The Jungle Captive

"The Jungle Captive" is the third woman starring the Ape-woman, which is tough to imagine since the Ape-woman was killed at the end of the previous film, "Jungle Woman"! While this seems impossible, it turns out a mad scientist (Otto Kruger...andis there any other type in these films?!) has had his henchman, Moloch (Rondo Hatton) steal the corpse. What's he planning on doing with the corpse? Reviving it, of course...and if it means using another woman's blood and even brain, so be it...all in the name of science! Can the police find her in time before it's too late?

Like all the horror movies of this time period, this isn't exactly a candidate for The Criterion Collection! But, despite being low-brow and silly, it IS entertaining. The film also has a few pluses...Kruger is excellent as the nutty scientist and it's nice to see cops who are NOT idiots (which is the usual cliche in thes movies). Worth seeing if you like the genre.

The Jungle Captive (1946)

** (out of 4)

A mad doctor (Otto Kruger) has his assistant (Rondo Hatton) steal the body of Paula the Ape Woman (Vicky Lane) so that he can do experiments on her. This includes stealing another woman (Amelita Ward) for a blood transfusion to see if the ape woman can be cured.

THE JUNGLE CAPTIVE is the third and final film of Universal's trilogy dealing with Paula the Ape Woman. You have to think that the studio had rather low expectations going into the series and I'm going to guess that CAPTIVE WILD WOMAN didn't do a well at the box office, which caused the studio to really cut back on the second film, JUNGLE WOMAN, which was perhaps the studio's laziest movie. THE JUNGLE CAPTIVE is certainly a step up from that picture but it's still not all that good.

The best thing going for this film is the fact that they've actually got the ape woman running around quite a bit of the running time. It was great getting to see her since the make-up on her is actually excellent and having her appear in the film is reason enough alone to enjoy this more than the second film. Another plus is the fact that Hatton is so watchable here. I can't help but feel sorry for him and the fact that Universal was pretty much exploiting his disease but at the same time he has become a cult favorite over the years.

As far as the film's issues go, well, there are quite a few but the biggest is the simple fact that the story itself really isn't all that original and it's certainly something we've seen countless times before. Still, if you're a fan of the studio then there's enough good things here to make this worth watching.

The third in Universal's dismal Ape Woman series. Perhaps it is a step up from the awful second movie, Jungle Woman, but it's nothing to write home about on its own. This one has mad scientist Otto Kruger trying to bring the Ape Woman back to life, even at the expense of his pretty female lab assistant. Excitement most definitely does not follow.

Kruger's always fun to watch but he gets little help here. The Ape Woman is now played by Vicky Lane, replacing the attractive but talentless Acquanetta. Ms. Lane spends about half of the movie comatose. When she does wake up, there's only one brief scene with the monster makeup on. Undoubtedly most monster fans will be disappointed at how little "ape" there is in an Ape Woman movie. The makeup used is pretty cool, however. It looks similar to the later makeup used on Michael J. Fox in Teen Wolf. Rondo Hatton gets one of his better roles here as Kruger's henchman Moloch. He's still a terrible actor but the part is less exploitative than some of his other roles. Jerome Cowan plays the police inspector investigating it all and has a couple of amusing moments. The tacked-on romance between Don Young and Amelita Ward (the future Mrs. Leo Gorcey) is nauseating but thankfully they're separated for most of the film.

Despite the short runtime, the movie is padded with pointless little scenes that appear to be designed solely to fill five minutes here and there. It's one of those movies that probably should have been over in twenty or thirty minutes. If you're a Universal completist, give it a look. For everyone else, it depends on how valuable your time is. I doubt this is going to become anyone's favorite.

Third and last entry in the series, deemed the worst (rated BOMB in the "Leonard Maltin Film Guide") but actually slightly superior to its predecessor due, for one thing, to its having a proper plot line (rather than a rehashed one) and the fact that the mad scientist (even if he is stubbornly referred to as "Mr." Stendhal throughout!) this time around is just that. Indeed, here too, the mainstay (apart, that is, from the standard 'house style' for this type of fare) is Otto Kruger's central performance (the Ape Woman herself, now played by Vicki Lane instead of Acquanetta and reverting once more to being a mute, is certainly not the protagonist in this case!).

Kruger is involved in the revivification of small animals but is keen to progress on to larger ones – with his ultimate goal, of course, being Man himself; since the title creature (a convenient and somewhat lazy amalgam of the earlier 'episodes' in the franchise) is a hybrid, he knows he will be almost there if he manages to resuscitate her. The problem is that, once she has assumed human form yet again (having made imposing henchman Rondo Hatton steal the necessary files from the home of the doctor played by J. Carroll Naish in JUNGLE WOMAN {1944}, the process having actually been laid down by John Carradine in CAPTIVE WILD WOMAN {1943} – neither of these actors, however, put in 'unofficial' appearance and, thankfully, we are also spared the circus stock footage that made-up a sizable amount of the earlier films' running-time), it is discovered that she has suffered brain damage and he plans to replace it with that of his own female aide. Why the doctor, certainly among the coldest of his ilk, does not simply abduct another girl, when he would invariably have benefited from the heroine's presence by his side rather than as a laboratory subject, is anybody's guess…but, then, the latter is vehemently against her superior's intention to play God so, in this way, he would be removing the threat to his Great Experiment, were it not for the fact that, through Hatton's sloppiness, the Police – in the guise of a bemused Jerome Cowan – are already on his trail, and so is the girl's fiancé, yet another assistant!

The busy finale has hero and heroine taking advantage of the Ape Woman's disappearance to escape Kruger and Hatton's clutches, only for the three to be recaptured after a short while in one fell swoop. Needless to say, however, the villain is not allowed to go through with the operation as Hatton, enamored of the leading lady (which Kruger puts down by referring to his "hardly Casanova" looks, the actor having been stricken with the deforming affliction acromegaly, and to add salt to the wound suggests that the Jungle Captive is "more in your line"!), turns on Stendhal at the instigation of the girl's boyfriend. The doctor shoots his thug dead, Lane metamorphoses into monster and cuts free of her straps and, just as she is about to incongruously attack her 'donor', Cowan appears on the premises to intervene. For the record, director Young, who had the classic swashbuckler THE SCARLET PIMPERNEL (1934), an Alexander Korda production, on his resume' was now reduced, for whatever reason, to helming the lowliest of Universal Horrors – though, to be fair, he sure made an entertaining job of it!

***S{POILERS*** Ape woman Paula Dupree, Vicky Lane, is back for the third time in "Jungle Captive" this time as a dead body that mad scientist Mr. Stendahl, Otto Kruger, plans to bring back to life. That with the help of blood and brain matter of his unsuspecting assistant Ann Forester, Amelita Ward, who foolishly worships the very ground that the "Great Man' walks on. It's with the help of his brutish like accomplish Moloch, Rondo Hatton, Stendahl plans to use Ann without her knowledge for his insane experiment but Moloch who took a shine to her is dead set against it. Strange Beauty and the Beast like movie with Moloch changing sides in mid stream and becoming the knight in shining armor in preventing the crazed Stendahl from doing his thing in resurrecting the dead ape woman Paula Dupree at Ann's expense.

There's also Ann's boyfriend Don Young, Phil Brown,who soon finds out what Stendahl is really up to and tries to get the police in the person of Insp. H.L Harrigan, Jerome Cowan, to stop him who's attempts comes up short in his by the book approach to the case. As for "Ape Woman" Paula Depree she's brought back to life as a normal human being but totally confused-and unable to talk- in what's going on around her. This leads to her checking out in the woods with Moloch running or driving all over town trying to retrieve her.

Predictable ending with Mr. Stendahl getting everything that he has coming to him with the hulking but sensitive Moloch saving the day as well as Anna's life at the expense of his own.With both Ann and Don Young, who can't afford to buy her an engagements ring, getting married by being stopped by a traffic cop who presented them with a $5.00 free of charge wedding certificate from city hall. Break out movie for Rondo Hatton who finally was given a chance to act as well as a few decent lines in the movie but his fame didn't last that long. Hatton suffered a fatal heart attack while taking a shower in his bathroom and died less then a year, in March 1946, after the films release.