- The Devil Commands
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The Devil Commands 
Theatrical posterDirected by Edward Dmytryk Produced by Wallace MacDonald Written by Robert Hardy Andrews
Milton Gunzburg
William SloaneStarring Boris Karloff
Richard FiskeMusic by Morris W. Stoloff Cinematography Allen G. Siegler Editing by Al Clark Distributed by Columbia Pictures Corporation Release date(s) February 3, 1941 Running time 65 minutes Country United States Language English The Devil Commands is a 1941 horror film directed by Edward Dmytryk and starring Boris Karloff.[1] The working title of the film was The Devil Said No.[2] In it, a man obsessed with contacting his dead wife falls in with a sinister phony medium. The Devil Commands is one of the many films from the thirties and forties in which Karloff was cast as a mad scientist with a good heart. It was one of the last in line of the low-budget horror movies that were produced before Universal Studios' The Wolf Man. The story was adapted from the novel The Edge of Running Water by William Sloane.
Contents
Plot
Dr. Julian Blair is engaged in unconventional research on human brain waves when his wife Helen (Shirley Warde) is tragically killed in a freak auto accident. The grief-stricken scientist becomes obsessed with redirecting his work into making contact with the dead and is not deterred by dire warnings from his daughter Anne (Amanda Duff), his research assistant Richard (Richard Fiske), or his colleagues that he is delving into forbidden areas of knowledge. He moves his laboratory to an isolated New England mansion where he continues to try to reach out to his dead wife. He is aided by his mentally-challenged servant Karl (Ralph Penney) and abetted by the obsessive Mrs. Walters (Anne Revere), a phony medium, who seems to exert a sinister influence over him. When their overly curious housekeeper discovers the truth about their experiments, her death brings the local sheriff in to investigate.
Cast
- Boris Karloff - Dr. Julian Blair
- Richard Fiske - Dr. Richard Sayles
- Amanda Duff - Anne Blair
- Anne Revere - Mrs. Walters
- Ralph Penney - Karl
- Dorothy Adams - Mrs. Marcy
- Walter Baldwin - Seth Marcy
- Kenneth MacDonald - Sheriff Ed Willis
- Shirley Warde - Helen Blair
See also
Notes
- ^ "The Devil Commands". NY Times. http://movies.nytimes.com/movie/89299/The-Devil-Commands/overview. Retrieved 2011-05-01.
- ^ Young, 2000, p. 154
References
- Young, R. G. (2000). The encyclopedia of fantastic film: Ali Baba to Zombies. Hal Leonard Corporation. ISBN 1-5578-3269-2.
External links
- The Devil Commands at the Internet Movie Database
- The Devil Commands at AllRovi
- The Devil Commands at the TCM Movie Database
Films directed by Edward Dmytryk 1930s 1940s Emergency Squad • Golden Gloves • Mystery Sea Raider • Her First Romance • The Devil Commands • Under Age • Sweetheart of the Campus • The Blonde from Singapore • Secrets of the Lone Wolf • Confessions of Boston Blackie • Counter-Espionage • Seven Miles from Alcatraz • Hitler's Children • The Falcon Strikes Back • Captive Wild Woman • Behind the Rising Sun • Tender Comrade • Murder, My Sweet • Back to Bataan • Cornered • Till the End of Time • So Well Remembered • Crossfire • Obsession • Give Us This Day1950s Mutiny • The Sniper • Eight Iron Men • The Juggler • The Caine Mutiny • Broken Lance • The End of the Affair • Soldier of Fortune • The Left Hand of God • The Mountain • Raintree County • The Young Lions • Warlock • The Blue Angel1960s Walk on the Wild Side • The Reluctant Saint • The Carpetbaggers • Where Love Has Gone • Mirage • Alvarez Kelly • Anzio • Shalako1970s Short films Three Lives • Bing Presents Oreste • Not Only StrangersCategories:- 1941 films
- American films
- English-language films
- Black-and-white films
- 1940s horror films
- Films directed by Edward Dmytryk
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