Créateur de monstres

"The Monster Maker" was one of the better products produced by poverty row studio PRC in the 1940s. Directed by the "busiest director on poverty row", Sam Newfield, it benefits from the casting of veteran character actors J. Carroll Naish and Ralph Morgan in the leading roles.

Anthony Lawrence (Morgan) is a successful concert pianist whose daughter Patricia (Wanda McKay) just happens to resemble the deceased wife of Dr. Igor Markoff (Naish). Markoff sees Patricia, whom he vows to marry, while attending a Lawrence concert with his assistant Maxine (Tala Birtell), who of course is in love with him. The evil doctor has been working on a cure for the rare disease of acromeglia (I may have the spelling wrong), a dehabilitating disorder which causes extreme swelling of the feet, hands and face.

When Lawrence comes to see Markoff about his advances toward his daughter, Markoff knocks out the pianist and injects him with the aforementioned disease. Lawrence slowly develops the disease and takes on a grotesque appearance. This forces Patricia to come to the mad doctor for help.

Ralph Morgan's make up is very good for a "B" movie, in fact it was done by the same person (whose name escapes me) who "aged" Orson Welles in "Citizen Kane" (1941). Naish plays his mad scientist role with conviction and the under rated Morgan is excellent as the tragic Lawrence. Birell is better than her material as the scorned Maxine. McKay looks lovely as the heroine and Terry Frost has little to do as the token hero Bob Baker. Also in the cast is veteran heavy Glenn Strange as Naish's brutish assistant. There's also a gorilla and a faithful dog in the cast but they have little to do with the story.

One of the better "B" mad doctor films.

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 a fairly good entertaining film concerning a conceited mad scientist named Dr. Igor Markoff.

Dr. Igor falls for a woman named Patricia who resembles his dead wife. Patricia rejects the doctor's advances and enlists her father (Anthony) to help stop the doctor from coming on so strong to her. Dr. Igor insists that Patricia marries him and will stop at nothing for her to become his new bride. Surprisingly, the doctor is actually well respected in the medical community and hides his wicked ways well from others. Dr. Igor hides the fact he will inject his enemies with Acromegaly to get what he wants.

The movie is fun, a bit corny and has some fairly good horror moments in it. This is a good afternoon film - it's not the really good creepy horror film that is good for a late night viewing but it's fun to watch.

5/10

Considering the pedigree and title, the flick's not all that bad. In fact, it's well-mounted for it's type. There's good attention to set detail though lighting doesn't emphasize the dark mood. Seems poor Dr. Markoff is trying to find a cure for acromegaly which causes head and hand deformities that killed his beloved wife. Trouble is he needs a patient to research on. So he infects concert pianist Lawrence with the disease so he can both experiment with him and get next to the pianist's attractive daughter Patricia who strongly resembles his dead wife. Needless to say, complications ensue.

Except for the hokey gorilla sequences, the storyline manages to be fairly plausible for its kind. After all, Markoff is driven by understandable desires even though he victimizes Lawrence in the process. Naish is quite good as Markoff, along with Birell as his unrequited but loyal nurse Maxine. Together, they, rather than the good guys, establish the story's emotional center. Anyway, it's a better-than-average horror programmer from lowly PRC.

The evil Dr. Markoff (J. Carrol Naish), is a scientist experimenting with a cure for the rare disfiguring disease acromegaly (which cult actor Rondo Hatton, "The Brute Man" suffered from in real life). At a concert by pianist Anthony Lawrence (Ralph Morgan) he sees a beautiful girl who reminds him of his late wife. Backstage he discovers that she is Lawrence's daughter Patricia (Wanda McKay). He sets out to woo her, but after she spurns his advances he deliberately infects her father with acromegaly with the plan of forcing him to "give" his daughter to him in return for a cure. I really enjoyed this nasty b-grade thriller. It was obviously made on a tiny budget, the script is pretty dumb and the acting is variable, but I got a kick out of how twisted the central premise was, and Naish was extremely entertaining as Markoff. McKay's cute, future Frankenstein's monster Glenn Strange is one of the supporting cast, AND there's a guy in a gorilla suit, always a sign of a silly but fun movie in my book. 'The Monster Maker' is recommended to fans of old school "bad" b-grade horror movies.