Head, The (1959)

Renowned German scientist Professor Dr Abel (Michel Simon) invents a serum that keeps a dog’s head alive after its body dies.

When the scientist dies of a heart attack, his crazed assistant Dr Ood (Horst Frank) cuts off his head and, using the serum, keeps the doctor’s head alive and forces it to help him on an experiment to provide a new body for his beautiful but hunchbacked nurse assistant, Irene (Karin Kernke) – a sort of cross between Florence Nightingale and Quasimodo.

He slices off Irene’s head and grafts it onto the sinuous torso of another girl – the luscious Lili (Christiane Maybach) –  who, unfortunately, happens to be a stripper at the Tam Tam Club. From then on, poor Nurse Irene would much rather shake her booty than wind Ood’s bandages.

Director Victor Trivas also wrote the story. Originally titled Die Nackte und der Satan, the film was an unexpected hit on both sides of the Atlantic.

This is obviously the movie that inspired the 1959 US film The Brain That Wouldn’t Die. 

Dr Brandt (alias Dr Ood)
Horst Frank
Schwester Irene Sander
Karin Kernke
Bert Jaeger
Helmut Schmid
Police Commissioner Sturm
Paul Dahlke
Paul Lerner
Dieter Eppler
Dr Walter Burke
Kurt Müller-Graf
Stella/Lily
Christiane Maybach
Professor Dr Abel
Michel Simon

Diretor
Victor Trivas

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