Dr. Cyclops

This is a peculiar film to have come out of any studio in 1940, much less the stylish Paramount. Since the same year saw the equally bizarre Hal Roach production, One Million, B.C., it might not be unreasonable to assume that there was either something in the water that made them do it or else the studio chiefs were smoking weed that year. Produced and directed by the King Kong team of Merian Cooper and Ernest Schoedsack, Dr. Cyclops is a far cry from their earlier, vastly superior work, yet it's still worth seeing. The jungle, probably a backlot job, is marvelously rendered, and the Technicolor photography is as beautiful as any I've seen. There's a vividness to the color that makes it jump out at you that's almost psychedelic.

This is basically a mad scientist tale with a gimmick, which is the eponymous doctor's ability to shrink people to the size of elves. Much of the action revolves around the little people's attempts to elude the mad doctor and escape from his jungle laboratory. The movie feels more like a product of the fifties than the early forties, as this theme would be returned to again in later science fiction. It's also a tough movie to categorize, as it's not quite horror or pure sci-fi. Like Kong Kong, it's an action movie and technical tour de force that takes quite a few liberties with nature.

As an oddball experiment the movie works, up to a point, though it could have used more humor and irony; and the pace is less than thrilling. It's hard to pull this sort off of story on a good day, as the improbable material needs all the help it can get. Alas, aside from the stunning color and imaginative sets, it doesn't get much here. Most of the actors in the film are unknowns and would remain unknown, though prissy character actor Charles Halton has a decent role as one of the "shrunken", which he plays well. The most impressive performer is also the lead player, Albert Dekker, whose life and movie career were almost as strange as this film. He is both believable and intimidating as the mad doctor, and gives the movie a touch of class.

After killing his assistant Dr. Mendoza (Paul Fix), the insane Dr. Thorkel (Albert Dekker) summons the biologists Dr. Bulfinch (Charles Halton) and Dr. Mary Robinson (Janice Logan) to meet him in a remote area in the jungle of Peru. They travel with the mineralogist Bill Stockton (Thomas Coley) in mules owned by Steve Baker (Victor Kilian) that insists to go with them. After the long journey, Dr. Thorkel asks them to help him to identify a sample in a microscope and after receiving the answer, he thanks the support of his colleagues and say farewell to them. They decide to stay and find that there is a uranium mine in the spot. Further, they break in Thorkel´s laboratory to snoop into his research. Thorkel lures the group and locks them and his servant Pedro (Frank Yaconelli) in a room with an apparatus developed by him. He activates the device and shrinks the group that flees from him. Now Dr. Thorkel hunts them down.

"Dr. Cyclops" is a 1940 horror film with impressive special effects and sets. The story of a mad scientist that shrinks people when he feels threatened by them is funny. However the screenplay and edition have many flaws, such as the color of the miniature people clothes that change from white to different colors. The famous Dr. Bulfinch and Pedro are murdered by Dr. Thorkel but everybody seems to have forgotten in the end. My vote is seven.

Title (Brazil): "O Delírio de um Sábio" ("The Delirium of a Wise")

ALBERT DEKKER is the crazed DR. CYCLOPS who wants to protect his radium discovery by miniaturizing scientists who want to take advantage of his pet project. What's odd is that material that would ordinarily be found in a B-film, with a cast of unknowns aside from Dekker, was turned into a Technicolor A feature by Paramount, with its marvelous special effects (quaint by today's standards) even nominated for Best Special Effects.

Escape from Dr. Cyclops becomes the theme of the film once he has successfully miniaturized the frightened team of scientists. ALBERT DEKKER is fine in the title role.

And, thankfully, as weird as it sounds on paper, it turns out to be not only original, but an entertaining little film that enables any lover of sci-fi to enjoy its tale of a desperate attempt at escape in the Peruvian jungle as they try to elude the clutches of Dr. Cyclops.

Fun to watch--and fun to marvel at--considering it was done in the early '40s without the aid of today's over-used CGI.

"Dr. Cyclops" was an unusual horror film for its time. It did not use any major stars and was shot in glorious technicolor (unheard of for a film of this type). The plot is a typical "B" movie plot but the special effects and the color photography are what really sets this film apart.

The story involves "Mad Scientist" Dr. Thorkel (Albert Dekker) who summons three scientists (Thomas Coley, Janice Logan, Charles Halton) to his remote South American laboratory to seek their advice on his secret project. Along the way they are forced to bring muleskinner (Victor Kilian) along.

It turns out that the evil doctor has discovered the secret of miniaturization. To prevent them from cashing in on his discovery Thorkel shrinks the three scientists, the muleskinner and nosey local Pedro (Frank Yaconelli) to miniscule size. The rest of the film chronicles their efforts to escape.

The real star of the film are its special effects. Accomplished through a combination of split-screen, rear projection, miniatures and over sized props, the effects are quite convincing for the time. One shot I thought was quite well done was a scene where the evil doctor picks up one of his victims in his hand.

Because most of the budget was spent on color and effects, the quality of the acting suffers. Dekker does OK as the title character (a name given him by his victims because of his failing eyesight). The others are just barely adequate. Veteran Paul Fix, who could have raised the acting up a level, appeared briefly in the opening reel as Thorkel's sceptical assistant.

I had watched this as a kid on a now-defunct Sicilian TV channel, but it seems to have vanished off the face of the Earth in the interim – that is, until the recent DVD release from Universal as part of their second "Sci-Fi Collection". The film was yet another infrequent genre entry from Paramount – after 1931's DR. JEKYLL AND MR. HYDE and the trio from 1933 ISLAND OF LOST SOULS, MURDERS IN THE ZOO and SUPERNATURAL; interestingly, it was a Technicolor production – the first to be shot in this process after Warners' two earlier experiments DOCTOR X (1932) and MYSTERY OF THE WAX MUSEUM (1933). Plot-wise, DR. CYCLOPS was a variation on the "shrinking" theme explored in MGM's THE DEVIL-DOLL (1936) – which proved quite popular over the years, as can be attested by the likes of THE INCREDIBLE SHRINKING MAN (1957), ATTACK OF THE PUPPET PEOPLE (1958), CURSE OF THE DOLL PEOPLE (1961), etc. The titular character – for which underrated character actor Albert Dekker is probably best-remembered and his most notable genre contribution alongside the dual role in AMONG THE LIVING (1941) – would, of course, fit in with the era's virtually interminable parade of mad scientists; though, typically, he means well by his experiments, his approach to science (and his fellow man) is utterly ruthless. Working in seclusion but deterred by his failing sight, he invites three eminent colleagues to confirm his findings without actually divulging the nature of his experiments; when they begin to get curious and decide to stick around, he does not shrink {sic} at the prospect of using them for guinea pigs! Soon enough, they are fighting for their lives – and not just from the wily doctor, as everyday objects become inaccessible (a door-knob) or otherwise take menacing proportions (a cat)!; on the other hand, they take advantage both of their current dimension (hiding in places where Dekker cannot get at them) and the doctor's own physical drawback (breaking the spare sets of lenses, kept handy in a drawer, while he is sleeping). Interestingly, the shrinking process eventually halts and the subjects start reverting to normal size – which is how the heroes, having gotten rid of "Cyclops" in the very well where he stores his all-important ray-gun, are able to return to civilization after several months of 'convalescence'. The handsome-looking film, an entertaining and efficient 76 minutes, makes for a worthy addition to director Schoedsack's genre resume' (which includes seminal titles like THE MOST DANGEROUS GAME {1932} and KING KONG {1933}, notable ones like SHE {1935} and MIGHTY JOE YOUNG {1949}, not to mention the lesser but endearing SON OF KONG {1933}).