MovieChat Forums > Black Friday (1940) Discussion > Cool Movie that Stanley Ridge completely...

Cool Movie that Stanley Ridge completely steals


Never heard of Stanley but he was put in this movie with two horror giants.
Borris is a better act, but Bela was really cool here as a gangster and totally underused.
Wish he had more of a story. However the fact that stanley played both parts of the mobster and kindly professor made it even cooler. Sure there are some lapses in logic (the actual science of how the brain works) and how the doctor could do a sneak surgery. IF you are lead here for your love of Borris and Bela you wil enjoy this one despite Bela's rather small role.
Was just susprised how good this Stanley actor was that the stand out. In a movie of two actors who always seemed to battle for screen time and roles.

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Ridges really did steal the show with a fine performance. In a perfect world, he would have been billed above Lugosi, whose part is so small that his presence here is more about using his name to "sell" the movie than anything else.

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With a bigger budget, Edward G. Robinson could have played Ridge's role. Robinson played both snarling gangsters and quiet, professorial types in his career.

However, for a low budget 'B' movie, Ridges really gave an 'A' movie performance.

Soy 'un hijo de la playa'

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Not sure he steals the show. He's sort of the star lol. The star of the picture doesn't usually steal the show.

Karloff started off co-lead but about midway through he doesn't really appear much until the end. Despite being billed as Karloff-Lugosi, Stan's the man here.

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