good enough actor to play the dual role of the kindly professor-turned-murderous gangster, but it is more likely that his appearance and voice could not be changed completely enough to make the switch convincing. (Karloff played a dual role in the 1935 film The Black Room but the two characters were identical twins.) The film provided a rare opportunity for Ridges. By December, the title had changed to Black Friday. Arthur Lubin reportedly got the job of directing on the strength of his work on The Big Guy. Filming started 27 December 1939. During filming, Manley Hall reportedly hypnotised Lugosi on set. Release Black Friday had its world premiere in Chicago on February 29, 1940. It was released theatrically April 12, 1940 where it was distributed by Universal Pictures. Criticism The New York Times at the time of release stated: "Lugosi's terrifying talents are wasted... but Karloff is in exquisite artistic form... good holiday fun." Diabolique magazine in 2019 described it as "Lubin's first film to have any kind of lasting legacy... because it features both Boris Karloff and Bela Lugosi, though neither share a scene together. It's a sort of gangster-horror film that involves a brain transplant (Curt Siodmak, who worked on the script, loved brain transplants). Stanley Ridges plays a part clearly meant for Karloff with Karloff playing a role that should have been played by Lugosi and Lugosi being wasted in a part that could have been played by anyone. The film is no classic but it is crisp and no-nonsense, taking advantage of Universal's studio resources, with excellent tempo; Joe Dante later commented it was more like a Warner Bros film in that respect than a Universal one, a judgement that could be made of many Lubin movies from this period." Home media Black Friday was released on a DVD as part of The Bela Lugosi Collection on September 6, 2005. Dave Kehr of The New York Times noted that the compilation compiled The Black Cat, The Raven, The Invisible Ray and Black Friday on a single disc, stating that the video quality was acceptable but contained "a lot of video compression". See also List of American films of 1940 Boris Karloff filmography Bela Lugosi filmography References Footnotes Sources External links Joe Dante on Black Friday at Trailers from Hell 1940 films 1940 horror films American science fiction horror films American black-and-white films 1940s English-language films