The Ape (1940)

User Rating:

4.1/10   

Director:

William Nigh

Writers:

Adam Shirk (play)
Curt Siodmak (adaptation)

Release Date:

30 September 1940 (USA)

Genre:

Drama | Horror | Sci-Fi

Tagline:

He keeps human life in test tubes, and prowls at night in the skin of an ape!

Plot:

Dr. Bernard Adrian is a kindly mad scientist who seeks to cure a young woman's polio. He needs spinal...

Plot Keywords:

Spinal Fluid | Cure | Circus | Scientist | Serum

Cast

Boris Karloff	...	Dr. Bernard Adrian
Maris Wrixon	...	Miss Frances Clifford
Gene O'Donnell	...	Danny Foster
Dorothy Vaughan	...	Mother Clifford
Gertrude Hoffman	...	Jane, Adrian's Housekeeper (as Gertrude W. Hoffman)
Henry Hall	...	Sheriff Jeff Halliday
Selmer Jackson	...	Dr. McNulty

Also Known As:

Gorilla

Runtime:

62 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono (Western Electric Sound System)

Certification:

UK:PG | Sweden:15 | USA:Approved (PCA #6676)

Company:

Monogram Pictures Corporation

Trivia:

The play opened in Los Angeles, California, USA on 13 December 1927.

Movie Connections:

Featured in The 50 Worst Movies Ever Made (2004) (V)

Soundtrack:

Sobre las Olas (Over the Waves)

Choppy Video, But Decent Nonetheless

A local doctor and scientist (Boris Karloff) is working on a treatment for paralysis. He finds the cure requires human spinal fluid. But to get such a thing, he must kill. And then a local circus starts on fire and a murderous ape escapes...

First, let me give a shout out to director William Nigh of Berlin, Wisconsin. I always have to support my local directors, even if they're dead. And while there was nothing really out of the ordinary as far as directing style, it was good just the same. And Nigh has a history of working with Karloff, which I'm sure helps quite a bit (look at Tim Burton and Johnny Depp).

This film has a strong point, a weak point and a mediocre pint. The strong point is the plot. My summary will sound strange to those who haven't seen the movie. There is a circus, an ape, a scientist and people are getting killed. It really fits together very nicely, and I found this to be impressive. Many older films fill time with extra fluff, but this one was only the necessities and even that was pretty thorough.

The weak point is the film quality. I don't think I can blame the movie for its quality, but the sound is not great, the picture is not great, and many frames are missing entirely. Either lost, or filmed with bad equipment. Once I adjusted, this wasn't such a big deal. But other films from this time period have fared better, so I wish this had been one of them. A restored, touched up version of this film would have been vastly superior.

The mediocre point is the costume designer. The ape was obviously a man in a costume. However, despite this being obvious it was still a very good costume and worked for the sake of the picture. Can I reasonably expect a better ape without a real ape being used (which would be much harder to control, of course)? Perhaps not. So I give them credit for the effort. (And I assume the costume here is much nicer than the one used in the earlier theatrical production.) This film was alright. As far as older, lower quality movies go, I think this is better than much of the stuff we now call "classic". Karloff delivers, as usual... and we get a good story that has a nice dark comedy element to it, or at least an element of sympathy for evil acts. And that's always nice.