The Man Who Changed His Mind – 1936 | 66 mins | Horror, Sci-Fi | B&W

Plot Synopsis

The best received of horror actor Boris Karloff’s British productions was director Robert Stevenson’s intelligently scripted and thoroughly entertaining The Man Who Changed His Mind. A neat if minor piece of energetically paced science fiction-cum-horror, Karloff is able to deliver such stereotypical poppycock with impressive conviction and his scientific zeal is supported by Alex Vetchinsky’s vision of the paraphernalia associated with such beliefs in cinema.

Dr Laurience (Karloff), a reclusive scientist who wants to practise on humans the experiments he has already conducted on monkeys; that is, he wants to transfer the `thought content’ from one mind to another. He enlists the help of lovely young doctor, Dr. Clare Wyatt (Anna Lee), as his assistant, and as his research progresses he attempts to impress her more and more. He has chosen for the experiment his cynical, crippled assistant Clayton (Donald Calthrop) and Lord Haslewood (Frank Cellier), the newspaper magnate who has withdrawn his support from Laurience’s research when it becomes clear it will not bring profit to his newspaper. As a result of pressing on with his work on switching human thought, Laurience causes the deaths of these two guinea pigs.

When he discovers his increasingly suspicious assistant Clare is in love with another man, Lord Haselwood’s son Dick (John Loder), he selects him as a victim for his experiments. It is up to Claire to prevent Dick from being permanently endowed with Laurience’s own mind in his sound young body.