The Jungle Captive (1945)

Director:

Harold Young

Writers:

Dwight V. Babcock (screenplay)
Dwight V. Babcock (story)

Release Date:

29 June 1945 (USA)

Genre:

Horror

Plot:

Once again Paula ape woman is brought back to life, this time by a mad doctor and his disfigured assistant...

Plot Keywords:

Ape | Mad Doctor | Smock | Medical Research | Police Investigation

Cast

Otto Kruger	...	Mr. Stendahl
Amelita Ward	...	Ann Forrester
Phil Brown	...	Don Young
Jerome Cowan	...	Insp. W.L. Harrigan
Rondo Hatton	...	Moloch
Eddie Acuff	...	Bill, morgue wagon attendant
Ernie Adams	...	Jim, morgue wagon attendant
Charles Wagenheim	...	Fred, first morgue attendant
Eddy Chandler	...	Motorcycle Cop
Jack Overman	...	Detective at Lab
Vicky Lane	...	Paula Dupree

Also Known As:

Wild Jungle Captive (USA) (reissue title)

Runtime:

63 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono (Western Electric Recording)

Certification:

UK:H | USA:Approved (PCA #10903)

Company:

Universal Pictures

Quotes:

[first lines]
Johnny, errand boy: Ah, my dear Ann! So glad to see you again after all these minutes. Twenty of them, at least.
Ann Forrester: *Fifty* minutes, Johnny.
Johnny, errand boy: Fifty minutes! Fifty years away from you, Ann.
Ann Forrester: You're not flattering me Johnny. Now what have you been doing?
Johnny, errand boy: Waiting for the specimen at Dr. Lees'.
Ann Forrester: I could check with Dr. Lees' office nurse, you know... but I'll let it go at that.
Johnny, errand boy: Ah, gee, thanks Ann. Dr. Lee would like to have reports quickly as possible.
Ann Forrester: I don't think we can run another test this afternoon, Johnny.
Johnny, errand boy: Well, that's OK with me. But if the boss wouldn't spend so much time experimenting with those rabbits, he'd get down to his own...
[...]

Movie Connections:

Featured in "Son of Svengoolie: The Jungle Captive (1945) (#1.75)" (1980)

Trilogy

Jungle Captive (1944)

* (out of 4)

Third and final film in Universal's "Paula, the Ape Woman" series. Another stupid scientist (Otto Kruger) steals the body of Paula (now played by Vicky Lane), brings her back to life only to learn that she's a killer. Slow, boring and just downright stupid film is slightly better than the previous one but that's like saying it's better to get shot ten times instead of eleven. With these three Paula movies and She Wolf of London it's rather obvious Universal did better by turning men into monsters.

Jungle Woman (1944)

* (out of 4)

Sloppy sequel to Wild Captive Woman opens up with twenty minutes worth of footage from the previous film!!!! Another doctor (J. Carrol Naish) tries experiments on Paula (Acquanetta), which turns her into a half ape/half woman. This is an incredibly bad film hampered big time by all the stock footage from the previous film, which also contains footage from another movie so we've basically got three movies going on here. The performances by all are pretty bad and once again Acquanetta is as dull as who knows what. Lazy on all accounts, although things pick up towards the end.

Captive Wild Woman (1943)

** (out of 4)

Lifeless Universal horror film has an animal trainer bring back a large ape from Africa only to have a mad scientist (John Carradine kidnap it. The scientist then turns the ape into a beautiful woman (Acquanetta) who gest jealous of the trainer's girlfriend (Evelyn Ankers) and soon turns into a part ape/part woman creature. This was a very slow going film and it doesn't help matters that half the footage is recycled from 1933's The Big Show. Carradine is pretty dull in his role and the monster isn't interesting. Even at 61-minutes this thing seems long.