wakes Cory and sends him out to stop Schratt. Cory attacks Schratt, but Janice breaks it up. Cory flies back to the city and makes a list of banks, bank balances, and assumed names of the account holders. The Washington Advisor (Tom Powers) and Fuller keep their appointment with Cory. Cory discusses Donovan's tax problem. The advisor tells Cory he has already spoken to the Attorney General about the situation and since Donovan is dead, so is the problem. Cory disagrees and tells him the $250,000 will be paid in cash and the arrangements will continue as usual. The meeting ends and the two men leave. What they don't realize is that Cory recorded the entire exchange on tape. Cory nearly collapses and puts in a call to his wife, but the long distance lines are busy. He records his message to his wife at the end of the exchange with the two men. He tells his wife he is finding it harder to resist Donovan's influence, and may not return to be himself again. He tells her his plan to use the lightning rod on the house.Cory leaves the hotel and takes a cab. He is followed. He exits the cab and is hit by a truck. He is taken to a local hospital. Back at the lab, Frank notes that the brain hasn't rested for over 30 hours. It is growing larger in size in the fish tank. Janice visits Cory in the hospital. Dr. Crane (William Cottrell) briefs Janice and tells her Cory has a mild concussion and a bruised leg. The medical staff is surprised at how well he tolerates pain. Cory, as himself, tells Janice he is afraid. Donovan takes back over and Cory tells Janice to get out and go back home. Janice calls Frank at tells him to turn down the voltage to the brain by 10 microvolts. She wants to know when the brain falls asleep so she can talk to Dr. Pat Cory as himself. The brain won't allow Frank to adjust the machine.The Donovan children and Fuller pay Cory a visit in his hospital room. They tell Cory they want to cooperate with the government on the back tax issue. Cory as Donovan is furious, and cuts them off financially and throws them out of his room. Yocum pays him visit a bit later. He wants another "advance" of $2000. Cory sends him to the house for a few more pictures then calls Frank to give him instructions to leave Yocum in the lab alone with the brain. Yocum arrives at the house and in the lab the brain hypnotizes him. He exits the house like a zombie. Schratt sees him leave, but just goes back to napping in the living room. Yocum drives away but nods off behind the wheel and crashes and burns his car. One blackmailer down.Cory, as Donovan, leaves the hospital. Janice had been napping in the waiting area, but she sees him limp away. He cashes a number of checks and gathers the blackmail funds in cash. He gives Fuller the cash. He warns Fuller, "A fatal accident will occur to anyone who stands in my way." Cory now sees Janice and Frank as standing in his way. Janice and Frank discuss a plan to eliminate the brain. He wants Jan to distract Cory, get him angry, so he can put a bullet in the brain. A storm approaches as Cory arrives home. He agrees to take a walk with his wife, limping like Donovan. Jan has it out with Donovan. As Donovan, Cory attacks his wife while Schratt pumps a couple of bullets into the brain. The brain has Schratt turn the gun on himself. Cory and Janice find Schratt in the lab on the floor. A bolt of lightning strikes the house and blows out the equipment supporting the brain. The brain catches fire and is destroyed.Later, the Treasury agents come to collect Cory. Brooke tells Janice that Dr. Pat Cory's fate is up to both the medical board and whether or not he is indicted. Frank managed to survive and goes with Cory and the Treasury agents. We close with them driving away from the house.