Le Singe justicier

After the horror revival of the late thirties, Paramount decided to get in on the act with this rare excursion into "monster movies." But this is a weird hybrid, as if a film about a white slavery ring was in production and the powers that be decided to tear off the last half of the script and graft a ham-fisted (or banana-fisted) monster subplot onto it. It certainly makes for fascinating viewing, as long as you know what's coming. A tenuous similarity could be considered with 'From Dusk Til Dawn' wherein a story about two hostage-taking killers on the run suddenly switches gears half-way and becomes an outlandish vampire gore-a-thon. This 1941 release does have a resemblance to Karloff's 1939 'The Man They Could Not Hang' (Karloff a hanged scientist brought back to life with electricity proceeds to kill off the jurors that convicted him.) Nonetheless, this film's bifurcated storyline is almost delightful if only from the sheer crackpot audacity of trying to pull it off.

No need to recount the plot, it's simple enough. It's thirty minutes of trial and flashback to the white slavery set-up, then thirty minutes of Frankenstein-ian ape-crazed nonsense with a quick wrap up. The only hurdle to overcome is the amateur performance of Phillip Terry as the condemned man Webster. He drudges his way through as if told he was in a zombie movie, then behaves like a Stepford Wife in the flashback, then later does an over-the-top hysteria jag in his last scene. Inept. But he doesn't play the ape, thank goodness! That job is performed by Charles Gemora (who played the martian in 1953's 'War of The Worlds') and he does it subtly and effectively. Considering the highly-charged second half, it's too bad the writer and director didn't take advantage and really play up the tension and the murder scenes. Here's a case where a film could have run a little longer for a change. And thankfully the ape doesn't talk and Webster's sister (Ellen Drew) doesn't do that "I recognized him by his eyes" nonsense that it looks like it was heading for. There's also a terrific cast of familiar second-tier actor faces employed including Marc Lawrence, a young Rod Cameron, Joseph Calleia, Abner Biberman, Cliff Edwards and even Bud Jamison (Jamison familiar to Three Stooges fans). Granted the film's short running time doesn't give them much screen time (but oddly enough, the faceless unknowns Robert Paige, Terry and Drew get most of the camera-time). And one last enjoyable note is seeing George Zucco as the transplant doctor hovering throughout the film. In the first part of the film he is just hanging around, given little attention, as if waiting like the rest of us to get to the 'monster' part of the story. Then after he does his movie-changing brain transplant, he once again hangs around mostly in the background (at each murder scene), with no one really asking him why he's always there. It's all part of the oddness of this little curio.

Ellen Drew plays a woman tricked into prostitution by Robert Paige and a group of gangsters after leaving a small town for the lights and allure of the big city. Drew's brother comes to her rescue and is instead set up in a murder by the gang led by Paul Lukas. Phillip Terry(her brother) is given the death penalty for his innocence and is executed. Right now you must be thinking...is there a monster? Oh yes! Just before the execution takes place, scientist George Zucco asks Terry is he can have his brain after he is killed. Zucco receives Terry's consent and transplants the brain of Terry into a giant gorilla that will seek payback from the gang of thugs and the attorney that sent Terry to his death. This is certainly not your typical monster film from the 40's. It opens with Drew narrating and then we are immediately thrust into the courtroom. We see everything through the testimony of the witnesses. Very innovative, and well-done. The story gets ridiculous midway, but the director Stuart Heisler never for one moment takes the material as anything less than serious. This attitude really allows the film to work. The story also sheds light on what was at the time a very scandalous subject....prostitution. We are never told what actually happens in so many words with regards to Drew's shame, yet we know through subtle means. The gang is truly repulsive. Each of the actors in it are extremely good playing men with no souls. Gerald Mohr, Paige, Lukas, and Marc Lawrence(isn't he always playing a thug?) do very well also in their obvious demises to come. The rest of the acting in this film is pretty good too. Onslow Stevens has a small part as the prosecuting lawyer. And George Zucco is always a treat to watch. I never have seen him give a bad performance. And the ape?" Not bad...looks fairly realistic..I have seen far worse. A good all around film from Paramount. They sure don't make em like this anymore and ain't it a shame!

Monster and the Girl, The (1941)

** 1/2 (out of 4)

Strange but effective film from Paramount mixes the noir and horror genres. Mobsters frame an innocent man for murder but before his execution he swears vengeance on them all. After his death a scientist (George Zucco) experiments by putting the dead man's brain into the body of a gorilla who goes out for revenge. The biggest problem with this film is its short running time of 65-minutes, which isn't enough time for the two stories to work. We get a fast paced and fun movie but it could and should have been a lot more. This is certainly a very weird film that noir and horror fans should check out.

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).