Professor Dowell's Testament

Did You Know?

• The film was initially planned to be a television series.
• The head of Eva belonged to a singer who came for a tour, and the body to Arthur's girlfriend.

Plot

Professor Dowell developed a formula capable of bringing severed body parts back to life. Shortly after, he suffered a fatal heart attack. His will instructed that he be revived using his own creation. Dr. Robert Korn, his assistant, carried out the request by attaching Dowell’s head to the life-giving solution. Korn then staged a car accident: he placed the professor’s body in a vehicle, set it on fire, and pushed it off a road outside the city.

Arthur Dowell, the professor’s son, arrived for the funeral. Inside the burned-out car, he found an item belonging to Korn and handed it to the local police as evidence. Meanwhile, the living head of Professor Dowell revealed the code to his bank account, allowing Korn to settle his debts.

During a police raid on a restaurant to catch drug traffickers, a shootout erupted, killing two women. A pathologist signed off on their deaths and gave the bodies to Korn. Using the professor’s solution, Korn attached the head of one woman—a touring singer—to the body of the other, who was Arthur’s girlfriend. The resulting person was named Eva. Korn sought the formula for the solution, but Dowell’s head refused and deliberately gave him the wrong instructions twice.

Arthur saw Eva and grew suspicious of Korn’s role in his father’s death. He gave the police photographs of Eva. The authorities conducted an experiment, dropping a car identical to the professor’s off the road with a dummy inside. Korn was charged with murder. To clear himself, he revealed the professor’s living head to the district chief, and the charges were dropped.

At a medical conference, Korn presented Eva. The professor’s head appeared via video link. Dowell’s head still refused to share the formula, and as the original supply of the solution ran out, the head died. Eva suffered the same fate. The secret of the life-giving solution was lost forever.