Donovan’s Brain

Year: 1953

Runtime: 83 mins

Language: English

Director: Felix E. Feist

HorrorThriller

In a hidden laboratory, a scientist revives a dead man’s brain by suspending it in a liquid tank and stimulating it with electrodes. The awakened brain quickly gains enormous psychic powers and begins to dominate the scientist’s mind, creating a Jekyll‑and‑Hyde split personality that compels him to act on the brain’s murderous urges.

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Donovan’s Brain (1953) – Full Plot Summary & Ending Explained

Read the complete plot breakdown of Donovan’s Brain (1953), including all key story events, major twists, and the ending explained in detail. Discover what really happened—and what it all means.

Dr. Patrick Cory, Lew Ayres, and his wife Janice Cory, Nancy Reagan, live in a secluded mountain retreat where Cory pursues a controversial medical experiment: keeping a monkey’s brain alive after it’s removed from the skull. When a private plane carrying Warren Donovan crashes near their cabin, rescuers call on Cory to help. Donovan is badly hurt and rushed to Cory’s cabin, where his heart stops. In a daring, forbidden move, Cory seizes Donovan’s brain to study it, preserving it in an electrified saline solution. As nights pass, Cory begins to receive messages written in Donovan’s handwriting while the man is unconscious, and he starts to believe that Donovan’s consciousness survives and can be contacted through the living brain.

Gradually, Cory begins to take on Donovan’s traits: smoking cigars, manipulating people, and walking with a limp.

Janice and Dr. Frank Schratt, Gene Evans, Cory’s friend and assistant, worry that Donovan’s consciousness is using telepathic mind control to override Cory’s free will. Meanwhile, news photographer Herbie Yocum, Steve Brodie, uncovers that Cory has illegally stolen Donovan’s brain and tries to shake down Cory for money.

Donovan’s brain grows more powerful, turning Cory into a tool for amassing wealth and even seizing control of Yocum’s mind, driving him into a fatal car crash. Realizing Donovan can influence only one person at a time, Janice and Schratt plot to destroy the brain. But the plan backfires when Donovan compels Frank to shoot himself.

Ultimately, a lightning strike hits the Cory home and a fire breaks out, burning Donovan’s brain and ending the horror. Frank survives, and Cory chooses to face the consequences for his actions, while Janice reminds authorities that it was Patrick’s idea—to connect the ranch’s lightning rod to the power supply in a moment of freedom from Donovan’s brain—that caused the fire.

Last Updated: October 05, 2025 at 11:46

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Brilliant minds are consumed by the terrible power of their own creations.Fans of Donovan's Brain will find similar dread in these films about scientists whose creations turn against them. If you liked the ethical horror and psychological tension of a mind being controlled, explore these movies featuring chilling experiments, mad science, and monstrous consequences.

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Narrative Summary

The narrative pattern involves a protagonist becoming a host or vessel for a powerful, antagonistic consciousness. The story methodically charts their transformation, depicting the internal battle as their personality is suppressed and their actions are co-opted, leading to a bleak or bittersweet resolution.

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More About Donovan’s Brain

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