- For the episode, see MST3K 518 - The Atomic Brain.
| “ | I don't want you running up and down stairs. Those pretty legs of yours will get ugly muscles... | ” |
| - Hetty March |
The Atomic Brain is a 1963 sci-fi thriller directed by Joseph V. Mascelli.
Plot[]
Dr. Otto Frank (Frank Gerstle) in The Atomic Brain
Hetty March is a wealthy, ruthless elderly woman. She intends to have her mind transplanted into a beautiful young body so that she can finally "be loved for herself" and not for her money. To this end, she funds the research of the rogue physician Dr. Otto Frank, who labors in her basement making use of the nuclear reactor she had installed,
Her new body is to be selected from among three candidates recruited from abroad and hired on as servants. The young women are Anita from Spain, Nina from Austria, and Bea from England.
The women slowly realize that they are in danger. Dr. Frank's laboratory is destroyed. The only survivors are one of the young women (who has been named the heir to Ms. March's fortune) and a cat who now has Ms. March's mind.
Cast[]
- Marjorie Eaton as Hetty March
- Frank Gerstle as Dr. Otto Frank
- Frank Fowler as Victor
- Erika Peters as Nina
- Judy Bamber as Bea
- Lisa Lang as Anita
- Bradford Dillman as the Narrator
Notes[]
- The exterior and interior of Ms. March's manor bear some resemblance to the house featured in The Unearthly.
- Shot in 1958, released in 1963. According to producer Jack Pollexfen, the production company went bankrupt about halfway through shooting, leaving no money to finish the film. They tried fixing it in the editing room over the next few years, with some difficulty.
- Pollexfen fired director Joseph V. Mascelli and finished directing the picture, uncredited.
- Actress Erika Peters (playing the Austrian woman Nina) is originally from Germany. She was born Maria Erika Knab.
- Writer/Producer Dean Dillman Jr. was the brother of actor Bradford Dillman (the Narrator).
- Some promotional material credits the animal Xerxes the cat, but misspells the name (Xeres).
- In 2010, The Atomic Brain was adapted into a light-hearted stage musical (not unlike The Little Shop of Horrors). It includes a trio of characters who comment on the action, inspired by Mystery Science Theater 3000.
- In 2015, film school graduate Ben Solovey announced a Kickstarter to restore the film from the original print (some of which which occurred at the same time as the Bring Back MYSTERY SCIENCE THEATER 3000 campaign). The Kickstarter was successful and the goal was reached. More information is available here. Solovey had previously engaged in a similar project to restore "Manos" The Hands of Fate.
MST3K Connections[]
- Co-director Joseph V. Mascelli was also cinematographer for The Incredibly Strange Creatures Who Stopped Living and Became Mixed-Up Zombies.
- Co-director, co-writer, and producer Jack Pollexfen was also director and producer for Indestructible Man.
- Co-writer, props, and wardrobe Vy Russell was also co-writer for Indestructible Man.
- Co-writer, associate producer, assistant camera, and script supervisor (as well as doing props and wardrobe) Sue Dwiggins was also co-writer for Indestructible Man.
- Frank Gerstle also portrayed a congressman in San Francisco International.
- Bradford Dillman also portrayed Dobler in Lords of the Deep.
- Composer Gene Kauer was also composer for The Beast of Yucca Flats and Agent for H.A.R.M..
Critical Response[]
- Michael Weldon in The Psychotronic Encyclopedia of Film wrote: "The cinematographer of The Incredibly Strange Creatures and other Ray Dennis Steckler films steps out and makes his own cheap horror film. A wealthy widow hires a mad doctor to transfer her brain into a beautiful young body... Two girls become zombies and a third has a cat's brain placed in her head! You won't believe it!"