The Ape (1940)

There was a conversation between Monogram executives I'm sure when like this: "We've got Karloff under contract and a gorilla costume. Go make a movie." One would hope that more inspiration would be needed to start filming, but if there were, it was well hid.

Boris is Doctor Bernard Adrien, the worlds least beloved country doctor. He is on a quest to cure paralyses in a young lady and has taken to stealing pets to experiment on. Schoolchildren throw rocks at his house.

The ape in a circus attacks a cruel trainer and escapes. The town is on alert and the doctor treats the trainer, who dies. Using his spinal fluid he cures the paralysis in animals. Unfortunately he drops the vial before he can treat the young lady. The ape attacks his lab (drawn there by the odor of the cruel trainer) and the elderly doctor kills it. Thinking quick, he skins and tans the hide and makes a gorilla costume. Seriously? I bet that took all afternoon. Anyhow, using the costume, he goes out at night to "harvest" more "cure".

I've asked this before: what is it with pre WWII audiences and gorillas? Did the mere presence of an ape on the poster cause people to line up at the box office? Anyhow, calling this Horror is a stretch. I suppose the ape was monster enough, but including Doctor Karloff made it a slam dunk. I bet if Karloff appeared in a polident commercial, it would be classified as horror.

But what I found most interesting is how good of an actor Boris was. He was very restrained in his role, and had a completely different look then when he did The Ghoul or The Body Snatcher (which I haven't blogged yet). Bela was always Bela, but Boris could be anybody.

The Ape did have more to offer, but don't mistake it for anything other than a low budget quickie horror flick. The movie begins with up tempo circus music and I thought it was a comedy. The fact it wasn't funny wasn't a big deal. It wasn't scary either. Principally on the strong performance of Karloff, I give it an AMRU of 2.5.

The Monster Maker (1944)

What is it with old movies and caged apes? Did gorillas touch a nerve with the moviegoers back then?

The plot is simple. A creepy old doctor sees a hot chick at a piano concert. She is the very image of his dearly departed wife. So, what's a mad scientist to do? How about send her flowers and letters. And if 'oll dad says a word of complaint, infect him with a disease that slowly turns him into a monster! Sounds like a plan of success.

Irony strikes when Dad goes to the doctor and is refered to a specialist, namely Creepy Mad Doctor. Gosh, I wonder what he wants in return for curing him?

I knew J. Carrol Naish was in the movie, but I wasn't sure where. He was good in Dr. Renault's Secret (starring as the secret, himself) and I was curious to see him in another role. I popped on my blackberry, browsed to IMDB and .... holy crap! He's the Mad Doctor! Subhuman brute to evil scientist. Nice range!

Fair acting and dialog. Not altogether bad. Clearly a low budget movie, but not without it's charm. Pleasantly short. AMRU 3. Oh, yea, and the doctor had a caged ape. Not sure why.

King Kong (1933)

Forth movie mentioned in the song Science Fiction/Double Feature. The classic gorilla finds girl, gorilla loses girl, girl's friends drug and kidnap gorilla to use in a New York side show story. It's the classic tale.

Robert Armstrong plays Carl Denham, a risk-taking movie director who learns of an uncharted island off Africa's coast (Google Earth was in pre-beta back then). He needs a lead actress so at the last minute he nabs the homeless waif Ann Darrow (Fay Wray). Every damsel needs a hero, and Fay's is Seaman John Driscol, played by Bruce Cabot, who apparently was a robot in real life. Oh, and by the way, Fay Wray was HOT! 

Many of the models of the dinosaurs and the animation techniques came from the 1925 silent film The Lost World, taken from the Arthur Conan Doyle story. Guess which movie I do next. Silent films are weird. 

But, let's touch on the silly, shall we? All this has been pointed out before, but what the hell. If you are going to build a giant wall to keep giant monsters out, WHY BUILD A GIANT DOOR FOR THEM TO GET THROUGH? If a giant ape can scale the Empire State Building, WHY CAN'T IT SCALE A WALL BARELY TALLER THAN ITSELF? And while we are bringing logic into the conversation, why live on a tiny part of a giant island populated by monsters? That was fun, wasn't it? Seriously, it wasn't? Not even a little? Oh, bother. 

This movie is great. I watched it on an old VCR tape and I'm dying to see it fully restored in high-def. The action is intense, the story interesting, the pacing great, and Fay Wray's wardrobe pre-code. 

King Kong held the record at the time for the biggest opening in history and is credited with saving RKO from bankruptcy. AFI lists it as the forth best film in the category of Fantasy and it's ranked 11th in IMDB's list in the category of Horror. In my ranking, it's higher. I love this movie. AMRU 5.0.