Waste of time

Thanks for the memories!

From my favorite movies..

I really wanted to like this movie. I feel terribly cynical trashing it, and that's why I'm giving it a middling 5. Actually, I'm giving it a 5 because there were some superb performances.

Of course this film was meant deadly serious back in 1943, and it surely scared lots of moviegoers out of their wits - but today, it's become one of those little gems that every B movie fan will love: the script is absolutely lousy, the direction as well as the settings are meager, and most of the performances are highly hammy - except for Bela's, who as always puts his heart and soul into his performance even in a little cheapie like this. And even if, towards the end, we REALLY start doubting the sanity of the author - that priceless joke on this very subject in the final scene is worth the whole thing! Now rating movies like this one is always difficult: looking at it in an unbiased way, it's more or less impossible to give it more than 6 - but in our hearts, it gets a much higher score!

Wow some of these low budget "b" movies are so wonderful, this one is at or near the top of the spectrum, Bela Lugosi is just charming in this one, he has to get some kind of serum from people that he needs to turn back into full human. But he can't do the killing himself he has his Ape do it for him,, I just love all the back and forth banter that he has with the Ape. the part I loved the best was when the Ape looks at his empty bowl on the floor, looks up at master shakes his head and then looks at the bowl again in utter disgust. the Ape is cheerful to follow his master whenever the chance arrises every once in awhile he's a little disagreeable as far as listening to master, but the two are a pleasure to watch together, I love the plot. the characters, and the Ape,, what's not to love from this 40's classic horror movie.

Being left muddled by Attack Of The Giant Leeches,I began to hope that the second film on the disc would be an,at least,slight improvement.And although the film is very low budget,this comedy horror still has some great entertaining moments. The plot:Returning back from an expedition,a group of scientist make the tragic announcement that one of them sadly died during the expedition.Whilst everyone else goes for the explanation hook,line and sinker,two journalist suspect that foul play may have been involved in the scientist death.Searching around his house,the reporters begin to gather evidence that Dr James Brewster has been performing weird operations on apes.As the reporters start digging,Breswster (who has turned into a human-ape hybrid,due to performing an operation which went a little bit wrong!) comes out of hiding,and with needing spinal fluid to fully transform back into a human,Brewster discovers that he has found the perfect two people to get spinal fluid from.View on the film:With most of the acting being on the incredible "chewy" side,Bela Lugosi shines like a beacon for the film,who along with composer Edward J. Kay give the film a haunting side,with Lugosi's conviction in his performance,being something which no other actor would have given to the film.Checking the credits to the film online,I discovered that I had accidental viewed one of (In) famous director William "one-shot" Beaudine films,and although the film does stay on the side of the road,and is also not helped by a soundtrack which has more crackling then a piece of meat!,Beaudine still includes a few good moments in the film,with scenes of the reports doing phone calls at the office having a nice pace,and a scene of Breswster and an ape breaking plates being a well executed gag.Final view on the film:An easy going horror-comedy,with a performance by Lugosi that helps to keep the film together.

I suppose that one could see this film as a brilliant metaphor for drug addiction. Being a drug addict was called in slang "having a monkey on your back" in the 1940's. Here Bela Lugosi has a real monkey on his back, face, neck, and ass. We can see his fights with the monkey as metaphorical fights with his addiction. This way of looking at the film doesn't make it any better, but it does pass the time.According to the trivia section, the director, one-shot William Beaudine, took 19 days to shoot this. One must imagine that he took a two week vacation during the shoot or Bela Lugosi needed two days rest for each scene in which he tries to imitate a gorilla. It is painful to watch poor Bela at age 60 and in bad health, trying to play a gorilla. Very possibly, he had to take drugs to accomplish it.Is there really any redeeming feature for this movie? I think the mysterious character who appears to be watching from outside Lugosi's window and helps to prevent one woman from being murdered adds something to the film. It seems to be a failed attempt at adding humor, but it does add a touch of creepiness which relieves the dreary mad scientist tedium.