O Jacaré Humano

This 1959 Fox picture was actually filmed in Cinemascope; I've never seen it that way. The television and video version are severely cropped from aspect ratio 2.35:1 to 1.33:1 - you're missing almost half the picture. I'm sure they will correct this if it ever comes to DVD. We need see the expansive mansion and exotic swampland locales in their entirety, as well as the giddy climax of the alligator man's LONG, horizontal snout. Top-billed Beverly Garland (here a brunette) is very good as a woman seeking her missing fiance, now holed up in a mansion with a doctor (George MacCready) who's trying to cure him (he was in an accident) with reptilian serum. The man's domineering mother (Frieda Inescort) also resides, protecting and hiding her son from all, including Garland. Lon Chaney is superb as a drunken, one-handed hunter who detests alligators. The music is also eerie and effective. However, the film's plotline begins to fizzle out, with the fiance escaping from the laboratory and not doing much and the film sinks, like quicksand.

This typical "drive-in" flick of the late 50s is actually fairly complicated that gets very interesting in the last 45 minutes. "Starring" the totally under-appreciated Beverly Garland (a scream queen of the 50s) and Tuesday Weld's mom in PRETTY POISON in the 60s, this sly "gator" tale is walked through Cajun swamps into unknown realms where George MacReady and Lon Chaney, Jr. live every day. Thankfully, Ms. Garland (beautiful, talented, and finally on the color MY THREE SONS episodes) is SO believable in her character's plight about her husband's "condition" ..you're sucked it.

Best performance - Ms. Garland. A 7 out of 10. The husband (who looks the same to me ..even when he's "afllicted" is good), but the Mom, the servants, the HOUSE. It has all the ingredients that make "B" movies fascinating with a lot of help from Beverly Garland playing a lead Chara ..along with Bruce Bennett and various types. Recommended for it's breed of cat.

You have to like a movie that offers the heroine (Beverly Garland in this case) running through a swamp during a rainstorm wearing high heels. Okay, to be fair watch this scene carefully and you will notice her heels change into sneakers in the long shots. Anyway, this very unusual plot offers a scientist (George Macready who was the villain in the 1945 Columbia serial THE MONSTER AND THE APE) who believes he can help crippled people to grow new limbs by injecting them with serum from alligator glands. Guess what happens. Richard Crane (from TV's "Rocky Jones, Space Ranger")is a war hero who was literally blown apart but who healed overnight thanks to the serum but something goes wrong and he start mutating into a . . .but then you saw the title of the movie didn't you? His new bride (Beverly) follows him to the forboding bayou mansion where his mother lives (Freida Inescourt from RETURN OF THE VAMPIRE, 1944) and soon uncovers the truth about the bizarre experiments. She tries to tell hubby that she will stand by him no matter what but that's kinda hard when every day he looks more and more like a 'gator. Also around to complicate things is Lon Chaney Jr as Mannon, a drunken Cajun (without a French accent) who hates alligators. Lon wears a hook on his left hand that he is constantly adjusting on camera. he also shoots at some (real) alligators from all of 10 feet away and misses! Sure the premise is silly, but if injecting a person with alligator glands can turn them into a gator remember that George Zucco created a werewolf by injecting a man with wolf blood in THE MAD MONSTER (1944). If THE ALLIGATOR PEOPLE had been made 15 years earlier I'll bet it would have come out of Monogram or PRC. Give it a try, you just might find yourself having fun.

This movie is definitely above average for a sixty year old horror flick. It actually has a plot that makes sense and isn't full of holes. That's rare for the genre. It does have some dumb moments. Like Lon Chaney shooting at alligators that are about ten feet away and constantly missing them. He screams to them that he will never stop killing alligators but he couldn't hit the broad side of a barn. Of course when it's dark outside it's actually brighter than the day time, that's never cool. The woman "stumbles" through the "dark" swamp, easily avoiding and stepping over everything except the alligators. That's a bit lame too. The alligators appear to be real but they never try to attack anyone so I don't know. Other than those dumb parts, it's not too bad. Give it a shot.