|
| |
 |
|
Monster #2 - The
Ape Man
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)
|
|
| |
| 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. |
| |
|
| |
| 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. |
| |
|
|
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.
|
|
| |
| 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).
|
| |
| 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.
|
| |
| |
|
| |
| |
| |
 |
|
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."
|
|
 |
|
| |
|
| |
| Sources WEAVER Tom (1999) Poverty
Row Horrors!, McFarland & Co
|
| |
| |
Back
to main index page
|
| |
|
| |
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 8 April 2023
(c)
2023
|
|
| |
