{"id":3125,"date":"2007-05-04T16:25:49","date_gmt":"2007-05-04T23:25:49","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/?p=3125"},"modified":"2021-02-02T00:22:36","modified_gmt":"2021-02-02T07:22:36","slug":"black-friday-1940","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/?p=3125","title":{"rendered":"Black Friday (1940)"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><strong>&#8220;I never know when the murderous brain of Red Cannon may take possession of Kingsley, but I will not stop my experiments. I must find where Cannon&#8217;s money is hidden!&#8221;<\/strong><\/p>\n<table>\n<tr>\n<td>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2007\/05\/Black-Friday-Poster.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2007\/05\/Black-Friday-Poster-300x228.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"228\" class=\"alignleft size-medium wp-image-25556\" srcset=\"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2007\/05\/Black-Friday-Poster-300x228.jpg 300w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2007\/05\/Black-Friday-Poster-128x97.jpg 128w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2007\/05\/Black-Friday-Poster.jpg 370w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p><strong>Synopsis:<\/strong><br \/>\nAn ambitious surgeon (Boris Karloff) saves the life of his injured friend, Professor Kingsley (Stangley Ridges), by giving him the brain of a dying gangster named Red Cannon. When Dr. Sovac (Karloff) learns that Cannon knew about the existence of $500,000, he hypnotizes his friend in order to bring Cannon&#8217;s personality to the surface.\n<\/p>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td>\n<p>\n<strong>Genres, Themes, Actors, and Directors:<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Bela Lugosi Films<\/li>\n<li>Boris Karloff Films<\/li>\n<li>Flashback Film<\/li>\n<li>Gangsters<\/li>\n<li>Mad Doctors and Scientists<\/li>\n<li>Mind Control and Hypnosis<\/li>\n<li>Multiple Personalities<\/li>\n<li>Revenge<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>Review: <\/strong><br \/>\nThis Universal Studios horror flick suffers from two unforgivable gaps in logic: why does Cannon&#8217;s brain retain any traces of the professor&#8217;s personality at all? And why does Professor Kingsley&#8217;s appearance shift (his hair is darkened and he no longer wears glasses) whenever Cannon&#8217;s personality takes over? Given that these blatant illogicalities are never explained, I was too distracted to enjoy the remainder of the film, even once it shifted into a rather standard gangland revenge flick. On the positive side, Karloff is appropriately cast as the greedy yet well-meaning Dr. Sovac:<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2007\/05\/Black-Friday-Karloff3.png\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2007\/05\/Black-Friday-Karloff3-1024x743.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"640\" height=\"464\" class=\"alignnone size-large wp-image-67966\" srcset=\"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2007\/05\/Black-Friday-Karloff3-1024x743.png 1024w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2007\/05\/Black-Friday-Karloff3-300x218.png 300w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2007\/05\/Black-Friday-Karloff3-128x93.png 128w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2007\/05\/Black-Friday-Karloff3-768x557.png 768w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2007\/05\/Black-Friday-Karloff3-372x270.png 372w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2007\/05\/Black-Friday-Karloff3.png 1421w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 640px) 100vw, 640px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>&#8230; and Ridges does an admirable job shuffling between the personalities of professor and gangster. Lovely Anne Nagel is also excellent in a throwaway role as Cannon&#8217;s old girlfriend. <\/p>\n<p>Unfortunately, however, the fine performances aren&#8217;t enough to save this B-thriller from its frustratingly illogical script.  <\/p>\n<p><strong>Redeeming Qualities and Moments: <\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Stanley Ridges as Professor Kingsley\/Red Cannon<br \/>\n<a href=\"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2007\/05\/Black-Friday-Ridges.png\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2007\/05\/Black-Friday-Ridges-1024x739.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"640\" height=\"462\" class=\"alignnone size-large wp-image-67967\" srcset=\"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2007\/05\/Black-Friday-Ridges-1024x739.png 1024w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2007\/05\/Black-Friday-Ridges-300x217.png 300w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2007\/05\/Black-Friday-Ridges-128x92.png 128w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2007\/05\/Black-Friday-Ridges-768x555.png 768w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2007\/05\/Black-Friday-Ridges-374x270.png 374w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2007\/05\/Black-Friday-Ridges.png 1425w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 640px) 100vw, 640px\" \/><\/a><br \/>\n<a href=\"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2007\/05\/Black-Friday-Ridges2.png\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2007\/05\/Black-Friday-Ridges2-1024x727.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"640\" height=\"454\" class=\"alignnone size-large wp-image-67968\" srcset=\"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2007\/05\/Black-Friday-Ridges2-1024x727.png 1024w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2007\/05\/Black-Friday-Ridges2-300x213.png 300w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2007\/05\/Black-Friday-Ridges2-128x91.png 128w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2007\/05\/Black-Friday-Ridges2-768x546.png 768w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2007\/05\/Black-Friday-Ridges2-380x270.png 380w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2007\/05\/Black-Friday-Ridges2.png 1429w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 640px) 100vw, 640px\" \/><\/a><\/li>\n<li>Anne Nagel as Red&#8217;s singer-girlfriend, Sunny<br \/>\n<a href=\"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2007\/05\/Black-Friday-Nagel2.png\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2007\/05\/Black-Friday-Nagel2-1024x742.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"640\" height=\"464\" class=\"alignnone size-large wp-image-67965\" srcset=\"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2007\/05\/Black-Friday-Nagel2-1024x742.png 1024w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2007\/05\/Black-Friday-Nagel2-300x217.png 300w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2007\/05\/Black-Friday-Nagel2-128x93.png 128w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2007\/05\/Black-Friday-Nagel2-768x556.png 768w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2007\/05\/Black-Friday-Nagel2-373x270.png 373w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2007\/05\/Black-Friday-Nagel2.png 1421w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 640px) 100vw, 640px\" \/><\/a><\/li>\n<li>Atmospheric cinematography<br \/>\n<a href=\"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2007\/05\/Black-Friday-Sets.png\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2007\/05\/Black-Friday-Sets-1024x741.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"640\" height=\"463\" class=\"alignnone size-large wp-image-67969\" srcset=\"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2007\/05\/Black-Friday-Sets-1024x741.png 1024w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2007\/05\/Black-Friday-Sets-300x217.png 300w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2007\/05\/Black-Friday-Sets-128x93.png 128w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2007\/05\/Black-Friday-Sets-768x556.png 768w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2007\/05\/Black-Friday-Sets-373x270.png 373w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2007\/05\/Black-Friday-Sets.png 1425w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 640px) 100vw, 640px\" \/><\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>Must See? <\/strong><br \/>\nNo. It&#8217;s not clear why Peary lists this modest B-thriller &#8212; an unwieldy hybrid of <a href=\"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/?p=40400\"><em>Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde<\/em><\/a> and <a href=\"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/?p=18354\"><em>Frankenstein<\/em><\/a> &#8212; in the back of his book. <\/p>\n<p><strong>Links: <\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><a href=\"http:\/\/imdb.com\/title\/tt0032258\/\">IMDb entry<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"http:\/\/www.moriareviews.com\/horror\/black-friday-1940.htm\">Moria Review<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"http:\/\/allmovie.com\/cg\/avg.dll?p=avg&#038;sql=1:85192\">All Movie Guide Review<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/table>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>&#8220;I never know when the murderous brain of Red Cannon may take possession of Kingsley, but I will not stop my experiments. I must find where Cannon&#8217;s money is hidden!&#8221; Synopsis: An ambitious surgeon (Boris Karloff) saves the life of his injured friend, Professor Kingsley (Stangley Ridges), by giving him the brain of a dying gangster named Red Cannon. When Dr. Sovac (Karloff) learns that Cannon knew about the existence of $500,000, he hypnotizes his friend in order to bring&#8230;<\/p>\n<p class=\"read-more\"><a class=\"btn btn-default\" href=\"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/?p=3125\"> Read More<span class=\"screen-reader-text\">  Read More<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3125","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-reviews"],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3125","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=3125"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3125\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":67970,"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3125\/revisions\/67970"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=3125"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=3125"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=3125"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}