The Alligator People (1959)

User Rating:

5.0/10   

Director:

Roy Del Ruth

Writers:

Orville H. Hampton (screenplay)
Orville H. Hampton (story) ...

Release Date:

July 1959 (USA)

Genre:

Horror | Sci-Fi

Tagline:

Terror in the Bayou!

Plot:

A newlywed couple sit in a train. The husband receives a frantic telegram. He gets off at a station to make a phone call...

Plot Keywords:

Alligator | Mutant | Experiment | Nurse | Swamp

Cast

Beverly Garland	...	Joyce Webster, aka Jane Marvin
Bruce Bennett	...	Dr. Eric Lorimer
Lon Chaney Jr.	...	Manon (as Lon Chaney)
George Macready	...	Dr. Mark Sinclair
Frieda Inescort	...	Mrs. Lavinia Hawthorne, Henry's Wife
Richard Crane	...	Paul Webster
Douglas Kennedy	...	Dr. Wayne MacGregor

Runtime:

74 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono (RCA Sound Recording)

Certification:

USA:Approved

Filming Locations:

Louisiana, USA

Company:

Associated Producers (API)

Trivia:

This film was made because Twentieth Century-Fox needed a low-budget "monster movie" in the CinemaScope format to play on the bottom of a double bill with Return of the Fly (1959), the sequel to its "sleeper" hit The Fly (1958). Fox did not produce this film, however. It was made by independent producer Jack Leewood and bought by Fox.

Quotes:

Louann, the maid: Miz Hawthorne, she deal with the Evil One.

Movie Connections:

Referenced in Hooligan's Valley (2005)

To Beverly, Bruce & Lon: 'See You Later, Alligator!'

The very good last third of this film and an outstanding ending made this movie worthwhile for me to watch. One has to be patient in some of these classic films, as many of them begin rather slowly.....but there is a reward if you stick with it.

This story is told in flashback as a woman "Joyce Weber," played by Beverly Garland) is given an injection and relates to two doctors the amazing story of what happened to her and her missing husband.

Garland did well and looked terrific. She was a little over 30 years of age at the time she made this film. Sadly, she just died a few months ago (as of this review) at the age of 82. She has a long resume of movies and TV shows.

Lon Chaney plays a goofy role, a man who is obsessed with shooting alligators after one had the nerve to eat his hand. He makes a play for Beverly in one scene, trying to get her drunk and have his way with her. Can't blame the poor slob.

Bruce Bennett, who plays the main doctor here, also died recently, passing away at the age of 90 in 2007. Bennett did some great 1940s films like "Mildred Pierce" and "Dark Passage," plays the main doctor. George Macready, whose best days were behind him, too, ("Gilda" is my favorite film of his) is the other doctor, who is there to witness "Joyce's" story as it is told under some sort of truth serum.

Lesser-known Richard Crane plays the "Paul Crane," the alligator man.

The title of the film is a bit misleading. "Alligator People" imply plural - more than one, but there really is only one alligator man in this film, and he only looks like a guy with a bad sunburn and acne! At the end, though, Crane dons a rubber suit with an alligator head that will have you howling - in laughter, not fear! The other alligator-men are only shown as patients lying in their beds. It's all part of a man-plays-God experiment in which the good doctor is trying to help people who are desperate straights.

Without giving the last 25 minutes away - which was very good - along with particularly excellent ending that had some intelligent twists to it - suffice it made up for the earlier slower moments.