Life Returns (1935)

Written by CinemaSerf on June 19, 2022

I suppose every actor has had to do something to pay the tax bill or the school fees - and this would appear to be Valerie Hobson's sacrifice. She portrays the wife of Onslow Stevens ("Dr. Kendrick") who is convinced that medical science can find the answers to defying death. It's more than the usual guff, this - as he dedicates his life to his passion, neglecting his family and friends as he becomes more and more obsessed. Even his peers abandon him as a fanatic. His chance to prove them all wrong comes, though, when he attempts to revive a dead dog and, well... enough said really. It boasts a whopping great six writers, two directors and Robert Planck could have hardly been more aptly named as the cinematographer. The acting and the action, such as they are, are risible and the shockingly banal dialogue, coupled with the long moody shots depicting the despair of our bedevilled doctor lays it on so thickly that I began to envy the dog... Poor, nothing else to say...