Product Details

• Actors: Boris Karloff, Anne Revere, Amanda Duff, Richard Fiske, Ralph Penney
• Directors: Edward Dmytryk
• Writers: Milton Gunzburg, Robert Hardy Andrews, William Sloane
• Producers: Wallace MacDonald
• Format: Black & White, Closed-captioned, DVD, Full Screen, Subtitled, NTSC
• Language: English (Dolby Digital 1.0)
• Subtitles: English, French
• Region: Region 1 encoding (US and Canada only)
  PLEASE NOTE: Some Region 1 DVDs may contain Regional Coding Enhancement (RCE). Some, but not all, of our international customers have had problems playing these enhanced discs on what are called "region-free" DVD players. For more information on RCE, click here.
• Aspect Ratio: 1.33:1
• Number of discs: 1
• Rating: NR (Not Rated)
• Studio: Sony Pictures
• DVD Release Date: August 26, 2003
• Run Time: 65 minutes
• Average Customer Review: 3.9 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (11 customer reviews)
• ASIN: B0000A2ZU4
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #55,478 in Movies & TV (See Bestsellers in Movies & TV)
• For more information about "The Devil Commands" visit the Internet Movie Database (IMDb)

Editorial Reviews

Product Description

Screen horror legend Boris Karloff (Frankenstein, The Mummy) stars in this chilling, suspenseful tale of communication from beyond the grave. From acclaimed director Edward Dmytryk (The Caine Mutiny, The End of the Affair).

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

20 of 21 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Boris At His Strangest, January 5, 2005

By	Edward Garea "Edward Garea" (Branchville, New Jersey United States) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

Boris Karloff made a series of pictures for Columbia during the late 30s and early 40s, usually playing mad scientists. This is his maddest scientist of the lot. Based (very) loosely on "The Edge of Running Water," a popular story by William Sloane, the film concerns the attempts of Boris to communicate with his late, very beloved wife. To do so, he enlists the help of a medium and several stolen corpses, who are seated around a table in robotic diving helmets and subjected to huge amounts of electricity. The townspeople are growing suspicious of Boris and so he is visited by the sheriff. (Kenneth MacDonald, who later went on to star as a foil for the Three Stooges in several shorts.) The sheriff, in turn, calls Boris's long lost daughter (Amanda Duff) to come and fetch her father. But Boris decides she is perfect suited for the experiment, and so uses her to get in touch with the wife. Watch for the great scene when the maid, coaxed by the sheriff to do a little snooping, gets locked in Boris's laboratory with the seated corpses and the electricity on. Directed by Edward Dmytryk at a crisp 65 minutes.

8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Karloff rarity worth the bucks., September 15, 2003

By	"chardean" (Bronaugh, MO United States) - See all my reviews

Ok so it's a lot of money to pay for a film made in 1941 with no extra's but if your a Karloff or Vintage Horror lover it's worth the money.
I thought the picture quality was good..not stunning, but as clear as watching a movie on tv.
As for the film - it's one of the most interesting Karloff made during the 30's and 40's.
But if Columbia want a big seller on their hands they'll release 'The Black Room' & 'The Man They Could Not Hang' on a double bill disc.

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars When the Devil Commands, Karloff Listens!, August 30, 2003

By	John Field "Classic Film Fan" (San Diego) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

Prenial favorite Boris Karloff stars as a scientist who has created a helmet then when placed on the head of a subject can transfer their brainwaves onto a graph. Kind of like a lie detector graph. He discovers that women have stronger waves of brain energy then men. He demonstrates this to a room full of fellow scientists and friends, by using his wife an an example. Her brain waves are indeed stronger and much to the amazement of his skeptical friends the graph on the wall jumps up and down! Later after his wife dies in a car accident, Boris returns to his lab and angrily throws switches and discovers that his wife's energy has returned to the lab! He now joins up with a spiritualist and a bruteing Igor type to further his experiments and try and contact his beloved wife from beyond the grave. Holds up quite well today. The seance table surrounded by corpses, the swirling spirits appearing as a funnel of energy and King Karloff in all his maniacal glory. My only complaint is the short running time of only 65 min. The last 5 minutes look rushed but still the movie wraps up nicely. Now as to the transfer...it is just o.k. Columbia started out great with their brilliant William Castle titles, but seem to care less and less about these more recent releases. The pre-print on Devil Commands could use digital cleaning up. And come on Columbia, not even the trailor!!?? and a 65 min. movie retailing for [money]!!!! It is unfortuante that some people that might have slapped down [money] and took a chance on a movie that has such a cool title will definately think twice before paying over [money]. In closing, Columbia/Tristar Look at the GHOUL released by M.G.M. and see what a great transfer should look like. Still over all recommended.