Return of the Ape Man (1944)

User Rating:

4.2/10   

Director:

Phil Rosen

Writer:

Robert Charles (original screenplay)

Release Date:

17 July 1944 (USA)

Genre:

Horror | Romance | Sci-Fi

Tagline:

THEY'RE MONSTROUS MASTERS!

Plot:

While on an Arctic expedition, two scientists find the frozen body of a prehistoric caveman. They bring him home to their laboratory...

Plot Keywords:

Caveman | Frozen Body | Laboratory | Prehistoric | Scientist

Cast

Bela Lugosi	...	Prof. Dexter
John Carradine	...	Prof. John Gilmore
Frank Moran	...	Ape Man
George Zucco	...	Ape Man (credited but not in movie)
Tod Andrews	...	Steve Rogers (as Michael Ames)
Teala Loring	...	Anne Gilmore (as Judith Gibson)
Mary Currier	...	Hilda Gilmore
Eddy Chandler	...	Police Sergeant (as Ed Chandler)
Ernie Adams	...	Willie the Weasel
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Horace B. Carpenter	...	Theater watchman
Mike Donovan	...	Policeman
George Eldredge	...	Patrolman on beat

Runtime:

Germany:68 min | USA:60 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono

Certification:

USA:Approved | Canada:(Banned) (British Columbia) (1944)

Company:

Banner Productions

Trivia:

Most of the "Arctic expedition" footage is taken from a 1926 Pathe two-reeler, Alaskan Adventures (1926).

Movie Connections:

Features Alaskan Adventures (1926)

Return Of The Ape Man (1944) *1/2

Having now watched some 12 of Lugosi's "cheapies", I'm surprised by how much I enjoyed some of them - but others are just so silly that, for me, it hampers rather than enhances their entertainment value! Unfortunately, RETURN OF THE APE MAN happens to be one of them.

Let's begin with the good stuff: Lugosi and Carradine interact well together and I'd say that their roles here are equally important, despite the latter's below-title billing (though he's not interesting as a straight man, and I obviously prefer him when he goes over-the-top). Well, that's basically it - somehow, I felt that this one fell below the standard of the other films I've watched. Apart from the usual plot contrivances (not the least of which is Lugosi mounting an Arctic expedition, with a million-to-one chance of discovering the 'Missing Link', just so he can prove his theory about 'suspended animation'!) and the fact that, once unearthed, the 'creature' is given very little to do, the film suffers from listless pacing - where everybody apparently takes his sweet time about everything (witness Lugosi's calm and composed reaction at the Ape Man's escape from his laboratory, or the sheer amount of time it takes two cops to break down the door to the lab at the climax) - which really drowns any effort to get involved in the story!

I truly wanted to enjoy this one for what it was and not examine it unduly but the script was so lazy and the handling so uninspired that it was awfully hard for me to excuse its deficiencies simply because it was Poverty Row stuff. Do you want examples? O.K...although I agree that the best line in the film was the one uttered by Lugosi - "Some people's brains would never be missed" - that very sequence is actually where my heart sank and I knew that it was going to get worse from that point on. Why on earth would Lugosi choose, of all people, his own assistant's future son-in-law as his 'guinea pig'?! As I said, the creature itself did nothing but commute from one house (Lugosi's) to another (Carradine's). Oh, yes...he did give us an unprecedented glimpse of his bare buttocks during his climb out of Lugosi's laboratory window! I have to say, though, that the image of Lugosi chasing the Ape Man into the streets with a blowtorch did put an effortless smile on my face! Worst of all, perhaps, is the hurried way in which the sequence where Lugosi traps Carradine is shot: rather than milk the scene for all the suspense it obviously contains by judicious cross-cutting, the director chooses to shoot it in one bland, medium-shot which, if one blinks long enough, would probably miss it!! Similarly tossed away is the sequence where the Creature (now with Carradine in control) goes back to his house and starts wandering about and even sits down to play the piano; one only has to recall how moving Freddie Jones was (in similar circumstances) under Terence Fisher's direction in FRANKENSTEIN MUST BE DESTROYED (1969). Sure, these programmers were made fast and cheap (as were Hammer's, after all) but how costly would it have been for the film-makers to pour some real effort into their work?