Black Friday

Black Friday

Year: 1940

Runtime: 70 mins

Language: English

Director: Arthur Lubin

ThrillerHorrorMysteryDrama

University professor George Kingsley is struck by gang members while crossing the street, leaving him with serious brain damage and one thug, Cannon, paralyzed. Dr. Sovac, Kingsley’s colleague, treats both men. When Cannon offers a reward for his aid, Dr. Sovac grafts part of Cannon’s brain onto the dying Kingsley, creating a dual‑personality monster that runs loose.

Warning: spoilers below!

Haven’t seen Black Friday yet? This summary contains major spoilers. Bookmark the page, watch the movie, and come back for the full breakdown. If you're ready, scroll on and relive the story!

Timeline & Setting – Black Friday (1940)

Explore the full timeline and setting of Black Friday (1940). Follow every major event in chronological order and see how the environment shapes the story, characters, and dramatic tension.

Time period

Location

New York City, Midtown Manhattan

The story unfolds across a dense urban landscape of New York City, with key scenes in the Midtown Hotel and other downtown locales. The city’s crowded streets and hidden corners provide the backdrop for a brain-transplant saga that blends science, crime, and high-stakes intrigue. Its urban atmosphere amplifies the tension between public life and hidden identities.

🏙️ Urban 🏨 Hotels

Last Updated: October 04, 2025 at 15:20

Main Characters – Black Friday (1940)

Meet the key characters of Black Friday (1940), with detailed profiles, motivations, and roles in the plot. Understand their emotional journeys and what they reveal about the film’s deeper themes.

William Kane (Paul Fix)

A bookish college professor whose life is upended when part of gangster Red Cannon's brain is implanted into him. He experiences irritability and memory gaps as the Cannon persona surfaces, blurring the line between professor and killer. He grapples to maintain normalcy while the cannibalized memories threaten his humanity.

📚 Scholar 🧠 Mind 🧭 Identity

Dr. Ernest Sovac (Boris Karloff)

A scientist who performs the controversial brain transplant and engineers, through hypnosis, the partial awakening of Cannon within Kingsley's body. He pursues the gangster's hidden fortune in New York as a testbed for a breakthrough he believes will revolutionize life extension. His calculations are cold, but his motives reveal a belief in science as destiny.

🧪 Science 💼 Ambition 🧭 Ethics

George Kingsley / Red Cannon (Stanley Ridges)

Kingsley becomes a vessel for Cannon, alternating between a refined professor and a brutal gangland killer. Under hypnosis, his body serves as a disguise for murders while Cannon's memory lapses in the Kingsley persona. Ultimately, the Cannon identity is killed by Sovac in a shocking turn of events.

🎭 Duality 🥊 Violence 🕶️ Disguise

Sunny Rogers (Anne Nagel)

Cannon's lover who helps influence events and leaks information that leads to confrontations with the former gang. Her involvement intensifies the peril surrounding Cannon's memory and the stash he seeks. Her role ties romance to crime and danger within the plot.

💔 Love 🧭 Loyalty 💡 Plot

Jean Sovac (Anne Gwynne)

Sovac's daughter, who recognizes Kingsley in his Cannon persona and pleads for him to return to normal life. Her concern for Kingsley adds an emotional counterpoint to the scientist's cold ambition. She helps push the moral choice of ending the experiment.

👩‍👧 Family 💡 Insight 🕊️ Morality

Last Updated: October 04, 2025 at 15:20

Major Themes – Black Friday (1940)

Explore the central themes of Black Friday (1940), from psychological, social, and emotional dimensions to philosophical messages. Understand what the film is really saying beneath the surface.

🧠 Identity

A brain transplant and hypnosis fracture personal identity, forcing the protagonist to oscillate between two selves. The Cannon persona surfaces with criminal urgency, while memories of the professor remain faint and unreliable. The narrative explores how memory, mind control, and body swap reshape who a person truly is.

⚖️ Ethics

The plot centers on a controversial medical procedure and its moral implications. The scientists pursue potential breakthroughs and extended life, driven by ambition and curiosity. The story questions whether science should override individual autonomy and ethical boundaries.

🔪 Crime & Consequences

Hypnosis unlocks a brutal killer inside an unlikely vessel, leading to a trail of murders and a baffled police force. The line between victim, aggressor, and puppet blurs as violence erupts from a manipulated mind. The consequences highlight the human cost of tampering with life and identity.

Last Updated: October 04, 2025 at 15:20

Mobile App Preview

Coming soon on iOS and Android

The Plot Explained Mobile App

From blockbusters to hidden gems — dive into movie stories anytime, anywhere. Save your favorites, discover plots faster, and never miss a twist again.

Sign up to be the first to know when we launch. Your email stays private — always.

Explore Movie Threads

Discover curated groups of movies connected by mood, themes, and story style. Browse collections built around emotion, atmosphere, and narrative focus to easily find films that match what you feel like watching right now.

Mad Science Horror like in Black Friday

Ethical boundaries are crossed, creating uncontrollable and tragic horrors.Explore movies like Black Friday where groundbreaking scientific hubris leads to horrific outcomes. If you liked the ethical dilemmas and monstrous creations in Black Friday, you'll find similar tales of tragic experimentation and psychological terror in these films.

uncannyfatalisticsuspensefulgrimanxiousmelancholicparanoid

Narrative Summary

The narrative typically follows a brilliant but misguided scientist who pioneers a dangerous discovery, ignoring ethical warnings. Their creation, often a new form of life or a transformed human, quickly becomes a force of destruction, turning against its creator and others, culminating in a catastrophe that underscores the folly of their ambition.

Why These Movies?

Movies in this thread are grouped by their shared thematic core of scientific transgression and its devastating fallout. They share a dark, fatalistic tone, high tension from the unleashing of a 'monster', and a heavy emotional weight centered on tragedy and moral responsibility.

Gritty Crime Thrillers with a Bleak Vibe like Black Friday

Characters are trapped in an inescapable spiral of crime and grim fate.Discover movies similar to Black Friday that feature a relentless descent into violence and criminal underworlds. If you enjoyed the grim, fatalistic progression and high-stakes tension of Black Friday, these thrillers offer comparable experiences of inescapable doom and moral collapse.

suspensefulfatalisticgrimanxiousparanoiduncanny

Narrative Summary

The plot often hinges on a single, fateful decision or event that triggers a chain reaction of violence. The protagonist, sometimes an ordinary person or a compromised figure, is pursued by external forces or their own transformed nature, leading a bloody path that systematically destroys everyone involved, ending in ruin.

Why These Movies?

These films share a cohesive vibe defined by high tension, a steady pace of grim events, and a pervasive sense of fatalism. The mood is consistently suspenseful and anxious, with a narrative drive that feels inevitable and crushing, leaving little room for hope or redemption.

Unlock the Full Story of Black Friday

Don't stop at just watching — explore Black Friday in full detail. From the complete plot summary and scene-by-scene timeline to character breakdowns, thematic analysis, and a deep dive into the ending — every page helps you truly understand what Black Friday is all about. Plus, discover what's next after the movie.

Black Friday Summary

Read a complete plot summary of Black Friday, including all key story points, character arcs, and turning points. This in-depth recap is ideal for understanding the narrative structure or reviewing what happened in the movie.

Black Friday Summary

Black Friday Timeline

Track the full timeline of Black Friday with every major event arranged chronologically. Perfect for decoding non-linear storytelling, flashbacks, or parallel narratives with a clear scene-by-scene breakdown.

Black Friday Timeline

Black Friday Spoiler-Free Summary

Get a quick, spoiler-free overview of Black Friday that covers the main plot points and key details without revealing any major twists or spoilers. Perfect for those who want to know what to expect before diving in.

Black Friday Spoiler-Free Summary

More About Black Friday

Visit What's After the Movie to explore more about Black Friday: box office results, cast and crew info, production details, post-credit scenes, and external links — all in one place for movie fans and researchers.

More About Black Friday

Similar Movies to Black Friday

Discover movies like Black Friday that share similar genres, themes, and storytelling elements. Whether you’re drawn to the atmosphere, character arcs, or plot structure, these curated recommendations will help you explore more films you’ll love.