The Devil Commands (1941) User Reviews (44)

well-directed nuttiness with one unforgettable scene

[whitec-3 · 6/10 · 4 September 2007]

As for another viewer, this film was deposited in my memory banks a generation ago. This morning (4 Sept 2007) the TCM screen stirred that memory, so I taped and replayed the conclusion. The content is thin but the film is short, at least for a grown-up. Karloff is splendid, perfectly absorbed as ever in his character. His role is well supported by the evil medium-familiar woman with regulation severely-pulled-back hair. Dmytryk's touch is in evidence already, as every scene is well composed and lighted.

But the reason why the film stuck in my aging memory, and the only reason for it to attract attention, is the stunningly realized seance scenes at the end. As other posters have described, this isn't just any seance: most of the participants have already crossed over, but they look bewitchingly cool sheathed in deco metal suits. (Another poster called them diving suits, but more like space suits you'd find on the covers of Amazing Tales in that era.) In classic seance style, all these suited bodies are seated around a table.

As in Frankenstein and so many other movies since, the action in the lab scene mostly involves turning up the juice, which pours through the whole interlinked seance, adding a lot of hypnotic background noise. (And can be defended historically, since Spiritualists often used electro-magnetic metaphors to describe their rapport.)

What happens then testifies to a lesson later film-makers probably can't re-learn: nothing is more suggestive than restraint. In two concluding scenes where Karloff finally gets the experiment up and running the way he planned, this well-built seance scenario comes to partial but mesmerizing life. A spinning vortex appears at the bodies' center. The voice of Karloff's dead wife breaks through in a grinding electronica: "Julian!"

Then a lovely, unpredictable action: the seance cadavers in their space suits move ever so slightly, bowing toward the vortex in a series of click-actions. Then, when the electricity ceases, they click back into upright postures. Just as the Karloff character hears his wife's voice, something strangely suggestive of life beyond death occurs. The scene lasts only seconds but is repeated for the mob-finale. It's like an Eric Clapton solo, where you're touched less by what is actually played than all that might have been played. The performance stops at its peak moment, launching the audience's imagination in a way that extensions of the scene could never have accomplished.

Karloff as an extremely MAD scientist

[dzondzon · 7/10 · 12 July 1999]

I saw this movie over 35 years ago, as a child, late at night.It left a big impression on me and scared me to death. I recently saw it again and my earlier impressions were justified. Karloff tries to contact the soul of his dead wife using an apparatus comprised of metal helmets through which he directs psychic electricity. The whirling vortex of soul energy is a high point in the film. Karloff gets more and more creepily deranged as the movie goes on. Presumably the devil makes him do it. This film is really a well done minor gem. Fans of the mad scientist/laboratory genre will find much to enjoy. This film is a must for Karloff afficianados. It is unfortunately very difficult to find as it hasn't been on T.V.for years and no commercial video tapes exist. See it if you can!

The maddest doctor of them all

[El_Rey_De_Movies · 6/10 · 9 February 2005]

Karloff turns in another stellar performance as Dr. Julian Blair, a research scientist working on a new machine that records brain waves. When his wife dies in an auto accident on the day that he presents his findings to his scientific colleagues, he discovers to his shock and surprise that his machine is picking up his wife's brain waves hours later. Enlisting the aid of a phony medium played by Anne Revere, he embarks on a series of horrific experiments he hopes will finally prove the existence of life after death. It's corny and clichéd, but this movie still works. The atmosphere of inevitable doom is set right from the start, with a creepy narration by Dr. Blair's daughter. Karloff starts as a somewhat absent-minded scientist and family man who is slowly reduced to a madman totally obsessed with the idea of communicating with his dead wife. He's aided by Anne Revere, playing the medium Mrs. Walters as the coldest, most evil bitch you've ever seen. With its New England setting, nightmarish laboratory scenes full of corpses in bizarre head and body rigs, to the conclusion where Dr. Blair actually does reach the other side only to be destroyed, the obvious influence of H.P. Lovecraft's writings is clearly in evidence in this movie. It's barely feature-length, but it barrels along and hangs together so well that you won't mind at all when it's time to leave the abandoned house perched on the cliffs of Barsham Harbor.

Places We Dare Not Go

[bkoganbing · 6/10 · 22 June 2009]

Though the science involved in what Boris Karloff is trying to do is very flawed, in The Devil Commands Karloff gives a very good performance as a man obsessed with contacting his late wife. Unfortunately he falls into the clutches of a fake medium played by Anne Revere who takes advantage of him.

The first few minutes of the film show a happy well adjusted Karloff married to Shirley Warde with daughter Amanda Duff also getting ready to marry scientist Richard Fiske. After a car accident where Warde dies in his arms, Karloff goes off the deep end as he becomes obsessed with the idea that Warde is trying to communicate with him via electrical impulses. His efforts to combine science and the occult lead him to Revere and ultimately to tragedy.

The electrical devices in his laboratory have the familiar Frankenstein like look about them, no doubt Edward Dmytryk in one of his early directorial efforts was trying to capture the mood of the Frankenstein films from Universal. Though the rest of the cast is pretty bland, Karloff and Revere play well off each other and carry the film.

One exception to the blandness is that of Dorothy Adams whom I recognized immediately as Bessie the maid from Laura. Her part here is similar to that one and her acting has some real bite to it.

The Devil Commands is from Columbia's B unit and it's not invested with a lot of production values. Still it's a good horror film from the master himself.

Not Bad, But The Book Is Sooooo Much Better

[ferbs54 · 6/10 · 14 December 2007]

I must confess to a degree of disappointment after having watched "The Devil Commands" the other night, after several years of waiting to do so. The memory of its excellent source novel, William Sloane's "The Edge of Running Water" (1937), is still very much with me from several years ago, you see, and I'm afraid that the film does suffer in comparison. The book has sharply drawn characters, a well-detailed plot (a scientist attempting to communicate with his dead wife), great suspense and a very satisfying windup. The film, unfortunately, has none of these things in much abundance. Still, there ARE some good things to be said for it. Boris Karloff, as usual, is wonderful, as is Anne Revere in her role as his assistant. The effects are more than passable, and, at a mere 65 minutes, there is no unnecessary padding. Indeed, the film can be accused of being not fleshed out enough! Several things aren't explained; even Boris' fate is never clearly shown, unlike his character's amazing finish in the book. This is a story that is truly ripe for a remake, if done faithfully and by a team that respects the source material. Still, I can think of many more fruitless ways to spend an hour than by curling up with "The Devil Commands."

THE DEVIL COMMANDS (Edward Dmytryk, 1941) **1/2

[Bunuel1976 · 6/10 · 9 September 2006]

A likable horror/sci-fi (given a catchpenny but utterly meaningless title!) tailor-made for its star – despite its naïve approach to the supernatural (what with the goofy laboratory equipment that's a cross between medieval torture devices and an underwater suit!). The Gothic trappings included in the narrative (mystery house, seances, brutish 'zombie' manservant) don't sit too well alongside the scientific paraphernalia and jargon – and actually cheapen the film, though not quite to the level of the contemporaneous Bela Lugosi vehicles made by Poverty Row studios!

Perhaps the most perplexing element in the film is the constant narration, which doesn't really serve any purpose: this was probably inspired by Hitchcock's REBECCA (1940) but also, curiously enough, ties it with the fatalistic voice-over that would soon become a film noir staple – and we all know what director Dmytryk achieved in that most influential subgenre (in fact, he's easily the best director with whom Karloff worked during his stay at Columbia – albeit in an early and, therefore, minor effort); here already, Dmytryk's proficiency for creating mood on a miniscule budget through careful lighting is well in evidence. By the way, I can't say for certain but the cliff setting from where Karloff and Anne Revere dispose of the body of the nosy maid may be the same that was utilized four years later for the climax of a marvelous Grade-B noir, MY NAME IS JULIA ROSS (1945), also a Columbia picture (and which I finally caught up with while in Hollywood early this year)!

Karloff is committed and persuasive as always as the scientist aching to communicate with his dear departed wife – a role which eerily predates many Peter Cushing would play in the 1970s (particularly following the death of his real-life wife!); however, the star is matched by co-star Revere as the domineering and vaguely sinister medium. As busy as the climax is, it's rather hurried: what with Karloff trying to convince his daughter's fiancé – conveniently, a scientist – of the fundamental value of his work but, failing to do so, has to knock him out before he can use his own daughter as guinea pig in his great experiment!; all the while, an angry torch-carrying mob (who seem to have stepped in from the set of some concurrent Universal production!) is hatching up a plan to stall Karloff's 'dangerous' research – but, as soon as they're about to storm the place, the whole edifice collapses around them (for reasons that are not entirely clear)!!

While the least effective of the three Karloffs I've just watched for the first time, it's not a bad effort all around – and I still look forward to his two remaining (and, oddly, similarly-titled) Columbia vehicles, namely THE MAN THEY COULD NOT HANG (1939) and BEFORE I HANG (1940)…though I now know not to expect anything approaching the quality of his genuine classics from the Universal heyday!

Rockin'-Out on Brain Waves

[dougdoepke · 24 June 2009]

At last, Karloff has met his match. One glance from the steely-eyed Ann Revere (Mrs. Walters) is enough to freeze even Frankenstein. She doesn't need make-up—she's scary enough just walking onto the set. I'd love to see a stare-down between her and an icy Bette Davis. Anyway, the movie is occasionally atmospheric, especially the cliff house scenes. The plot doesn't make much sense—I guess that's why we get the voice-over narration. It's something about getting brain waves from the dead and turning them into talk. Apparently, that requires that Dr. Blair (Karloff) assemble a junk pile in his laboratory. On special occasions, the metal heaps sit around a table in diving helmets and sort of rock out on brain waves. Then there's the live person who puts on a helmet and sticks neon tubes in her ears. Apparently, that triggers an indoor wind, and then wispy ghost-like things appear. The wind doesn't bother them, but it sure musses-up Karloff's hair. It's one wild and crazy lab scene.

The cast and crew are an interesting bunch. Director Dmytryk was one of the blacklisted Hollywood Ten, who then decided to sing to the House committee, and so, went back to work. On the other hand, Revere never did sing and stayed blacklisted for a decade or so. There's also young Robert Fiske who plays Dr. Sayles. He has the distinction of being one of a handful of movie actors killed in action during WWII— don't they deserve some kind of Hollywood memorial. And between Dorothy Adams (Mrs. Marcy) and the equally familiar Ellen Corby, housekeeper roles stayed monopolized in Hollywood for about twenty years. Nothing special in this 50 or-so minutes, except for the goofy lab scenes. But something should be said for the great Karloff. Even in this routine programmer, he gives it his all, a spirited performance that almost makes the hocus-pocus believable. I hope there's a place in Hollywood heaven for great old pro's like him.

Creepy tale has lots of atmosphere but silly plot...

[Doylenf · 6/10 · 4 September 2007]

BORIS KARLOFF is a scientist who wants to communicate with the brain waves of his dead wife. His daughter narrates the tale and concludes with: "It is dangerous to communicate with the dead." That's about the impression the viewer gets after seeing what happens in the course of a brisk one hour and six minutes.

Columbia produced this low-budget feature and gave the directing chores to Edward Dmytryk, who would later go on to bigger and better things at RKO. But it's an efficient thriller thanks to his direction and the low-key, shadowy photography that makes the absurd story at least come to life on occasion.

Enjoyable too are the performances of ANN REVERE as a sinister housekeeper who knows all about Karloff's experiments and what goes on behind the locked doors of his laboratory; DOROTHY ADAMS as an inquisitive servant who agrees to check out the lab and gets locked inside; and KENNETH MacDONALD as the Sheriff determined to find out who is responsible for all the missing bodies from the graveyard.

It's typical Karloff stuff and he lends his commanding presence to the role with more dignity than it deserves. If it emerges as a better than average horror vehicle, it's because director Dmytryk is at the helm, but the script is absurd. The low-budget production values are neatly hidden by all the shadowy photography.

Same old song, different studio

[planktonrules · 5/10 · 19 September 2007]

In the 1930s, Boris Karloff was initially with a relatively important studio (Universal) and was enjoying a lot of success. Later, he did some dandy films for Warner Brothers, but he also made some grade-Z films for poverty row studio, Monogram. All these films were fun to watch and often a bit silly, but the Monogram ones were known for their very low production values and silly plots. After THE APE (1940), Karloff was thrilled to get out of his contract with Monogram and ready to go on to better things. It SHOULD have been that way when he made THE DEVIL COMMANDS for Columbia. Sure, like Universal in the 1930s, Columbia was not the biggest of studios but it did have decent budgets and production values and I expected this to be a much better style of film than THE APE....but unfortunately, it seemed a lot like the exact same old style of film and nothing more. Like THE APE and the rather bland Mr. Wong films for Monogram, this one was nothing special.

It stars Karloff as a kindly scientist with the best of intentions that ultimately becomes a mad man--using science to create abominations. Considering how often he did this, the whole thing seems very, very derivative and stale. We've seen this all before and there is nothing that makes this film stand out from many others just like it. Also, the narration and the epilogue just seem heavy-handed and unnecessary.

Is it fun and worth a look (particularly to lovers of B-horror films), yes. But it could have been so much better.

Ridiculous but Karloff saves it

[preppy-3 · 6/10 · 8 September 2007]

Kindly Dr. Revere (Boris Karloff) has found a way to record the brain waves of people. His loving wife is tragically killed in a car accident. Revere however gets a reading from his dead wife (he thinks) when alone in is lab. He becomes obsessed with trying to communicate with her beyond the grave. He ends up with a cruel conniving fake medium (Anne Revere) and some corpses borrowed from the nearby cemetery.

OK--the plot doesn't make a lick of sense. He does turn on the machine after his wife dies and he DOES get a message--but how can he know it's her? Why does he need to use other dead bodies to communicate with his wife? Why not dig up HER body and try it? Too many questions. The sets are threadbare (looks more like a PRC production than Columbia), talented character actress Revere gives out her worse performance, the silly narration doesn't work and it just completely derails at the end. Still Karloff is good (as always) and gives this junk a better performance than it deserves. He single handedly makes this an OK movie. It just isn't that scary. It does have a somewhat spooky scene where a maid is stuck in a room with a bunch of dead bodies but that's it. Minor but a must for Karloff fans.

Silly and predictable Karloff vehicle.

[mark.waltz · 3/10 · 22 November 2010]

What happens after a body dies? Does the brain die instantly like the rest of the body, or does it desperately reach out to expose its last thoughts? This is what scientist Boris Karloff is desperate to find out in this silly science fiction film where the brain in question is that of his beloved wife who is suddenly taken from him in a freak accident. Karloff's daughter is scared of the reclusive turn dad takes all of a sudden and is horrified by his sudden retirement from the university he works in and the sudden move he makes to a New England coastal town with local fake spiritualist Anne Revere. The community they move to are instantly suspicious of their odd behavior, and when their housekeeper doesn't come home from work one day, they storm the cliff side mansion to confront the owners.

Karloff tries to hold back from being hammy in his low-key performance, but it is obvious a variation of roles he had played many times before, most recently in several other films at Columbia ("The Man They Could Not Hang", "Before I Hang"). Anne Revere is another dark villainess in the shadow of Gale Sondergaard and Judith Anderson's recent turns as somberly dressed housekeepers in films such as "The Cat and the Canary" and "Rebecca". Her performance, however, is closer to that of Rafaela Ottiano's in "The Devil Doll", with a touch of Gloria Holden's vampire in "Dracula's Daughter".

The moody cliff side mansion is a memorable photographic shot, and the laboratory that Karloff and Revere live in is one that Edward D. Wood Jr. would envy. A Lon Chaney Jr. like monster, having gone from being somewhat normal to a dominated servant, comes off like Universal's later horror goon, Glenn Strange. Unlike some other genuine bad movies, "The Devil Commands" is actually pretty fun to watch, definitely worthy of a single watching by horror movie enthusiasts. But it has a been-there, done-that feeling about it, and a genuine lack of imagination in it script and execution that makes this a poor entry in the second era of sound horror films.

Don't open that door!

[kennethwright2612 · 8/10 · 21 February 2003]

Corny and cliche'd as The Devil Commands may look to the superficial gaze, it's a powerful expression of the inextinguishable and far from trivial human wish to believe that death is not the end and that the dead we loved are not forever lost to us. Karloff starred in a whole sub-genre of films on this theme from the middle 1930s to the early 1940s (cf The Invisible Ray, Before I Hang, The Man They Could Not Hang, etc), invariably as a misunderstood scientific genius, embittered by tragedy or injustice, whose desire to conquer death clashes fatally with the prerogatives of the Almighty.

Whether one believes in an afterlife or not, it would be a coarsely reductionist mind that could consider the subject ridiculous. What gives these films (and this one in particular) their eerily modernist slant on the matter lies in the way they reflect the public's awe of science in the first half of the twentieth century, when astonishing developments such as radio and television (and that weird form of immortality, the motion picture), made it seem believable that technology might solve the supernatural as well as the physical mysteries. It is worth remembering in this context that the contemporary electrical wizards Thomas Edison and Nikola Tesla, classical Mad Scientists both, attempted to build machines with which to talk to the dead.

In this morbidly obsessive cinematic byway The Devil Commands stands out as one of the most insidiously poignant and nearly blasphemous films of its kind, sailing very close to the emotional and spiritual wind in its depiction of Karloff's bizarre attempts to communicate with his dead wife. As a mad-scientist entertainment it contains some of the most magnificently deranged laboratory scenes ever filmed, surpassed in this context only by James Whale's Frankenstein and Bride Of Frankenstein. I still succumb to its mournful fascination. And if your first viewing doesn't scare you half to death, you can't be more than half alive.

Sombre little B movie put across with great conviction.

[Prichards12345 · 7/10 · 4 November 2008]

This film was a bit of a Holy Grail for me - I saw it many many years ago as a a child, (not on the original release - I'm not that old!) and it gave me many a treasured thrill.

So I came back to this film hoping it would somehow survive my growing up and increased critical perceptions. Many a childhood scare has been displayed as utterly terrible by the cold light of adulthood - Man Without A Body is one such movie - so I had some trepidation on going back to it.

I needn't have worried; The Devil Commands still holds up well, and after a slightly slow first half picks up with fine aplomb when Boris Karloff takes up residence in an old New England mansion. And you just know he's up to no good! Karloff plays a respected University professor who is trying to invent a device that can enable the transmission of thoughts across vast distances, a sort of "brain telephone" if you will. On the tragic death of his wife in a car accident Karloff discovers he can still detect her brain waves through the instrument, and begins a new line of enquiry...that of contacting the dead.

Taking up with a spirit medium, played by a splendidly icy Ann Revere, Karloff is soon robbing graves and conducting unholy experiments. The change in his physical appearance about half-way through, is quite startling even today. Boris is in terrific form, giving a restrained and understated performance. And the film has some piquant black and white ghoulish chills. Compared to such bottom of the barrel dross as Lugosi's Ape Man and Karloff's own The Ape, this is a great little "B" well worth checking out.

"Devil Commands" 11th Commandment: Avoid This 1/2*

[edwagreen · 1/10 · 29 March 2008]

Miserable Boris Karloff horror movie.

He is the head of the science department doing experiments on brain waves. When his wife dies in a tragic auto accident, this leads our scientist to his usual madness and mayhem proceeds. He is doing experiments with all sorts of bodies aided by an Igor type who introduces him to see Anne Revere. Anne Revere! Imagine that great actress involved in this nonsense. She is a brute here who encourages Karloff during his madness.

When the maid of the lab finds out what is going on, she dies off and chaos ensues when the good professor will not tell the truth regarding her demise.

It's just a horrible plot with miserable writing.

The Devil Commands (1941) **1/2

[JoeKarlosi · 6/10 · 16 May 2007]

One of several "Mad Doctor" films Boris Karloff made for Columbia Pictures in the '40s and often considered one of the best of that group by many fans. It's not bad, but it's only a notch above average in my estimation. Here we have Karloff as a scientist who has discovered a device for reading people's brain waves and then becomes obsessed with the idea of trying to communicate with his recently deceased wife. He enlists the aid of a somewhat eccentric phony mystic (Anne Revere) who becomes the dominant force in the partnership and sets the course for some potentially disastrous events.

This movie was directed by Edward Dmytryk, so at least it enjoys some spirited dashes of mood and dreary lighting, which is one thing that elevates it just over the line of the ordinary. It's interesting to see long-time Three Stooges foil Kenneth MacDonald as a sheriff who suspects that strange goings-on are underfoot in Boris' mysterious house, and Anne Revere's stoic and power-hungry medium is an added benefit. Still, there's something which seems to be lacking here to keep this one from rising above "B" level. Karloff is quite good as the eager but harried scientist, emitting a range of different emotions during the course of the picture. **1/2 out of ****

"Evidently there's a greater natural power in the brain of woman, any woman --"

[utgard14 · 7/10 · 8 November 2014]

Boris Karloff plays a scientist trying to communicate with his dead wife via her brain waves, which he believes live on after the body dies. Despite the warnings of his colleagues and concerns of his daughter, he pushes ahead with his experiments no matter the consequences. Karloff made quite a few mad scientist movies during the late '30s and early '40s. This is one of the best and most unique. The first time I saw it, as a teenager just getting into classic horror and sci-fi films, I was disappointed with the misleading title. There's no devil anywhere in this; not even a hint of one or a Satanic cult or anything. But I appreciate it more now. I love the pseudo-science of these old movies, not to mention all the nifty gadgets and equipment the scientists' laboratories were always stocked with. This one's rich with that stuff.

Karloff is excellent. He gives a sympathetic performance, like he almost always did. Even while the movie is telling you he's wrong you can't help but hope he succeeds. It helps that none of the 'right' people in the movie are all that likable. The daughter's narration is unnecessary and a little annoying but I've seen this movie so often I've grown used to it. Anne Revere is very good as a phony medium Karloff enlists to help with his experiments who quickly starts calling the shots. It's a fun 'B' sci-fi/horror film with good atmosphere, nicely directed by Edward Dmytryk. Exciting electro-séance scenes are highlights. Karloff fans should love it.

Eerie in its own way

[mmallory-89926 · 7/10 · 31 December 2018]

"The Devil Commands" is a very strange film. Made by the Columbia Pictures B-unit -- and featuring a lot of Columbia B-unit contractees, such as Kenneth McDonald, Richard Fiske, and Cy Schindell, all of whom were regulars in Three Stooge shorts -- it more closely resembles a Monogram opus of the era. Boris Karloff, in kindly-professor mode, plays a scientist investigating the recording of thoughts who becomes a bit unhinged after his wife dies, and begins obsessing on communicating with her from beyond the grave. Helping him is phony medium Anne Revere, who has an unnaturally high tolerance to electricity (ala Universal's "Man-Made Monster," which began development as a Karloff vehicle), and a brain-dead assistant named Carl, played by Schindell, here inexplicable billed as "Ralph Penney". McDonald, meanwhile, is miscast as the tough, no-nonsense sheriff, and Fiske is Karloff's former assistant, who is now worried about his mental health, as is Karloff's daughter, played by someone named Amanda Duff. There is also a classic Universal-inspired torch-carrying mob, which threatens Karloff because they believe he's responsible for several grave robberies in the small village. The dialogue creaks like an old boat, but Karloff is very good in a role that would also have been good for Bela Lugosi (in fact, Lugosi's role in "The Invisible Ghost" is somewhat similar). There is also the spectacle of Kenneth McDonald, whose voice was reminiscent of Karloff's, sharing scenes with the real thing. Anne Revere nearly steals the show with a performance that would make "Mrs. Danvers" shudder, and Richard Fiske shows that he could have developed into a legitimate leading man, had he not tragically been killed in combat in WWII a few years after filming this. The film's most intriguing performance, though, is Schindell's; if you've ever wondered what it would be like to see Lou Costello play "Lennie" in "Of Mice and Men," this will show you. In the final accounting, though, it is Karloff's show. He plays the scientist with quiet conviction and sympathy, and allows the audience to see into the cause of his madness." Karloff could, of course, be great in great films, but he could be wonderful in lesser pictures. The Devil Commands" is not a great film, or even a great B-movie, but it is played with conviction and is an entertaining stew of tropes and cliches.

Vinatge Karloff meets RoBo seance

[oscar-35 · 26 February 2009]

I got to review this fine motion picture off 'Creepy Classics' and it was enjoyable. "When the DEVIL commands....Karloff obeys!" is the catch phrase to this film. 1940 film is a semi-forgotten great from Columbia Pictures. A riveting mad doctor movie with Boris trying to communicate and bring back the should of his beloved dead wife. He finds a way to do that with mystical women medium and several corpses. He thinks he can talk to his dead wife. When a vortex to the other side is established. He hears his wife and reads her brain waves to confirm the connection while his daughter looks on in terror. He puts the dead corpses seance members in electronic robot suits and it becomes a electronic-age seance not to be missed.

The Blair Project

[richardchatten · 7/10 · 3 March 2023]

Veteran ghoul Boris Karloff was coming to the end of his time at Columbia, and 'The Devil Commands' proves a good cut above it's predecessors.

Framed like 'Rebecca' by a woman narrator, in many ways it resembles a a film noir rather than a conventional horror film, showing early promise by later master of the genre Edward Dmytryk.

Karloff plays one of his less eccentric roles, boasting both a charming wife and daughter played by Shirley Warde and Amanda Duff. The resemblance of the former to Anne Revere (like Dmytryk also a blacklistee) who plays a crazy old medium, may not be entirely coincidental.

Darkness

[BandSAboutMovies · 5/10 · 2 March 2023]

Director Edward Dmytryk is best known for his film noir movies, winning Oscars for directing Crossfire and The Caine Mutiny and being named as one of the Hollywood Ten. This group of blacklisted film industry professionals refused to testify to the McCarthy-led House Un-American Activities Committee and as a result served time in prison for contempt of Congress. In 1951, however, Dmytryk testified to the HUAC and named Arnold Manoff, Frank Tuttle, Herbert Biberman, Jack Berry, Bernard Verhous, Jules Dassin, Michael Gordon and 15 others. He claimed that the Alger Hiss case, which found Communist spies in the U. S. and Canada, and the invasion of South Korea changed his mind. That said, he also probably wanted to fix his own career.

The screenplay was by Robert Hardy Andrews and Milton Gunzburg, the inventor of the Natural Vision stereoscopic 3-D system, from a story by William Sloane, who also wrote To Walk the Night.

Boris Karloff plays Dr. Julian Blair, a brain wave researcher, who loses his wife Helen (Shirley Warde) when she dies in a car crash. He becomes obsessed with speaking to her in the world beyond death and is helped by his butler Karl (Ralph Penney) and a Spiritualist medium named Mrs. Walters (Anne Revere), whose influence over the once logical man worries his research assistant Richard (Richard Fiske) and daughter Anne (Amanda Duff).

I enjoy how in these Columbia films Karloff is the villain yet there are reasons why he has gone wrong. It's an intriguing way of approaching an antagonist and Karloff makes each of them their own unique version of an archetype.

Above-average supernatural sci-fi thriller

[ebeckstr-1 · 7/10 · 27 October 2018]

One of the best 1940s horror flicks, The Devil Commands is a fun blend of science fiction, horror, spiritualism, and supernatural elements. The main set piece, which comes into play in the last 25 minutes or so, is very cool, especially when combined with creepy sound effects and lighting. This movie is a must-see for Karloff fans, and certainly should be at the top of the list for fans of 1940s horror.

Helen, is that you or today's market reports?

[Mike-764 · 9/10 · 19 October 2004]

Dr. Julian Blair has been conducting experiments with research with brain waves. One night, while en route to pick up his daughter from the train station, his wife is killed in a car crash, and Dr. Blair becomes obsessed with using research to be able to remain in contact with his late wife. His colleagues, assistant/Dr. Richard Sayles, and daughter Ann try to convince Dr. Blair, that these experiments are bordering on the occult, by the doctor scoffs them all off. When Dr. Blair's handyman Karl tells his boss of an experience he had with a medium, Mrs. Walters. Dr. Blair goes to the seance that night and uncovers Mrs. Walters hoax, but is convinced that she has extraordinary brain waves. While experimenting using Mrs. Walters, Karl becomes injured, shorting out his brain and nervous system. Shortly after, Dr. Blair (with Mrs. Walters and Karl) moves to a secluded house in Maine to further conduct his experiments, which unnerve the townspeople and the sheriff, who believes the doctor was responsible for the theft of the recently deceased, which Dr. Blair uses as conductors for his experiments. Dr. Blair later becomes convinced that Ann holds the key for communicating with his deceased love, but will he use her before the townspeople storm his house believing him responsible for the death of a local? This B-horror schlock hits on all cylinders, with Karloff giving one of his most strongest performances, only outdone by Revere's ultra sinister portrayal of Mrs. Walters. Very good direction by Dmytryk keeps this one moving with the great horror touches. Rating, 9.

Sci-Fi Sorcery

[Rainey-Dawn · 7/10 · 16 October 2015]

Anne Blair (Amanda Duff) narrates to the viewer the story what happened to her mother Helen (Shirley Warde) and her father Dr. Julian Blair (Boris Karloff). Dr. Blair has been working on an experiment to electronically read the thoughts of people and when his wife Helen dies in a car crash he uses his experiments in attempt to communicate with his dead wife. Dr. Blair meets medium Mrs. Blanche Walters (Anne Revere) and the two become obsessed with the idea of communicating with Dr. Blair's beloved Helen. Mrs. Walters will let no one stand in Dr. Blair's way -- no one, including Blair's daughter Anne who is trying to communicate with her father. In the end, the film will leave you pondering life and death.

The movie is a pretty good engrossing story and I do recommend it for those that are interested in communication with the dead, science fiction, and horror. Karloff fans should really enjoy this gem.

7.5/10

Decent

[Michael_Elliott · 12 March 2008]

Devil Commands, The (1941)

** 1/2 (out of 4)

Boris Karloff plays a scientist working with brain pulses. Once his wife dies he learns that even after death her brain still has these pulses so he tries to contact her. Decent, if not overwhelming, horror thriller features a good performance from Karloff but that's about it. The supporting cast is rather dull and the middle of the film really drags down, which isn't good when you consider the film is only 65-minutes. Worth watching if you're a fan of Karloff but not worthy of $20.

"Is there anything peculiar going on around here"?

[classicsoncall · 7/10 · 30 October 2010]

Boris Karloff's at it again, unlocking the secrets of the human brain and doing so in a surprisingly short run time of just over an hour. His character is Dr. Julian Blair, driven to near fanatical obsession to make contact with his dead wife via his brain wave recording invention. Convincing a phony psychic (Anne Revere as Mrs. Walters) to become his lab assistant, Dr. Blair is encouraged by her admonition that "If you can do what you're trying to do, you'll rule the world"! It must have been that ten thousand volts of electricity coursing through her body that warmed her up to the Doc.

However it didn't appear to me that Blair was interested in ruling the world as much as simply getting in touch with the Mrs. Unable to function in the home they once shared, Blair sets out for Barshan Harbor, where he eventually comes under suspicion for a number of bodies that turn up missing. Those bodies wind up in an odd looking assortment of containment suits set up in séance position for Blair to continue his quest. Blair's own daughter (Amanda Duff) as it turns out, proves to be the most effective medium for getting in touch with Mrs. Blair in the great beyond.

Karloff gives it his all as the mad genius here before meeting his end in a Frankenstein inspired mob scene ending. Perhaps not as convincing as it could have been, at least the good doctor went out with proof of life after death. Until the next time.