Donovan’s Brain, the famous novel by Curt Siodmak was deemed so unusual by the producers of Suspense that it was made in two 30-minute parts. Orson Welles stars as Dr Patrick Cory who has been experimenting on keeping alive the brain of a dead monkey. When a plane crashed nearby and knowing they’d be unable to save its passenger, ruthless millionaire William Donovan, Dr Cory saw this as an opportunity to keep alive a human brain. Through telepathy he succeeded in communicating with Donovan’s brain but before long it took over his whole mind and began to make him do things that he didn’t know about. When his wife tried to help him Donovan’s Brain in Dr Cory’s mind had her committed to a sanitarium. When Dr Cory and his son David tried to kill the brain the brain paralyzed them against doing this and now had control over David. Dr Cory’s thoughts were less and less his own and his mind was filled with evil fantasy. Finally Dr Cory realizes a way to set him free from Donovan’s aspirations to dominate the world but David fears that the brain also knows and his plan would fail. Dr Cory tells David “it is a chance they will have to take”. Orson Welles’ performance of Dr Cory and the transition between Dr Cory and Dr Cory possessed by Donovan’s brain is magnificent.

Stars Orson Welles

About Us

Suspense! is a rebroadcast of the original 1940 CBS Radio Show. The show aired from 1940-1962 and featured many stars such as Lucille Ball (Dime a Dance) and Alfred Hitchcock (The Lodger).

Night Shift Radio Presents: SUSPENSE! is part of the Night Shift Radio network and distributed by Night Shift Media Group. Visit them on the web at NightShiftRadio.com

This rebroadcast falls under the protections of Copyright Law and Public Domain. Night Shift Radio does not own, nor claim to, the rights of the original broadcast productions.

Mentioned in this episode:

The Storyteller Series

The Storyteller Series. Old time radio, rebooted. Listen to original short stories performed by a full cast.

StS Summer 2022