Sh! The Octopus

Astonishingly occasionally like THE WIZARD OF OZ , this is a haunted fun-house comedy, like a hair raising wander through a creaky old seaside fun pier with a lighthouse ghost/train ride. Hugh Herbert is his usual bumbling chatterbox self, and abrasive Allen Jenkins ( from Footlight Parade) is the wisecracking pal. There is a great haunted lighthouse, sea caves and all sort of fake but fun spookiness. There is a genuinely astonishing and very clever scary moment with 'The Octopus" but mostly bumbling and running about in and out of caves, fogs and boats. Hugh Herbert plays his style of comedy a lot like Ed Wynn who you might remember most famously in MARY POPPINS when they had tea on this floating table. SH! THE OCTOPUS has a wonderful atmosphere, and not unlike the Columbia serial of 1937 THE SECRET OF TREASURE ISLAND or the finale of the Republic serial SOS COASTGUARD. This is a good Warner Bros programmer and if you have seen 1929 version of THE CAT AND THE CANARY or THE BAT WHISPERS it fits into the 'old dark house' - in this case a lighthouse, theme of scary comedies popular in the early 30s. I love the title! Imagine putting that up in lights on the marquee.

This film is sort of a "nautical" version of the Ritz Bros. "the Gorilla". A criminal known as the "Octopus" is trying to get a secret device from an inventor stranded on an island (with a lighthouse), along with many suspicious characters. (One of whom is the "Octopus"!).

As in the "Gorilla", the plot of this film doesn't make much sense, but sit back & enjoy the thrills & jitters of the secret panels, clutching octopus tentacles (!) and spooky atmosphere! This film is for pure enjoyment; and not to be "analyzed"!

One interesting note: at the end of the film, one of the suspects turns into the "Octopus"& the effect is AMAZING! I pride myself on how they did special effects back then, but I can't figure this out, as the film does NOT "stop action" & change the person into the Octopus; it happens "live"!

Get out the popcorn & enjoy this great escapist film!

This picture was made in 1937.I think I saw it when it was first released.I must have been 8 years old. I remember I thought it was both scary and hilarious.I thought Hugh Herbert's "woo,woo,woo" comic trademark was a hoot. Now that I am no longer 8 years old,I'd like to see it again to see how my tastes have matured(if at all).

Sh! The Octopus (1937)

** (out of 4)

Another version of The Gorilla but this time the old dark house is replaced with a lighttower and the gorilla is replaced with an octopus. Veteran character actors Hugh Herbert and Allen Jenkins play wannabe detectives trapped inside a lighttower with several others who are being attacked by the octopus. This version pretty much stays in tact with other versions and the other remake, which followed two years later with The Ritz Brothers and Bela Lugosi. Herbert and Jenkins aren't nearly as obnoxious and they do manage to get some good laughs. The octopus looks very nice and the scene where the killer "transforms" is quite memorable. The film moves at a lightening pace yet for some reason, one I don't know, the 56-minute running time felt overly long. This certainly isn't a bad movie but it's not a good one either.

Sh! The Octopus was recommended to me by a friend who bought a few lobby cards from the film. I wondered why he had such an interest in a movie that I had never heard of. He told me he was afraid to tell me too much because it might spoil the fun, but that I should definitely see if I had the chance.

My time arrived.

The story begins with a sea-faring man selling the deed to a lighthouse to a polished-looking gentleman in a suit. In comes Captain Hook (that's right- Captain Hook!), a crazy sailor who goes insane at the sound of a ticking clock. Cut to two cops, Kelly (Hugh Herbert) and Dempsey (Allen Jenkins), who are racing to the hospital on a rainy night because Kelly's wife is having a baby. But they get a flat tire, and in the midst of their struggle to fix it, a woman comes tearing through the woods at them, begging for help. She has just seen her step-father's dead body in the lighthouse! The plot is laughable, and thankfully the actors and the director seem to be in on how ridiculous the story is, because it is presented as a comedy. Therefore, we're allowed to laugh at how silly it is that the villain is a murderous octopus with tentacles that creep in through doorways. And it is okay to laugh at the exaggerated plights of the characters and their overzealous performances. And we're expected to giggle at the constant twists and turns that often make no sense.

So why do I rate this movie so highly? Simply for the amount of fun I had watching it! It is packed with hilarious bits, by two comics who are generally relegated to being the 2nd or 3rd banana. Now, they're the leads, and they pull it off quite nicely. Jenkins is a great blend of comic and straight-man. He's too stupid to be taken seriously, but he is tame compared to his partner. Herbert, who often rubs people the wrong way with his giddiness, contributes nicely to the show.