Trying to remember name of old b&w movie

[Modelworks]

There was a movie I watched on TCM a few months ago about the invention of anesthesia. It was about a surgeon that taught at a college before the invention of anesthesia and they had scenes like having to hold down the person while they did the operation. The doctor would come home and go to his lab where he worked on drugs. He was testing the drugs on himself and got addicted. His colleagues at the college said he was being foolish and you could not perform surgery without pain.

Anyone know the name of the movie ?

 

[eplebnista]

Originally posted by: Modelworks
There was a movie I watched on TCM a few months ago about the invention of anesthesia. It was about a surgeon that taught at a college before the invention of anesthesia and they had scenes like having to hold down the person while they did the operation. The doctor would come home and go to his lab where he worked on drugs. He was testing the drugs on himself and got addicted. His colleagues at the college said he was being foolish and you could not perform surgery without pain.

Anyone know the name of the movie ?

Corridors of Blood?

 

[Modelworks]

Originally posted by: eplebnista

Originally posted by: Modelworks
There was a movie I watched on TCM a few months ago about the invention of anesthesia. It was about a surgeon that taught at a college before the invention of anesthesia and they had scenes like having to hold down the person while they did the operation. The doctor would come home and go to his lab where he worked on drugs. He was testing the drugs on himself and got addicted. His colleagues at the college said he was being foolish and you could not perform surgery without pain.

Anyone know the name of the movie ?

Corridors of Blood?

YES!
That is the movie I was trying to remember.
I should have thought that it starred Boris Karloff. Had the flu at the time so maybe that is why

Good movie for those that like these sort of themes.

Before the discovery of anesthesia, operations were bloody, screaming ordeals from which the patient often emerged insane. In 1840, London surgeon Dr. Bolton tries to remedy the situation, but he becomes addicted to his experimental drugs. Following a demonstration during which one of his patients rises from the operating table and attacks the attending doctors and students, the humiliated Bolton takes an overdose of drugs and enters a tavern in the slum district of Seven Dials. There he falls prey to Black Ben and Resurrection Joe, whose main activity is supplying the hospital with bodies for dissection. In exchange for stolen drugs, Bolton is forced to supply signed death certificates for their victims. When one of the grave robbers murders a hospital guard, the police apprehend the criminals, but not before Bolton is stabbed to death. Bolton's son Jonathan continues his father's experiments and becomes instrumental in developing anesthetics.

 

[GasX]

I really need to see this. Is it decent drama or b-movie horror flick?

 

[Modelworks]

It is horror in the 1950's style but it does have a lot of drama as well. I think it was one of Karloff better performances. He tries to retain his morals while at the same time having to do things he doesn't agree with.

Another review

This enjoyably twisted British thriller was shot back-to-back with the equally warped Haunted Strangler and is one of the first films of any genre to address the subject of drug addiction. It stars Boris Karloff as Dr. Thomas Bolton, a London surgeon who believes he has developed a safe and effective anesthetic serum which he hopes will revolutionize the world of medicine. Unfortunately, a demonstration of the drug before a panel of his peers ends in a horrific mishap -- with his patient awakening under the knife -- and he is forced to leave his position in disgrace. To complicate matters, Bolton has become addicted to his own concoctions and is forced to enter an illicit arrangement, forging death certificates for a pair of grave-robbers (including Christopher Lee) in exchange for a regular fix and the means to continue his experiments. As one would imagine, this shady partnership leads him further down the road to ruin, culminating in his unwitting participation in murder -- for which he becomes the victim of a blackmail scheme. Karloff's multi-layered performance is one of his finest, bringing a great deal of pathos to his tragic character. This film was also something of a turning point for Lee, who had already risen to international fame in many Hammer productions by the time this film was acquired by MGM for American distribution.