Prichards12345 This film was a bit of a Holy Grail for me - I saw it many many years ago as a a child, (not on the original release - I'm not that old!) and it gave me many a treasured thrill.So I came back to this film hoping it would somehow survive my growing up and increased critical perceptions. Many a childhood scare has been displayed as utterly terrible by the cold light of adulthood - Man Without A Body is one such movie - so I had some trepidation on going back to it.I needn't have worried; The Devil Commands still holds up well, and after a slightly slow first half picks up with fine aplomb when Boris Karloff takes up residence in an old New England mansion. And you just know he's up to no good! Karloff plays a respected University professor who is trying to invent a device that can enable the transmission of thoughts across vast distances, a sort of "brain telephone" if you will. On the tragic death of his wife in a car accident Karloff discovers he can still detect her brain waves through the instrument, and begins a new line of enquiry...that of contacting the dead.Taking up with a spirit medium, played by a splendidly icy Ann Revere, Karloff is soon robbing graves and conducting unholy experiments. The change in his physical appearance about half-way through, is quite startling even today. Boris is in terrific form, giving a restrained and understated performance. And the film has some piquant black and white ghoulish chills. Compared to such bottom of the barrel dross as Lugosi's Ape Man and Karloff's own The Ape, this is a great little "B" well worth checking out.

mlraymond This well made little horror thriller belies its low budget with some really fine camera-work and good set design. The focus is on character and a plausible storyline, so that one seldom notices the limited use of locations or elaborate sets.For such a brief running time, the movie manages to seem leisurely and involving at the beginning, establishing the kindly and progressive Dr. Blair as a well meaning, cutting edge thinker, and not a clichéd mad scientist. Karloff makes the transition from lovable husband and father to fanatical experimenter so smoothly, that Dr. Blair always remains a believable, sympathetic character.Good supporting roles by Kenneth MacDonald as the local sheriff trying to keep the suspicious townsfolk from taking the law into their own hands, Dorothy Adams as the wary but tight lipped housekeeper, and Ralph Penney in the limited but very effective role of a mute lab assistant. Amanda Duff, who also narrates, as the daughter and Richard Fiske as the clean cut hero are effective.But the prize aside from Karloff has to go to Anne Revere as the truly sinister medium Mrs. Walters. She nearly steals every scene she's in, as the behind the scenes mentor and influence on Karloff, who makes it quite clear she's only in on the experiment for the potential fortune to be made if the Professor's communication device is a success.The original novel The Edge of Running Water by William Sloane is a far more detailed and involved story than this film adaptation, but the movie works very well for what it is. A larger budget and longer running time might have made it even better, but it stands as one of Karloff's best movies of the Forties, and a good, involving thriller well worth the viewer's time.Definitely recommended.

ferbs54 I must confess to a degree of disappointment after having watched "The Devil Commands" the other night, after several years of waiting to do so. The memory of its excellent source novel, William Sloane's "The Edge of Running Water" (1937), is still very much with me from several years ago, you see, and I'm afraid that the film does suffer in comparison. The book has sharply drawn characters, a well-detailed plot (a scientist attempting to communicate with his dead wife), great suspense and a very satisfying windup. The film, unfortunately, has none of these things in much abundance. Still, there ARE some good things to be said for it. Boris Karloff, as usual, is wonderful, as is Anne Revere in her role as his assistant. The effects are more than passable, and, at a mere 65 minutes, there is no unnecessary padding. Indeed, the film can be accused of being not fleshed out enough! Several things aren't explained; even Boris' fate is never clearly shown, unlike his character's amazing finish in the book. This is a story that is truly ripe for a remake, if done faithfully and by a team that respects the source material. Still, I can think of many more fruitless ways to spend an hour than by curling up with "The Devil Commands."

MartinHafer In the 1930s, Boris Karloff was initially with a relatively important studio (Universal) and was enjoying a lot of success. Later, he did some dandy films for Warner Brothers, but he also made some grade-Z films for poverty row studio, Monogram. All these films were fun to watch and often a bit silly, but the Monogram ones were known for their very low production values and silly plots. After THE APE (1940), Karloff was thrilled to get out of his contract with Monogram and ready to go on to better things. It SHOULD have been that way when he made THE DEVIL COMMANDS for Columbia. Sure, like Universal in the 1930s, Columbia was not the biggest of studios but it did have decent budgets and production values and I expected this to be a much better style of film than THE APE....but unfortunately, it seemed a lot like the exact same old style of film and nothing more. Like THE APE and the rather bland Mr. Wong films for Monogram, this one was nothing special.It stars Karloff as a kindly scientist with the best of intentions that ultimately becomes a mad man--using science to create abominations. Considering how often he did this, the whole thing seems very, very derivative and stale. We've seen this all before and there is nothing that makes this film stand out from many others just like it. Also, the narration and the epilogue just seem heavy-handed and unnecessary.Is it fun and worth a look (particularly to lovers of B-horror films), yes. But it could have been so much better.