For some unexplained reason, disembodied heads were prominently featured as main characters in several horror films of the late fifties and early sixties. Remember THE MAN WITHOUT A BODY (1957) in which scientists revive the talking, bearded head of Nostradamus? Or how about THE THING THAT WOULDN’T DIE (1958) featuring the demonic head of Gideon Drew, a devil worshipper originally buried by Sir Francis Drake? Then there was the English dubbed German import, THE HEAD (original title, Die Nackte und der Satan), starring Horst Frank as a misguided doctor and Michel Simon, star of Jean Renoir’s BOUDU SAVED FROM DROWNING (1932), as the unfortunate experiment.  Another cult favorite is THE BRAIN WHO WOULDN’T DIE (1962) starring Jason Evers as a surgeon who finds a way to keep his fiancee’s severed head alive after a gruesome car wreck.

Just a year later we got another head case in THEY SAVED HITLER’S BRAIN (1963), aka Madmen of Mandoras, in which Der Fuhrer tries to make a comeback minus the rest of his body. The film, which first gained prominence in Harry Medved & Randy Dreyfuss’s bestseller “THe Fifty Worst Films of All Time” is more fun to read about that actually watch. But the basic concept of a new Nazi army being commanded by a severed head was too good to end here and it got a much more enjoyable presentation in THE FROZEN DEAD (1966), one of the better HEAD movies and also one of the last in the genre to date (RE-ANIMATOR (1985) doesn’t really qualify since the infamous severed head/oral sex sequence is only a small part of that film’s excessive nuttiness).

In THE FROZEN DEAD, Dana Andrews stars as an obsessed scientist – it’s not politically correct to call them “mad” anymore – determined to bring a slew of frozen Nazi officers back to life. There’s a slight problem though. After being kept in an ice cold meat locker since the end of World War II, their brains don’t work too well. To remedy this, Dana has his assistant procure a fresh brain. Don’t ask, don’t tell. Pretty soon there’s a sad looking, blue tinted severed head in the secret laboratory giving telepathic instructions to the Nazi popsicles. If you get the opportunity to see this – currently it’s only available on a cheap, low-grade DVD double feature with THEY SAVED HITLER’S BRAIN – make sure you stick around for the insane climax. Michael Weldon, author of “The Psychotronic Encyclopedia of Film”, calls it “an unheralded wonder of silliness.” There is no higher praise.

And while we’re still on the subject of heads, here’s a link to David Del Valle’s article in kinoeye on THE HEAD.

http://www.kinoeye.org/02/06/delvalle06.php

There is also this strange bit of trivia culled from IMDB on the film:
“Michel Simon, a major star in France at the time, had used some tainted makeup on a previous film that had resulted in his body and face becoming temporarily partially paralyzed. Since that time he had been unable to find work and took a role in this low-budget German horror film because he needed the money and only his head would be shown, and he didn’t think a film of this caliber, which could adversely affect his career.”

I think the time is right for a remake of sorts that pits Nostradamus’s head against Hitler’s and maybe even toss in Gideon Drew’s from THE THING THAT COULDN’T DIE for a real battle of the heads. And the climax would feature the sudden arrival of Mexico’s THE BRAINAIC who would suck out everyone’s gray matter.