La femme gorille

Mad scientist Dr. Walters steals a tame gorilla named Cheela from animal trainer Fred Mason for use in his experiments. Through the use of sex hormones (!) and a brain transplant, Dr Walters turns Cheela into a beautiful woman whom he names Paula Dupree. When Walters brings Paula to the circus where Fred works, it is discovered that Paula has a hypnotic power over animals, and Fred uses her in his animal act. Paula becomes attracted to Fred, but she goes ape (literally) when she discovers Fred is engaged to Beth Coleman.

CAPTIVE WILD WOMAN has an unjustified bad reputation among fans of the classic Universal horror films. Because the film spawned two poor sequels, this pretty good programmer shocker is often unfairly maligned. The film has good performances from Evelyn Ankers, Milburn Stone and especially John Carradine. John Carradine plays the mad scientist Dr. Walters with a cool icy demeanor. Its a surprisingly low key performance from Carradine. Acquanetta is perfect as the beautiful woman whom Dr. Walters creates from an ape. She projects a perfect exotic animal sensuality. Of course her role here is helped by the fact she does not utter a single line of dialog. Acquanetta was a fine looking woman, but she was never much of an actress. Edward Dmytrk handles the director chores well, the film is well paced and moves along at brisk 61 mins. One shudders to think what would the film would have been like if the studio brass handed the directorial chores to one of studio's standard hacks.

One problem with the film is inserting animal training sequences with Clyde Beatty from an old Universal film, THE BIG CAGE. While Stone resembles Beatty, some of these scenes are poorly inserted. In one scene we see Beatty in the cage with the lions and tigers. Then we see Stone enter the cage! The editor should of most certainly have caught this. To make matters worse, the same error turns up again when the studio used the same footage in the films sequel, JUNGLE WOMAN.

While CAPTIVE WILD WOMAN certainly doesn't rank among the classic the Universal horror films, its not a bad little saturday double bill shocker. However, the premise was only good for one film. The films two sequels were not warranted. I can't believe Universal actually thought Paula the Ape Woman was a potential classic monster like Dracula, The Wolfman, The Mummy and the Frankenstein Monster. They should have quit while they were ahead.

Typical 1940's Universal monster film. It is enjoyable and is a nice way to spend an hour. The cinematography, when they show the sanitarium, is spooky looking. Now that I think of it, it looks like the same mansion that was used in "Munster, Go Home". Could have been, as both of these films were filmed at Universal!! I liked this film, but then I like all of those Universal monster films.

...in this ludicrous horror tale from Universal and its unlikely director Edward Dmytryk. Among the animals that trainer Fred Mason (Milburn Stone) returns with from Africa is a gorilla with human traits who is also very affectionate. "Brilliant" scientist Dr. Sigmund Walters (John Carradine) conducts glandular experiments on this gorilla and transforms it into a human woman who he names Paula Dupree (Acquanetta). Paula shows a talent for working with animals, so she gets a job as part of the animal taming act of Fred Mason. However, when Paula becomes jealous of Fred's romance with Beth (Evelyn Ankers), it causes her animal side to reemerge. Complications ensue.

I'd seen this once when I was a kid, but decided to rewatch it, and I didn't remember much from it. Carradine is good as the mad doctor, resisting the urge to play it too big. I hadn't recalled Milburn Stone being the hero in this, but I read that he was cast due to his similar build to noted animal tamer Clyde Beatty, whose earlier film The Big Cage provided much stock footage. This movie spends a bit too much time with the animal circus act, and not nearly enough with Carradine's crazy experiments, or with the transformed Paula.

I watched the films in the wrong order, though it hardly seemed to matter as the second film, "Jungle Woman" isn't exactly a sequel as so much of the story has been changed. Instead of being the product of a truly evil scientist (John Carradine), the ape is transformed into a hot woman by a nice scientist and there's also no mention of the story in "Captive Wild Woman". Odd...but this sort of thing was not unusual in Universal's horror films of the 1940s...they often contradicted each other.

A lady has a sister with some odd glandular disorder...so she takes him to Dr. Walters (Carradine). Little do they know that the nice scientist is actually completely evil and plans on experimenting on the sick sister. He plans on using her body to help turn an ape he stole become human-looking...all thanks to the miracle of glands. Along the way, his stupid assistant* gets in the way, so he sacrifices her...all in the name of scientist.

The new creation Walter dubs 'Paula Dupree' and she soon becomes the assistant to Fred the lion and tiger tamer. This is because Paula can hypnotize animals to do her bidding just by staring at them...and staring is what Acquanetta was REALLY good at doing throughout this film. Apart from a little tantrum and sequence where she looks a bit like a cheap wolfman, she really isn't given much to do other than stare. And, this staring she-freak is in love with Fred...but without a conscience, there's no telling WHAT she'll do!

This is not a terrible film but is about what you'd expect from a second-tier Universal horror movie. It entertains (particularly because of Carradine's cool performance as the goofy doc!) and is pretty much what fans of the genre will enjoy. It's also just a bit better than its sequel.

By the way, the exotic looking Acquanetta was actually originally Mildred Davenport...from Wyoming! So, despite the press releases from Universal, she was NOT the Venezuelan Volcano!

Scientist and surgeon John Carradine, having worked miracles in the area of glandular research, now wants to change a stolen gorilla into a woman - why? We really never understand his motivation, but what we do get in Captive Wild Woman is a pretty entertaining ride that one can learn to expect from Universal Studios. Ferocious lions and tigers, a fairly good imitation of a gorilla, John Carradine hamming it up, Milburn Stone reminding me of Gunsmoke every minute he is on film, Evelyn Ankers wearing outfits that only Auntie Mame would wear, and the beautiful, silent Acquanetta all make this a very unique and welcomed addition to the Universal pantheon of horror goodies. Though not a great film, this one packs a punch for a 61 minute film. Never a dull lull in the action. Carradine plays a very suave, polished doctor that is utterly crazy, mad, and heartless. It is a pretty good performance from Mr. Carradine. The rest of the cast is very able. Ankers and the silent girl transformed from ape - Acquanetta - are appealing eye candy as well. A couple quick notations. Ms. Ankers is a secretary, yet has a wardrobe of a wealthy socialite. She apparently lives in a boarding house, as in one scene she is in a bed witnessing the ape woman coming into her room by the window - a landlady type comes to the door way across the other side of the room. The landlady yells and runs and the ape woman, rather than killing her intended victim inches away from her - runs way across the other side of the room and down the hallway to kill a woman for no reason. Hmmm. Despite these little observations, a highly recommended film. Hope this one comes out on DVD soon.