Il fabbricante di mostri

I've seen The Monster Maker a couple of times and found it quite enjoyable, despite reading bad reviews about it.

A mad scientist falls in love with a pianist's daughter when he sees her at one of her dad's concerts. After he goes round to the scientist's home one night to tell him to stop sending her flowers, he knocks him out and injects him with a fluid that will give him a disease of the glands and turn him into a monster. He gradually turns over a period of time and goes back to this mad scientist after his doctor recommend him as he has a cure for this disease. Back at the scientist's home, the scientist straps him to a bed and will only give him a cure if his daughter agrees to marry him. The pianist's daughter's lover turns up and kills the mad scientist and the pianist is given the fluid that will cure him by the scientist's assistant and makes a full recovery.

In the mad scientist's laboratory, we get to see a pig that he has been experimenting on, a dog and, best of all, a gorilla (a man in a gorilla suit), which tries to kill the scientist's assistant.

There several familiar faces in the cast in this movie: J Carrol Naish (House of Frankenstein), Ralph Morgan (Night Monster) and Glenn Strange (House of Dracula). Also in the cast are Wanda McKay, Tala Birell and Terry Frost.

The Monster Maker is a must for all sci-fi/horror fans. Great fun.

Rating: 3 stars out of 5.

"A scientist has developed a serum which grotesquely distorts the victim's hands and heads. The scientist decides to use his serum on a concert pianist to extort money from him for the cure as well as take the man's daughter for a wife," according to the DVD sleeve's synopsis. J. Carrol Naish (as Dr. Igor Markoff) plays "The Monster Maker" in the low budget Bela Lugosi mode...

Mr. Naish's serum causes a real disorder, "acromegaly", which American Heritage defines as, "A chronic disease of adults marked by enlargement of the bones of the extremities, face, and jaw that is caused by overactivity of the pituitary gland." Ralph Morgan (as Anthony Lawrence) plays the afflicted man with some dignity. Pretty blonde Wanda McKay (as Patricia "Pat" Lawrence) is the daughter desired by mad scientist Naish; in early scenes, Ms. McKay and Naish emote hilariously...

Watch for Tala Birell (as Maxine) in a surprisingly good supporting performance; she plays the somewhat Garbo-like, and long suffering, assistant to Naish. Ms. Birell definitely steals the film; and, you've got to question Dr. Markoff's sanity in casting her aside. Glenn Strange (as Steve) and a crazed gorilla (Ray Corrigan) add to the fun. The monster makeup (Maurice Seiderman) is very good.

****** The Monster Maker (4/15/44) Sam Newfield ~ J. Carrol Naish, Ralph Morgan, Tala Birell, Wanda McKay

PRC poverty row horror The Monster Maker stars J. Carrol Naish as boo-hiss mad scientist Dr. Igor Markoff, an expert in glandular disorders. When Markoff sees Patricia (Wanda McKay), beautiful daughter of concert pianist Lawrence (Ralph Morgan), at a recital, he is struck by her resemblance to his dead wife and becomes obsessed, vowing to marry her. Lawrence goes to see Markoff to warn him not to continue pestering his daughter, but winds up in a scuffle and being injected with a serum that causes acromegaly, a disease that results in enlargement of the extremities. Markoff tells Lawrence that he can cure his condition, but only if he persuades Patricia to be - how shall we put it? - more co-operative.

I've only seen two of director Sam Newfield's 200+ films before this one-The Flying Serpent and White Pongo-and they were both terrible. The Monster Maker is surprisingly watchable by comparison, a fun potboiler with solid performances from a decent cast, some nifty 'monster' make-up, and a snappy runtime of just 62 minutes, meaning that it's too short for boredom to set in. There's not a lot in the way of genuine horror, since Lawrence-the monster-is sympathetic and kind-natured, but there is plenty to enjoy here, including a killer gorilla of the man-in-a-monkey-suit variety, an appearance by Glenn 'Frankenstein's monster' Strange as Markoff's henchman Steve, and a brave hound played by none other than Ace the Wonder Dog!

This is one of those films that's entertaining for its sheer audacity. It also has an unusually interesting cast for a small-studio B-picture. J. Carroll Naish (as the evil Dr. Markoff) and Ralph Morgan (as victim Anthony Lawrence) were veteran character actors who were always worth watching, and Glenn Strange (as Steve, Markoff's giant-size henchman) would be promoted that same year to playing the Frankenstein Monster in the first of three films for Universal.

This professional cast tries to lend believability to several ludicrous situations. At one point Markoff attempts to put his nervous female assistant under a Svengali-like hypnotic influence; when this fails, Markoff turns loose his pet gorilla (!) in the hope that the beast will kill the beauty, though all it does is overturn a table.

Some critics have found this film particularly distasteful since it deals with acromegaly, an actual disfiguring disease (see the bio for actor Rondo Hatton elsewhere on this data base). And the sight of the malformed Mr. Lawrence (when his daughter suddenly enters a darkened room) is certainly an unforgettable jolt.

Sam Newfield had several parts in his long career: first part, the thirties, mostly grade Z westerns, all of them forgettable, with the exception of TERROR OF TINY TOWN; then he made horror films in the forties, his most interesting part for the movie buffs, little cult movies such as MONSTER MAKER, MAD MONSTER, NABONGA, DEAD MEN WALK, BLACK RAVEN, FLYING SERPENT. All very interesting cheap productions but very agreeable to watch, very well made for such a prolific grade Z director, the most famous, regarding of the quantity which most of the time neglected quality. But not here, as were MAD MONSTER and so on. Even some of his latest westerns, helped by bigger budgets, were worth the watch. Here J Caroll Naish is excellent as the mad scientist, better than a Bela Lugosi or a George Zucco. Sam Newfield also made good little crime films, don't forget it.