Life Returns
Cast & Crew
Eugen Frenke
Dr. Robert E. Cornish
Onslow Stevens
George Breakston
Lois Wilson
Valerie Hobson
Film Details
Technical Specs
Synopsis
Brilliant young scientists Dr. Louise Stone, Dr. John Kendrick and Dr. Robert E. Cornish dedicate their lives to the service of humanity. Upon graduation from medical school, Stone and Cornish begin their own research, while John takes a job with a research company so he can use their facilities to discover a life-giving fluid. For some time John enjoys success and marries a socialite. Eventually, however, the research company loses faith in his project and fires him after he refuses to abandon it to develop beauty products. Disillusioned, John discontinues his private practice and becomes irrational and obsessed with his project, working on it at home. Because John is unable to take care of him, his son Danny is placed in juvenile hall after his mother dies. Danny runs away from the hall, and, with his dog "Scooter," joins a boy's gang. Louise visits John and attempts to inspire him through tales of Cornish's success, but John is impervious to encouragement, and is berated by Louise for abandoning his son. One day, while the gang tries to set "Scooter" free from the pound, one of the boys fractures his leg and the dog is killed. Unstable and unsure of his abilities as a doctor, John sends another doctor to help the injured boy and refuses Danny's pleas to use his life-giving fluid on "Scooter." John instead brings the dog to Dr. Cornish's laboratory, and after a miraculous operation, the dog is revived. The boys find Danny and bring him to the laboratory, where he is reunited with his father.
Director
Eugen Frenke
Cast
Dr. Robert E. Cornish
Onslow Stevens
George Breakston
Lois Wilson
Valerie Hobson
Stanley Fields
Frank Reicher
Richard Carle
Dean Benton
Lois January
Richard Quine
Maidel Turner
George Macquarrie
Otis Harlan
Tommy Bupp
Mario Margutti
William Black
Ralph Celmar
Roderick Krida
Crew
Ralph Berger
Eugen Frenke
L. Wolfe Gilbert
John F. Goodrich
James Hogan
Arthur Horman
Harry Marker
Mary Mccarthy
Lou Ostrow
Robert Planck
Scienart Pictures
Richard Tyler
Clifford Vaughan
Oliver Wallace
Film Details
Technical Specs
Quotes
Trivia
Uses footage from actual University of Southern California experiment in which scientists claimed they brought a dead dog back to life. Robert E. Cornish, playing himself in the film, was one of the scientists involved.
Notes
According to news items in Daily Variety, director Eugen Frenke was originally assigned to adapt Leo Tolstoi's novel Father Sergius to the screen, but Universal was concerned that the subject matter would not be approved by censors, and assigned Frenke to direct his original story. Further news items indicate that Universal pulled the film from release after a preview, and declared the film to be a "freak picture, not suitable for the regular Universal program," although the studio had invested approximately $40,000 in the production. Despite this announcement, Universal did release the film for a special road show run. According to reviews, this film uses actual footage of an operation performed by Dr. Cornish on May 22, 1934, in Berkeley, CA, in which he revived a dead canine. Variety notes that Dr. Cornish's assistants Mario Margutti, William Black, Ralph Celmar and Roderick Krida, appear in the film. Although most reviews for this film were published in 1934-35, no release date could be found in either year. The earliest documented release date is June 10, 1938. An editor's note in The Exhibitor noted that according to Grand National, the film not released in 1935.
