Il dottor Cyclops

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.

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")

Partially sighted molecular biologist Dr. Alexander Thorkel (Albert Dekker) invites a team of fellow scientists to help him with his work at his laboratory deep in the Amazon jungle; within hours of their arrival, the problem that Thorkel has been struggling with has been resolved, and the surprised boffins are immediately given their marching orders, none the wiser about the precise nature of their ungrateful host's experiments.

Eager to learn more, the curious group sneaks into Thorkel's room to take a peek at his notes, but discover more than they bargained for when they become the guinea pigs in the secretive genius's next experiment: bundled into a room, they are exposed to a heavy dose of radiation that reduces them to a fraction of their original size.

Directed by Ernest B. Schoedsack, one of the team responsible for bringing King Kong to the screen in 1933, Dr. Cyclops is a fairly routine mad-scientist sci-fi/horror potboiler, but one that benefits immensely from a incredible array of groundbreaking special effects and sumptuous Technicolor photography. Technically, this film is way ahead of its time, looking more like a product of the mid 1950s than the early 40s, and for this reason alone it should be a priority for all fans of fantastic cinema.

Utilising a combination of careful camera placement (low shots to make Thorkel appear huge; high shots to make his victims appear small), detailed over-sized sets and props, rear projection, split screen and mattes, Schoedsack and his effects team create scene after scene of memorable movie magic. Take into account that this movie is now over 70 years old and it cannot fail to impress.

On the downside, the score is extremely heavy handed and some of the performances are less than stellar (Dekker is excellent, but the exaggerated mannerisms adopted by the pint-sized profs are embarrassingly trite). Thankfully, these are minor quibbles when measured against the film's massive technical accomplishments and the film remains a consistently entertaining experience nonetheless.

7.5 out 10, rounded up to 8 for the sight of yummy egghead Dr. Mary Robinson (Janice Logan) in her sexy makeshift toga: she might be reduced to a foot in height, but she's certainly no shrinking violet.

Albert Dekker plays the quietly insane mad scientist who makes one of the greatest discoveries in the history of mankind- how to shrink people. Unfortunately, a group of busy bodies stumble across his secret and can only see the commercial value of his huge radium deposit. What's a mad scientist to do? Shrink them, of course. Dekker is great as the amoral technocrat who sees his tormenters as nothing more than throw away subjects for his research. Nice, quiet, solid film with an undercurrent of evil personified by the sadistic Cyclops.

It never fails to amaze me when people make short, thoughtless comparisons between the films of yesterday and the films of today. Good films transcend time, regardless of what technical achievements have since been invented, and Dr. Cyclops is just that...a good film. Sure it has outmoded special effects, but those special effects were once highly praised for their uniqueness and creativity. Those special effects were a springboard to other achievements in that technical area. Let's give credit where credit is due and praise this film not for having outmoded effects BUT for having special effects which revolutionized film effects. Enough sermonizing...I know how little good it does. This film tells the story of a mad, a very mad scientist that has discovered the ability to miniaturize things, animals, and even people. Albert Dekker plays easily his finest role as the demented Dr. Cyclops with a real bad sight problem. Dekker's performance is not like your typical raving madman(aka a Lugosi or even early Karloff performance) but more of a subdued evil and obsessive nature. The other actors are adequate and the special effects are wonderful. The film has a good story and I loved the obvious allusion to the mythological Polyphemus, a giant with all the advantages taken "down" by a small, yet brilliant man. This is a thoughtful, interesting, and fun film. Definitely keep more than one eye open when viewing this film!