L'homme-singe

This is a 1 point or a 10 point movie. 1 if you want to be sensible, but 10 if you love the Ed Wood or pre-Poe Roger Corman school of film. Terrible script, dreadful acting, poor lighting, and worse sound than a Caruso or Nellie Melba recording 40 years earlier.

Bela Lugosi does a poor ape imitation, and wears a very rough prototype of the mask Roddy McDowall wore in 'Planet of the Apes.' He monkeys about (sorry!) with one Emil Van Horn wearing a full gorilla suit - he looks exactly like the one (called Ethel) that Oliver Hardy ended up with when the circus went broke. (Stanley got the flea circus.) Lugosi & another scientist have been fiddling about with 'glands,' so when Lugosi decides to test it on himself... The only way to keep himself away from the furry side of life is to keep filling himself with human 'glands' from the recently deceased. He steps out into the night and orders 'Ethel' to murder people - it's 'The Murders In The Rue Morgue' all over again.

Hard to tell whether this was supposed to be funny or not - wisecracking journalists who annoy the editor by calling him 'chiefy,' brain-dead Irish policemen, bubbling retorts in the cellars of an old dark house etc. Clearly this was made when Lugosi's life was turning into a tragic horror story all of his own, and accepted any old rubbish to pay for the drugs and the booze.

One kind of wishes for Abbott & Costello or The Three Stooges to turn up, but no such luck. The star turn is the wonderfully named Miranda Urecal (almost born to appear in cheap horror films) who plays Lugosi's sister, screaming energetically or fainting at the drop of a coffin lid.

This isn't quite as funny as Ed Wood's stuff, but better than nothing now the hockey season's finished. The ending's quite amusing, and make sure you spot Charlie Hall (like Ethel, a left-over from the glory days of Laurel & Hardy) at the very start.

Ape Man, The (1943)

** 1/2 (out of 4)

No, this isn't Citizen Kane but it is a fairly entertaining Monogram flick that works in large part thanks to Bela Lugosi's performance. In the film Lugosi plays a scientist doing strange experiments and soon finds himself turning into an ape. Along with the help of another doctor he must try and find spinal fluid that can turn him back.

Without the benefit of Lugosi in the main role then this film would be pretty awful but with the great actor in the lead we at least get a fine performance and a fun one at that. If you think too hard about it you might get depressed but it is rather fun seeing Lugosi in the bad "ape wig", which covers most of his face and some of his body. The make up effects are rather lame and cheap but that just adds to the charm and fun nature of the film and Lugosi's performance. I'm sure the star knew he was working with junk but that didn't stop him from giving it his all and you can't help but respect him for that.

As for the rest of the film, the performances are rather bland, direction slight and the story is unoriginal to the max.

The Ape Man is a story about a mad doctor who has been experimenting with apes and has slowly turned himself into a kind of ape man through an injection of sorts. The details of the experiment as well as with the plot are often never stated or incredibly vague. To be certain, poor Bela wants spinal fluid for regressing the advancing stages of apeness, and he and his gorilla friend kill with this goal in mind. Bela lurches and swings his arms as the ape man. The movie was made by Monogram and is evidently cheaply made, but the film is entertaining as a Lugosi film. He is the important character and even though his dialogue and actions are highly doubtful given the circumstances, Bela comes off as a menacing mad man. I wish I could say something good about the rest of the cast. The gorilla is fake as can be, the male and female reporters whose lives are in peril at the film's climax have no acting savvy whatsoever. Bela's sister is rather good as is their doctor friend, but remember this film is a cheapie and looks it. Nonetheless I would recommend the die-hard classic horror fan to see it.

Decade of 40! It's the most suitable time for a horror b-movie , isn't it ? But how could this be successful ? Let's try the simple one – shot way! William Beuadine and Bela Lugosi , the lord of horror owns the first role. Well , Bela Lugosi acts a very bad scientist (a role that we've so many times , we loved it , we got used it in , but we never borrowed of it) Dr. James Brewster , who transforms Emil Van Horn (`Sleepy Lagoon') to Ape. Police Captain O' Brien is the role of the classical J. Farrell Mac Donald (who played in 294 movies . Of them we remember especially the `Trail Of Shadows' , F.W. Murnau's `Sunrise' , `Four Devils' , `Dangerous Female' , `Sporting Blood' and the `Phantom Killer') attends to catch Dr. James Brewster . Lugosi and Farrell Mac Donald surrounded of a wonderful cast , ideal for a b-movie , just like this one . Buise Currie (`Here Comes The Boogie Men') , Wallace Ford (Tod Browning's `Freaks' , `The Mummy's Hand' , `The Mummy's Tomb' , Alfred Hitchcock's `Spellbound') , Henry Hall (`The Ape') , Minerva Urecal (who was played again the first role with Bela Lugosi at the films `The Corpse Vanishes' and `Ghost On The Loose') , the classical Wheeler Oakman (who was played in 195 movies , from whom we chose the `Ghosts On The Loose' with Bela) , Jack Mulhall (who has not only played in 314 movies but is also the producer of Madame Spy) , Charles Jordan (Cat People) , Charlie Hall (who made some short roles in movies with Oliver Hardy and Stan Laurel). The offhand script that Karl Brawn (Phantom Killer) wrote with Barney D. Sarecky (The Phantom Killer) is exalted by the master of b-movies , William Beaudine . If you're not fans of this kind , you will have a good time , but if you are fans of b-movies , you shouldn't miss the `Ape Man'

This may not be the worst Lugosi film I've ever seen -- I've seen *The Gorilla* and *Bela Lugosi Meets a Brooklyn Gorilla* and *Mother Riley Meets the Vampire** -- but it may be the worst one that wasn't trying to be a comedy.

We begin with screaming newspaper headlines: SCIENTIST MISSING! Must have been a slow news day. Some reporters are waiting for the arrival of the missing man's sister from Europe by ship. (They ignore the fact that World War Two is going on, a fact which is confirmed later by the hero stating that the reason he isn't in the military is because he's 4-F.) A sort of goofy-looking guy is hanging around, edging the reporters on to talk to her. Keep your eye on this character, who keeps popping up for no reason, because he's the key to this movie's insane ending.

The sister (who is some sort of psychic or medium, a fact which has nothing at all to do with the story) meets the missing man's assistant, who soon gives us our absurd backstory. It seems the scientist gave himself injections of gorilla spinal fluid. (We are never told why.) As they arrive at the hiding place of the scientist (Lugosi), we see that he has been transformed into an APE MAN!

Well, he actually looks more like an Amish farmer with back pain. Lugosi's make-up consists of shaggy hair and beard. He conveys his simian nature by walking slightly bent over. We first see him locked up in the same cage as a gorilla (or a guy in a bad gorilla suit.) This is later explained when Lugosi says that sometimes he loses his human rationality and the animal side takes control. There is not the slightest evidence later in the film to confirm this. Lugosi continues to act like nothing more than the world's hairiest mad scientist.

It seems the cure for being an ape man is human spinal fluid. The only source, of course, is freshly killed humans, so Lugosi and the gorilla go on a killing spree. When he gets a shot of the spinal fluid, the only change is that he can walk upright. Don't expect any kind of transformation scene in this movie.

The heroes are a spunky reporter (the 4-F guy) and a photographer named Billie. Attempted comedy ensues when the reporter finds out that Billie is a woman. While all of this nonsense is going on, the goofy-looking guy is shown peeking into the window of Lugosi's hiding place. In the very last scene of the movie, the heroes confront the goofy-looking guy and find out his confounding identity.

This is probably one of the worst films with Lugosi in it where he is just unable to raise the overall rating.