The Ape Man (1943)

User Rating:

4.1/10   

Director:

William Beaudine

Writers:

Karl Brown (story)
Barney A. Sarecky (screenplay)

Release Date:

5 March 1943 (USA)

Genre:

Horror | Sci-Fi

Tagline:

No one is safe from the cruel desires of this inhuman fiend!

Plot:

Conducting weird scientific experiments, crazed Dr. James Brewster, aided by his colleague Dr. Randall...

Plot Keywords:

Ape Man | Reporter | Simian Fiction | Mutant | Mad Scientist

Cast

Bela Lugosi	...	Dr. James Brewster
Louise Currie	...	Billie Mason
Wallace Ford	...	Jeff Carter
Henry Hall	...	Dr. George Randall
Minerva Urecal	...	Agatha Brewster
Emil Van Horn	...	The Ape
J. Farrell MacDonald	...	Police Capt. O'Brien (as J. Farrel MacDonald)
Wheeler Oakman	...	Det. Brady
Ralph Littlefield	...	Zippo
Jack Mulhall	...	Reporter
Charles Jordan	...	Det. O'Toole
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Charlie Hall	...	Barney (the photographer) (as Charles Hall)

Also Known As:

Lock Your Doors (UK)
The Gorilla Strikes (USA) (working title)

Runtime:

64 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono

Certification:

UK:PG (video rating) (1998) | UK:X (original rating) | USA:Approved (certificate #9063)

Company:

Banner Productions

Trivia:

Shot in 19 days.

Goofs:

Errors made by characters (possibly deliberate errors by the filmmakers): When reporter Jeff Carter and photographer Billie Mason leave the newspaper office and get into his car to go to Dr. Brewster's house for the first time, Billie calls him Mr. Brisbane.

Quotes:

Agatha Brewster: Most spirits are honest, gentle and kind, and only want to bring happiness to humans. But a few are evil and, having been wicked in life, are wicked in death, and only haunt the scenes of desperate crimes, reveling in murder.

Movie Connections:

Featured in Death Scenes 2 (1992) (V)

A Retelling Of Jekyll And Hyde

I thought this was basically an OK movie, although lacking in originality for the most part. In a Jekyll & Hyde genre, Bela Lugosi plays Dr. James Brewster, a scientist who injects himself with the spinal fluid of an ape and who then find himself becoming an ape. The only antidote is human spinal fluid, and, well, Brewster goes out to get it.

Lugosi's performance was not bad, really, although I couldn't help wondering why someone with the decidedly English name of James Brewster spoke with such a pronounced Hungarian accent, especially when his sister Agatha (played by Minerva Urecal) spoke perfect English. I know - nitpicky! (Perhaps becoming an ape affected his voice!) The movie never really offered an explanation of what great medical marvel the spinal fluid of an ape was supposed to achieve, although at the start of the movie Brewster's friend Dr. Randall (Henry Hall) assures Agatha that it was a marvel. The ape make-up for the supposedly real ape (Emil Van Horn) was bad, so you can imagine how hokey Lugosi's makeup was. I will say that Agatha, a dedicated ghost hunter, injected a bit of humour (perhaps unintentionally, although it's hard to tell) from time to time as she tries to throw reporters (played by Louise Currie and Wallace Ford) off the trail.

Overall I enjoyed this short (64 minutes) movie and because it had a few twists here and there I give it a 6/10, which might have been higher had it not been overall so predictable as a retelling of the Jekyll and Hyde story.