La venganza del monstruo

OK, so it's about a human brain transplanted into an ape's body -- it's still a unique, original and stylish film. Director Stuart Heisler treats it all very seriously and the cast does a great job. It's beautifully shot and lit -- and there's even a sub-plot about white slavery and prostitution that's shocking for the time. A first-rate job by all concerned.

This Paramount film has the kind of outlandish plot often found in minor studio cheapies of the same period: Phillip Terry's sister (Ellen Drew) foolishly falls for a gangster and ends up sold into "white slavery." Her brother tries to rescue her but ends up getting framed for murder by the mobsters. Convicted and sent to die in the electric chair, his body ends up stolen by mad scientist George Zucco, who puts his brain in the body of a gorilla. The gorilla now with Phillip Terrys brain, escapes and proceeds to kill off the mobsters one by one. Along the way his dog instinctively knows the gorilla is his (hers?) old master and tags along on his murderous rampage of vengeance. If one view this film ignoring the outlandish plot, this actually a very well made film with good Paramount production values, good stylish direction by Stuart Heisler, good atmospheric photography, and good performances by most of the films cast. Charlie Gemora's gorilla costume is more realistic looking than the cheesy moth eaten suits worn by George Barrows or Ray Corrigan in minor studio pictures. Also Gemora manages express real feelings and emotions underneath that gorilla suit. Also Gemora's gorilla actually walks and gestures like a real gorilla. THE MONSTER AND THE GIRL is an incredible film and is recommend if you are looking for something really outlandish but not trashy.

This one's weird in the best way. Starts off like some kind of urban drama about a small town girl (Ellen Drew) who comes to the big city and, as often happens in films, finds herself forced into prostitution. Her brother (Phillip Terry) comes to the city to rescue her and winds up framed for murder. This was all interesting enough but the movie really kicks into high gear when it becomes a horror movie as "mad" scientist George Zucco transplants Drew's brother's brain into the body of an ape. The ape brother then seeks revenge against the men who turned his sister into a hooker and framed him for murder.

Really good cast for this little B gem. George Zucco is always worth the price of admission but you also have Paul Lukas, Joseph Calleia, Robert Paige, Onslow Stevens, Marc Lawrence, and Gerald Mohr! Also Edward Van Sloan in an uncredited part as the warden. This is a pretty amazing lineup for a little-known B horror flick. The bad guys are so completely rotten you can't wait to see them get theirs from the killer ape. Speaking of killer apes, that's often a particularly anemic subgenre of horror. This one's exceptional of its kind. The ape suit is really good. Just compare it to "The Ape" or "The Ape Man," made from around the same time, and you'll see what I mean.

Seedy subject matter mixed with fun horror staples -- the mad scientist and the guy in an ape suit. Very cool stuff. If you're a fan of old school B horror and gangster pictures you should like this one a lot.

1940's THE MONSTER AND THE GIRL, not to be confused with Republic's 1944 THE LADY AND THE MONSTER, was a rare Paramount excursion into Universal horror territory. This was the studio that brought genre fans the 1931 DR. JEKYLL AND MR. HYDE, 1932's ISLAND OF LOST SOULS, 1933's MURDERS IN THE ZOO, 1939's DR. CYCLOPS, and 1940's THE MAD DOCTOR, all quite distinctive and respectable. Leonard Maltin's review praises the originality of the white slavery angle, depicting how poor Ellen Drew is lured into a life of prostitution, while her brother (Phillip Terry) is executed for a murder he didn't commit, donating his brain to Dr. Parry (the great George Zucco) to use in a surgical procedure that puts his mind in the body of a gorilla. Maltin dismisses the mad doctor stuff as clichéd, but the truth is, all the characters are strictly by the numbers; it's quite possible that if it consisted of one storyline over the other, the results would never be remembered today. Like Boris Karloff in Warners' 1936 THE WALKING DEAD, the vicious racketeers are marked for death from beyond the grave, and the second half of the film shows how the gorilla (Charles Gemora) manages to escape detection as it travels around town, executing all the gangsters with virtually no interference, aided by his faithful dog (!). This is not A BOY AND HIS DOG, and it really is better than it sounds, it's only disappointing in that little is made of Zucco's experiment, and his role is very small. Best of all is Charles Gemora's sensitive portrayal of a gorilla with a human mind, and it is excellent; it couldn't have been easy to act in such a costume, but it looks as good as any from old Hollywood, and is light years superior to Emil Van Horn's embarrassment in Bela Lugosi's THE APE MAN. A remarkable cast of familiar faces make this an easy watch, apart from the condescending Paul Lukas, whose accent was no match for Lugosi's (surely Bela would have been available). Look fast for unbilled Edward Van Sloan, veteran of FRANKENSTEIN and THE MUMMY, playing the prison warden who helps Zucco get the plot moving toward its inevitable climax (Zucco proved to be even busier than Lionel Atwill in that department).

This is one of those films that I was only familiar with up till now via a still in Alan Frank's 1977 exhaustive and entertaining chronicle of the genre, "Horror Films"; a belated Paramount genre entry that was most notable for its unusual mix of noir (the white slavery angle in the first half) and horror (the "gorilla on the loose" segment in the second). The atmosphere (courtesy of Oscar-winning cinematographer Victor Milner) is congenial to both styles but, being just 65 minutes in length, the film kind of crams everything in without giving the disparate elements a chance to breathe! The essential silliness of the plot – a wrongly executed man seeking revenge when revived in an ape's body – brings up several questions in a discriminating viewer like yours truly: how could he have known the addresses of the various culprits, having only been in town for just a few days, and how come the gorilla is never noticed moving about (but then this fault is also borne by Poe's "Murders In the Rue Morgue"!)?; incidentally, the devotion of the hero's pet mutt to its former master – even when reduced to its own, i.e. animal, level – is most poignant. Anyhow, the whole is quite redeemed by a decidedly remarkable cast of stalwarts from both genres: Ellen Drew from ISLE OF THE DEAD (1945), George Zucco as the obligatory mad scientist, Edward Van Sloan in an uncredited bit as a prison warden, Tom Dugan as wisecracking cop, and especially the rogues' gallery: Robert Paige from SON OF Dracula (1943), Paul Lukas as the suave head villain, our very own Joseph Calleia (in one of his rare genre appearances) as a pastor-cum-hit-man(!), Marc Lawrence, Gerald Mohr and Onslow Stevens! In conclusion, the film under review is not to be confused with the later (and superior) THE LADY AND THE MONSTER (1944) which, as it happened, I watched in quick succession myself.