I know George Macready is the guy people love to trash,but he was a well-educated,classy person in real life,and that seems to draw criticism from those who can't differentiate between characters and the actors who play them.Many rave of how athletic Errol Flynn was,attractive Ty Powers was,but they rank on Macready's stage training and his perfect diction-all part of that stage training.He's perfect here,walking in a trance with an ice pick to kill a friend,drinking when he awakens from his stupor after almost killing his friend until he sees the crucifix.The wife is given little to do,but she's as brilliant as Rose Hobart as the mysterious Lilyan,who controls "George" or tries to in every facet of his life.The ending seems to ensure this was a dream as quoted in the prologue-glad it ended on that note.Bannon co-starred with Macready in the "I Love A Mystery" movies,and his death,to me,was caused by negligence,and couldn't understand putting George on trial murder!

This well intentioned horror drama tries to go down the dark streets of the human mind, and in trying to become the type of thriller made Val Lewton a cult figure fails miserably in this unfortunate misfire. Beloved scientist and doctor George Macready is dying but suddenly given a second chance at life, and starts to behave very strangely. It seems to have started with an encounter with the strange Rose Hobart, a meeting set up by his worried wife (Jeanne Bates). It's up to Macready's colleague (Jim Bannon) to get an answer, and it doesn't seem to be one that Bannon will care to try to comprehend.While there are some extremely tense moments, the script drags out the mystery and the intrigue a little bit too far. The photography is moody, semi film noir in nature, but too bizarre and convoluted to really work overall. It's a noble experiment to try something different, and the performances are intriguing. But this seems to be trying to be as profound, spooky and mysterious as "The Seventh Victim", but ends up being a dark misfire, a pretentious piece of art that strived too hard and didn't quite meets its goal.

Despite its lurid title, Soul of a Monster is much less of a horror film and much more of a religious allegory. A saintly doctor, George Winston, nationally famous for his humanitarianism is dying and no power on earth is able to save him.Because of this his wife Ann has lost her faith in God. She calls on the dark powers to save him. A rather severe and intimidating women appears out of nowhere to save his life. Her entrance into the story is the eeriest and most mysterious part of the film. She arrives at the doctors deathbed with the claim that she can help him and takes over the situation . The woman calls herself Lilyan Gregg and she does bring about Winston's recovery. The doctor has recovered but he is a changed man. He seems to have lost his humanity. He no longer has any empathy with those whom he formerly cared for.He is now cold, aloft and unsympathetic. He comes to reject his wife and friends for a relationship with Lilyan.His wife Ann regrets her plea to the dark side to save her husbands from death for now she must battle Lilyan for his very soul.Anybody who watches Soul of a Monster to see a horror film is really going to be disappointed. It's a cleverly done fantasy film but hardly horrific.Rose Hobart was a talented actress and here she is quite effective as the Devils messenger. She is someone that seems to invite confrontation and she can intimidate just about anybody.Lilyan is the movies most watchable character.George Macready made a career out of playing egotistical, unscrupulous, slightly feminine men who played at being mentally superior but are actually weak and cowardly. I buy him as the soulless George Winston. It's him as the noble and saintly Dr Winston that I just can't picture.Soul of a Monster has a bit of the Devil and Daniel Webster and Cat People and even a bit of Frankenstein written into it's story.As I said Rose Hobart stands out and its her performance that makes the picture worth viewing. Erik Rolf plays Fred Stevens a family friend who is the conscience of the film. He is the Christian voice in the movie. Rolf always reminded me of Nils Asther. Soul of a Monster is really trying to sermonize about keeping faith in God and not losing morality in times of stress. It's not a terrible film but it ain't great either.

Try as it might, this Columbia programmer just can't quite get over the hump. Even with George Macready and Rose Hobart heading the cast, there are too few scares and far, far too much walking. Rose walks (and almost gets hit by a car). George walks with a knife in his hand. Rose walks some more. Bland co-lead Jim Bannon even goes for a stroll. In fact, there's so much shoe leather burned in this film that I humbly offer Sole of a Monster as a more suitable title. It's all shot well by Burnett Guffey, and there IS a modicum of Lewton-style atmosphere, but the stifling straitjacket of Christian spirituality (not to mention the cheat ending) ultimately undoes whatever good work went into this production. An intriguing but ultimately disappointing failure.