It isn't often that I find an old crime movie that will interest me. I watched this primarily because it starred a young Ralph Bellamy. I didn't expect much, but was surprised. This one rises above the average crime drama, despite having a few very questionable scientific theories for its basis.
Bellamy plays and ugly and scarred criminal who agrees to undergo and "underground" surgery by a reputable surgeon who has a theory that some criminals lead the life they do due to a certain type of brain tumor. Is the surgery illegal? Of course. But the surgeon does it to test his theory...on the condition by Bellamy that he also does plastic surgery so that he will, after the operation, be a new man.
After the operations he has complete amnesia. But remember, this is not the cliché script about the plastic surgery. It's about the brain operation, after which Bellamy becomes a wonderful fellow who becomes a doctor himself. All seems to be going well until he volunteers to work mornings at a prison, where he treats his ex-girl friend...who recognizes his voice. His fingerprints eventually give him away. What will the legal system do? Convict and imprison him, or let him lead his new life as a pillar of the community? Bellamy is excellent here, particularly after the operation. Ward Bond is very good, too, and it is nice to see him in a stronger, more central role. Isabel Jewell -- as the low-class girlfriend -- was disappointing. In the same time frame, she had made interesting appearances in films such as "A Tale Of Two Cities" and "Lost Horizons" (both with Ronald Colman); here she a pretty typical "bad girl". Willard Robertson, who typically plays a pretty standard police detective, also does rather nicely here.
I recommend this film...for at least one watch...though probably not for your DVD shelf. It's done really well, and is something different in the crime genre.
Bellamy plays and ugly and scarred criminal who agrees to undergo and "underground" surgery by a reputable surgeon who has a theory that some criminals lead the life they do due to a certain type of brain tumor. Is the surgery illegal? Of course. But the surgeon does it to test his theory...on the condition by Bellamy that he also does plastic surgery so that he will, after the operation, be a new man.
After the operations he has complete amnesia. But remember, this is not the cliché script about the plastic surgery. It's about the brain operation, after which Bellamy becomes a wonderful fellow who becomes a doctor himself. All seems to be going well until he volunteers to work mornings at a prison, where he treats his ex-girl friend...who recognizes his voice. His fingerprints eventually give him away. What will the legal system do? Convict and imprison him, or let him lead his new life as a pillar of the community? Bellamy is excellent here, particularly after the operation. Ward Bond is very good, too, and it is nice to see him in a stronger, more central role. Isabel Jewell -- as the low-class girlfriend -- was disappointing. In the same time frame, she had made interesting appearances in films such as "A Tale Of Two Cities" and "Lost Horizons" (both with Ronald Colman); here she a pretty typical "bad girl". Willard Robertson, who typically plays a pretty standard police detective, also does rather nicely here.
I recommend this film...for at least one watch...though probably not for your DVD shelf. It's done really well, and is something different in the crime genre.