"The Frozen Dead" starring Dana Andrews

This blog was begun Sunday night May 10th, and completed the following day :

Today's big news is that I will be returning to Pearl's next Saturday, May 16th. By that day I'll have been away from my duties for two full months, by far the longest period in my ten years as Pearl's caregiver. I once had ten days off, way back in 2013 or thereabouts, and at holiday times I've had five or six days, but this time it will have been close to sixty days, so it will take a little adjustment to jump back into it, as caregiving requires a lot of attention, but I'm sure I'll be on top of it simply because I've been doing it for so long.

Don't worry cause we'll still watch movies and I'll still write. I've always done so, all through the years. During my time off I haven't missed a single day of blogging! Not too shabular if I do say so myself. I can't promise I'll keep up the 100% mark, but I'm gonna try, and anyhow, I'm gonna be back on the two week schedule (pronounced Shedge-yoole) we initiated earlier this year when I began staying with Pearl round-the-clock. So I'll have two more weeks off beginning May 30th, and it will continue that way afterwards, two weeks on/two weeks off. Let the movies and the writing continue! We can do other subjects, too. Anything at all you wanna talk about, just ask.  :)

Tonight's movie was one of the weirdest we've seen. What do you get when you combine "The Brain That Wouldn't Die" with "They Saved Hitler's Brain" and add a dash of "Frozen Alive"? You get "The Frozen Dead"(1966), starring Dana Andrews as a former Nazi scientist tasked with reanimating 1500 officers from The 3rd Reich who've been cryogenically frozen for twenty years. Andrews has been working in London since the war, in a secret laboratory beneath his mansion. His work is funded by by a surviving SS General (Karel Stepanek), who has recently arrived to check up on Andrews' progress. Andrews is able to show him nine soldiers he's thawed out thus far, though the results have been less than stellar. Of the nine, seven have gone mad, one - his brother - is a violent psychopath, and one is a silent zombie. All but the zombie (who is now Andrews' butler) are locked in the basement. The General is not happy : "Zis iz unsatisfactory! Vaht am I paying you for? After all zis time, you have only produced nine specimens, and all of them vorthless! You have failed in your duties to the Reich"! Andrews, who does a fair German accent throughout, pleads for understanding.

"Herr General, the vork I am doing is unprecidented. I did not vant to rush into it and destroy zees men in my haste. Zis is vy it has taken me twenty years to get to zis point. I have come to za conclusion zat I vill not be able to bring zem back as they are - from zeir frozen state - without conducting a brain transplant on each vun. As you can see from za men in the cellar, it has been possible to bring back the body but not the mind. Zey vill need new brains to continue".

"Yes, but how vill you achieve zis"?

"Herr General, I am glad you asked. Tomorrow I have a top neurosurgeon coming to visit me, an American who has successfully transplanted dog brains. He is villing to share vith me his techniques, zough he does not know za nature of my own research".

"You must never give it avay"!

"I vill not, Herr General. He vill simply show me how it is done with animals, and I vill tranfer zat knowledge to human transplatation vunce he is gone".

"Very vell", says Herr General. "But on my next visit I expect to see better results"!

All is well, or should I say "vell", for the moment, Andrews having bought himself more time. The next day, his niece (Anna Palk) arrives unexpectedly from Switzerland, where she's been away at University. "I finished up early, Uncle. All that study paid off. Oh, it's so nice to see you again". He's not exactly thrilled to see her, but worse is that she's brought along a friend for the visit. "Uncle, I'd like you to meet Elsa". This is not good, having two young ladies in the house when he's expecting the American surgeon. How will he keep them away from his lab?

"Jean, I am pleased to have you stay, but it is very important that neither you nor Elsa come down to za basement vhile you are here. I vill be conducting research and it is of ze utmost importance zat I not be disturbed".

I must jump in to say, "Here we go again with the 'Don't Go In The Basement' edict". I am going to move away from the dialogue now or we'll be here all night, lol. Jean abides by her Uncle's decree but her college friend Elsa does not. She winds up in the basement quite by accident, in the middle of the night while searching for a bathroom, and while down there she sees the laboratory and several specimens that remain frozen behind glass. This is an unfortunate discovery for Elsa, because Dr. Andrews' assistant "Karl" (Alan Tilvern) - a creepy "Ygor" type - is wandering around down there. He sees her and, knowing she will go to the police or at least tell Jane, he grabs a nearby syringe and shoots her up with a deadly drug. Then he gets a Brilliant Idea that will require a bit more dialogue.

Running to wake Dr. Andrews, Karl exclaims "Doctor, come quickly! Ve have four more minutes but ve must hurry! I have found a solution to our pwoblem"! He leads Dr. Andrews to the basement where he shows him the newly deceased Elsa. "Quickly doctor! Ve must remove her head immediately. Ve must freeze it; brain damage vill occur in minutes"!

"Vhat are you saying, Karl"?

"Doctor, I found her in za lab and had to kill her, but don't you see ve can use her brain - a living brain! - to transplant into vun uv ze specimens! Her brain is still alive for two more minutes! Ve must operate immdediately"!

So they do. They remove Elsa's head, with great precision I might add. The next day the American brain surgeon arrives. He's a tall, suave gent who falls for young Jane before his suitcase is even unpacked. She is still upset about the sudden departure of Elsa, who decided just that morning to return home, according to Andrews. "Karl took her to the train station. She didn't give a reason; maybe she was homesick. I'm sorry, Jane". She is temporarily distracted by the attentions of the American, but as the days pass, Jane can't shake the feeling that something bad happened to Elsa.

As he starts work with the brain surgeon, Andrews can see the man shares his enthusiasm for cutting edge research, and makes the risky decision to let him in on the secret. Here is where we head into "Brain That Wouldn't Die" territory. You might think that, upon seeing a box with a severed head inside, the American would think Dr. Andrews a psycho. But no! He's thrilled with Andrews' accomplishment! Andrews explains the workings of the various tubes inserted into the exposed brain. "This one provides nourishment. this here is an electrolyte solution, this one delivers oxygen". The former Elsa opens her eyes to look around, barely cognizant yet clearly unhappy at what's been done to her.

"Can she think"?, asks the American.

"Not yet", replies Andrews. "Her brain vaves do not yet show advanced activity, but ve've only just begun vorking with her. But as you see, she can move her eyes and her mouth".

"Yes........it looks like she's attempting to talk". I will now pause the plot for a moment to report a shift in the main theme of the film. The story began as an urgent mission to reanimate the long frozen Nazis, in order to resurrect The 3rd Reich (or as one humorist put it, The Thawed Reich). But now, about halfway through, it will turn into a murder mystery, as Jane becomes certain that Elsa has met with foul play and goes to the police. Many fans at IMDB were unhappy with this switch, expecting the movie to remain focused on the Nazi angle. That would have made a great story also, and perhaps the title is misleading, but the change didn't bother me because, in making Elsa the protagonist, we get a whole new version of "The Brain That Wouldn't Die", and man, it's spectacular. Normally I don't like color in my sci-fi movies, but here I make an exception because it is lurid like that in a Hammer film. In fact, the entire movie resembles a Hammer Studios production, from the gothic sets to the saturated color to the gruesome subject matter and the glee with which it is treated. The folks at Hammer weren't squeamish and they assumed the same of their audience. The success of their formula in the mid-60s inspired a lot of imitators, like Amicus and whoever was in charge of Gold Star Productions, the company behind this film.

Director Herbert J. Leder and his screenwriter came up with a neat twist on the infamous "Monster In The Closet" device that is used in "Brain That Wouldn't Die". In that film, the Severed Head is able to psychically communicate with a gigantic, potato-headed creature, a failed experiment that has been locked away. She uses that monster as a proxy to wreak her vengeance at the end of the movie, in one of the scariest scenes in motion picture history. In "Frozen Dead" the head of Elsa is given a wall full of arms to work with. I won't tell you what she does with them, but they prove effective enough, even if they aren't as terrifying as Mr. Potato Head.

What is very powerful is the final lament of Elsa, which she gives when all the mayhem has come to an end and the Nazis are vanquished. I don't want to tell you what that is either, but her words add a profound sadness to what is otherwise an over-the-top horror story. As with "Brain That Wouldn't Die", you'll never forget the end of this movie, either. I don't know if I cut my review too short or if I've overdone it, but I've tried to give you a lot of info without spoiling all the surprises. As noted, this is a studio release for first run theaters, big league as opposed to quick and cheap, but it's also got the truly "out there" weirdness we love in our low budget specials. I give "The Frozen Dead" Two Huge Thumbs Up and recommend it most highly. It's one of the best Brain Transplant movies ever made and the Youtube print was excellent. Don't miss it!  /////

Zat is all for za moment. I vill now head out on my Zee-Sun Valk. Join me if you vill, later to-nite, at zee Usual Time.  :)

Tons of love!  xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxo  :):)