Well, as it turned out, I needn't have worried that I would eventually regret my purchase of the Criterion set "Monsters And Madmen" - as this film proved superior to THE HAUNTED STRANGLER (1958).
Featuring literate dialogue and a more realistic story (incidentally, inspired by the book "Triumph Over Pain" on which Preston Sturges also based his THE GREAT MOMENT [1944]!), the film was made for something like twice the budget of THE HAUNTED STRANGLER and had the advantage of being shot on existing sets at the MGM-British studios. All of this allowed for an evocative and meticulous recreation of mid-19th century London, highlighting Geoffrey Faithful's cinematography and Anthony Masters' production design. The film's opening sequence creates an admirable mood of mystery and dread, which is generally sustained throughout - propelled considerably by Buxton Orr's powerful score. Besides, here we have a truly remarkable cast - in my opinion, one of the best ever assembled for a horror film: Boris Karloff, Betta St. John, Francis Matthews, Christopher Lee (impressive as the quietly-spoken black-clad resurrectionist), Francis de Wolff, Adrienne Corri, Yvonne Romain, Frank Pettingell, Finlay Currie, Basil Dignam and Nigel Green.
While the film has some thematic points of reference with the Jekyll & Hyde story (already dealt with in THE HAUNTED STRANGLER!), Karloff's mad doctor cycle over at Columbia during the early 40s (though all of these had contemporary settings), as well as THE BODY SNATCHER (1945), it manages to hold its own perfectly well - and, as such, succeeds in avoiding the pitfalls of cinematic convention into which THE HAUNTED STRANGLER falls (rather than physically turn into a monster, here Karloff becomes addicted to chloroform). The film has been much criticized for its supposed gore, but it's really quite tame (perhaps it's the intensity of the operation scenes that does the trick, suggesting a lot more than it actually shows); I know the present version is slightly incomplete, but even the few seconds of deleted footage found among the supplements isn't all that graphic! Even so, I really liked the way in which slow motion is utilized for the climax when acid is thrown into a character's face.
The accompanying Audio Commentary is just as entertaining as all the Tom Weaver/Richard Gordon tracks I've heard: most fascinating here is the discussion centering around the film's chequered history - CORRIDORS OF BLOOD (by the way, though also known as DOCTOR FROM SEVEN DIALS, it was never shown under that title) was released in the U.S. as part of a double-bill with the low-brow Italian horror WEREWOLF IN A GIRLS' DORMITORY (1961), which I watched a few months back (on the other hand, THE HAUNTED STRANGLER was paired with another Gordon production, the maligned but quite effective sci-fi FIEND WITHOUT A FACE [1958], also available as a "Special Edition" from Criterion). Just as informative are the separate interviews featuring director Day and co-star Francis Matthews (he hates his performance and, amusingly, implores the audience not to watch the film merely for his sake!) and the audio-only career overview with starlet Yvonne Romain (I was surprised to learn that she's half-Maltese and, apart from enjoying her recollections of the various distinguished leading men throughout her career, I was especially glad that she mentioned the ironic fact that Oliver Reed - with whom she appeared four times in film and TV - died in Malta).
Finally, I didn't generally mind the fact that both this and THE HAUNTED STRANGLER were presented full-frame rather than being slightly matted so as to duplicate their theatrical exhibition - but there was quite a bit of overscan during the credit sequence of CORRIDORS OF BLOOD...
Featuring literate dialogue and a more realistic story (incidentally, inspired by the book "Triumph Over Pain" on which Preston Sturges also based his THE GREAT MOMENT [1944]!), the film was made for something like twice the budget of THE HAUNTED STRANGLER and had the advantage of being shot on existing sets at the MGM-British studios. All of this allowed for an evocative and meticulous recreation of mid-19th century London, highlighting Geoffrey Faithful's cinematography and Anthony Masters' production design. The film's opening sequence creates an admirable mood of mystery and dread, which is generally sustained throughout - propelled considerably by Buxton Orr's powerful score. Besides, here we have a truly remarkable cast - in my opinion, one of the best ever assembled for a horror film: Boris Karloff, Betta St. John, Francis Matthews, Christopher Lee (impressive as the quietly-spoken black-clad resurrectionist), Francis de Wolff, Adrienne Corri, Yvonne Romain, Frank Pettingell, Finlay Currie, Basil Dignam and Nigel Green.
While the film has some thematic points of reference with the Jekyll & Hyde story (already dealt with in THE HAUNTED STRANGLER!), Karloff's mad doctor cycle over at Columbia during the early 40s (though all of these had contemporary settings), as well as THE BODY SNATCHER (1945), it manages to hold its own perfectly well - and, as such, succeeds in avoiding the pitfalls of cinematic convention into which THE HAUNTED STRANGLER falls (rather than physically turn into a monster, here Karloff becomes addicted to chloroform). The film has been much criticized for its supposed gore, but it's really quite tame (perhaps it's the intensity of the operation scenes that does the trick, suggesting a lot more than it actually shows); I know the present version is slightly incomplete, but even the few seconds of deleted footage found among the supplements isn't all that graphic! Even so, I really liked the way in which slow motion is utilized for the climax when acid is thrown into a character's face.
The accompanying Audio Commentary is just as entertaining as all the Tom Weaver/Richard Gordon tracks I've heard: most fascinating here is the discussion centering around the film's chequered history - CORRIDORS OF BLOOD (by the way, though also known as DOCTOR FROM SEVEN DIALS, it was never shown under that title) was released in the U.S. as part of a double-bill with the low-brow Italian horror WEREWOLF IN A GIRLS' DORMITORY (1961), which I watched a few months back (on the other hand, THE HAUNTED STRANGLER was paired with another Gordon production, the maligned but quite effective sci-fi FIEND WITHOUT A FACE [1958], also available as a "Special Edition" from Criterion). Just as informative are the separate interviews featuring director Day and co-star Francis Matthews (he hates his performance and, amusingly, implores the audience not to watch the film merely for his sake!) and the audio-only career overview with starlet Yvonne Romain (I was surprised to learn that she's half-Maltese and, apart from enjoying her recollections of the various distinguished leading men throughout her career, I was especially glad that she mentioned the ironic fact that Oliver Reed - with whom she appeared four times in film and TV - died in Malta).
Finally, I didn't generally mind the fact that both this and THE HAUNTED STRANGLER were presented full-frame rather than being slightly matted so as to duplicate their theatrical exhibition - but there was quite a bit of overscan during the credit sequence of CORRIDORS OF BLOOD...