This week’s mystery movie was the 1953 film Donovan’s Brain, with Lew Ayres, Gene Evans, Nancy Davis, Steve Brodie, Tom Powers, Lisa K. Howard, Kyle James, Victor Sutherland, Michael Colgan, Peter Adams, Harlan Warde and Shimen Ruskin.

Screenplay by Felix Feist.

Adapted by High Brooke.

From the novel Donovan’s Brain, by Curt Siodmak.

Edited by Herbert L. Strock.

Sound effects by Bill Naylor.

Assistant director Jack R. Berne.

Script supervisor Mary Chaffee.

Set decorations by Edward G. Boyle.

Special effects by Harry Redmond Jr.

Makeup by Terry Miles.

Hairstyles by Ruby Felker.

Sound by Earl Snyder.

Men’s wardrobe by Chuck Keehne.

Wardrobe furnished by Kuppenheimer.

Production supervisor Ben Chapman.

Production design by Boris Leven.

Musical score composed and conducted by Eddie Dunstedter.

Assistant to the producer Herbert L. Strock.

Photography by Joseph Biroc.

Produced by Tom Gries.

Directed by Felix Feist.

Donovan’s Brain is available on VHS, LaserDisc and DVD via EBay.

Further information on this iteration of Donovan’s Brain is available from the AFI Catalog.

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I will rarely miss a chance to be tricky, and this version of Donovan’s Brain (last seen in The Lady and the Monster) was too good to pass up. The acting is fairly strong, and although we’ve lost Erich von Stroheim as the mad scientist who does weird things in his remote desert laboratory, we have future First Lady Nancy Reagan – and a monkey!  According to her 2016 New York Times obituary, she said her appearance in this “low-budget science fiction” film “was a blow to Ronnie,” whose career was at a standstill, “but quite simply, we needed the money.”

I can’t imagine The New York Times devoted any space to the film, even for the “alphabet critics.” But let’s see….

Uh-oh. Bosley Crowther alert! I don’t think he’s going to like this film (January 21, 1954):

The human brain is a mighty mechanism. It is capable of phenomenal things. it is the center of the human nervous system. It may be the seat of what men call the soul. But it is doubtful if this weird mass of tissue could accomplish quite the mischief it does, under the circumstances here presented, in the film called Donovan’s Brain, which put in a personal appearance yesterday at the Criterion.

For the thesis of this little item, which Felix Feist has adapted and contrived from a novel by Curt Siodmak published some 11 years ago, is that a brain, removed from a dead body and kept alive in a vacuum-sealed jar, could transmit the personality of its former owner to the scientist who has kept it alive. And, carrying the assumption further, it is that the scientist could thus become the same ruthless, law-despising creature as was the original possessor of the brain….

…The whole thing is utterly silly — at least from our present point of view — and Mr. Feist has not drenched it in sufficient visual fantasy to make it overwhelm. It might be noted, as a postscript, that this same yarn was done 10 years ago as The Lady and the Monster. No evident growth has happened in that time.

For Monday, our mysterious guest is taking a siesta. We will see more of him later in the week, after he’s rested.

Update: This is the slumbering Gene Evans.

For “Tricky Tuesday,” we have tricky mystery guests!

Note to Greg: You have the right era!

Update: This is, from left, Lew Ayres, Gene Evans and Nancy Reagan.

For “Hm Wednesday,” we have a mysterious couple.

Update: This is Michael Colgan and Lisa Howard. Howard was the ex-wife of director Felix Feist.

For “Aha Thursday,” we have this mysterious fellow.

Update: This is Steve Brodie.

We also have this mysterious fellow.

Update: This is Tom Powers.

And finally, this mysterious fellow.

Update: Great Caesar’s ghost! It’s John Hamilton.

For Friday, we have a mystery woman and a companion.

Update: This is Nancy Reagan.

And “Tricky Tuesday’s” mystery guests unmasked.

Update: This is, again, from left, Lew Ayres, Gene Evans and Nancy Reagan.

Brain (hahahah) Trust roll call: Mary Mallory (mystery movie and Tuesday’s, Wednesday’s and Thursday’s mystery guests), Greg (mystery movie and Tuesday’s, Wednesday’s and Thursday’s mystery guests), Howard Mandelbaum (mystery movie and Thursday’s mystery guests), Sylvia E. (mystery movie and all mystery guests), Mike Hawks (mystery movie and Tuesday’s and Thursday’s mystery guests), Jenny M. (mystery movie and Thursday’s mystery guests) and Benito (Thursday’s mysterious newspaper editor).