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DENIS
GIFFORD'S
MONSTERS OF THE
MOVIES
(1977)
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Monster
#2 - Ape Man
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United
States, 1943
A Monogram Pictures Production
64 mins, black & white, 1.37 : 1 aspect ratio
Director - William Beaudine
Screenplay - Barney Sarecky
Story - Karl Brown ("They Creep in the
Dark")
Cinematographer - Mack Stengler
Editor - Carl Pierson
Music - Edward Kay
Bela Lugosi
(Dr. James Brewster), Louise Currie (Billie
Mason), Wallace Ford (Jeff Carter), Henry Hall
(Dr. Randall), Emil Van Horn (Ape), Ralph
Littlefield (Zippo)
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| SYNOPSIS
- Conducting weird experiments, mad scientist Dr.
James Brewster, with the help of his colleague Dr.
Randall, has managed to transform himself into a hairy,
stooping ape-man. Now desperately seeking a cure,
Brewster believes only an injection of recently-drawn
human spinal fluid will prove effective. But with Randall
now refusing to help him, Brewster and his captive
gorilla must find (and kill) appropriate donors
themselves. |
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| I didn't care for the "Ape
Man" at all when I first perused Monsters of the
Movies back in 1977, and things haven't changed
since - not the least because, unfortunately, nothing in
this movie makes any sense, not the least what on earth a
scientist could be working on that has any logic to it if
the accidental result can be the transformation into an
apeman state. The sole saving grace of this poverty row
flick is the fact that it doesn't take itself too
seriously and, at least for most of its running time,
throws in voluntary (and a few involuntary) elements of
comedy. |
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The culmination point of this is
revealing that a mysterious persona, who pops up
throughout the movie somewhat influencing the
flow of things, is actually the author of the
story. Happening right at the end of the movie,
this breaks down the "fourth wall"
between the movie and those watching it. He
actually sums up the movie pretty well by
quipping to the audience "screwy idea,
wasn't it?" before rolling up the car
window with the words "THE
END" appearing on the glass. Ralph
Littlefield plays this special little role quite
well. Bela Lugois on the other hand, who was
61 when he played the Ape Man, was already on a
sad downward spiral, induced by health issues,
prescribed pain-killer addiction, and alcoholism.
Although he was, finally cast as the Monster in
Universal's Frankenstein Meets the Wolf Man (a
role he famously turned down in 1931) the same
year he did The Ape Man, it
really was too late for his career, and his roles
and typecast formulaic acting in poverty row
movies didn't help at all.
The movie is now in the
public domain and available on various online
platforms, but picture and sound quality are
often poor - quite unlike Retromedia's 2020
Blu-ray release, which is definitely the sharpest
(2K) and most complete print of The Ape Man that's
out there. Plus - possibly as a consolation - you
get Karloff's Doomed to Die Mister Wong
movie with this "Monstrous Double
Feature" Blu-ray bundle.
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| Reviewers at the time didn't care much for The
Ape Man either, with Variety calling it
"good for laughs which aren't in the script",
although the Los Angeles Times did note
"the slyly satricial moments". One of the major
prtoblems of the movie is Lugosi's make-up, which is as
bare bones as it gets and really does nothing other than
turn Lugosi into Lugosi with lots of facial hair; the Hollywood
Reporter called the make-up "horrible". The saying that what you get is what
you pay for doesn't always apply to movies (some high
budget films have turned out to be terrible), but a lack
of funds is certainly a huge obstacle to overcome. Louise
Currie, the female lead, recalled working on the film and
just how cheap Monogram's low-budget movies were, stating
that she had to wear her own clothes for their films
since the studio didn't even have a wardrobe department
(Weaver, 1999).
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| Ape men were, of course, a staple of 1940s
"horror" movies, especially cheaper ones, where
the seemingly easy and straightforward costume challenge
was to get hold of an "ape suit" (as also seen
in The Ape Man) and save money. Monogram actually turned out Return
of the Ape Man a year later - also featuring Lugosi,
but not a sequel to this movie.
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Denis Gifford on The
Ape Man
in A Pictorial History of
Horror Movies (1973)
"Lugosi
played James Brewster - a pretty strange
name for a Hungarian. The plot itself is
uncommonly like The Ape, which Karloff
had appeared in for Monogram. Lugosi
kills people to obtain supplies of fresh
spinal fluid, the only antidote to his
apishness. The twist is that instead of
donning a gorilla skin, Lugosi is
half-gorilla himself."
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| Sources WEAVER
Tom (1999) Poverty Row Horrors!, McFarland &
Co
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Back to main index page
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The illustrations presented here are
copyright material.
Their reproduction in this non-commercial review
and research context is considered to be fair use
as set out by the U.S. Copyright Act of 1976, 17
U.S.C. par. 107
and in accordance with the the Berne Convention
for the Protection of Literary and
Artistic Works.
All images from Monsters
of the Movies (Carousel/Transworld) were
scanned from my personal copy purchased in 1977
All images of Blu-ray or DVD covers were scanned
from my personal copies
Page created 2
April 2023
Last updated 2 September 2023
(c)
2023
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