Man Beast

It is almost impossible to discuss the 1956 yeti movie "Man Beast" without making comparisons to the British film "The Abominable Snowman," which came out the following year. While the latter film features the stars Peter Cushing and Forrest Tucker, "Man Beast" boasts the "talents" of Virginia Maynor (who acts atrociously and doesn't even provide the requisite eye candy) and action lead Tom Maruzzi. And while the Brit film boasts a literate script and interesting characters...well, let's just say that the American film again comes off second best. But perhaps the most telling difference of all is that whereas "Snowman" only teases us with occasional glimpses of the yetis, seemingly adhering to Val Lewton's unspoken credo that the viewer's imagination can supply far more terror than anything shown on a screen, "Man Beast" shoves the yetis in our faces again and again. Fortunately, for red-blooded monster fans, this is not altogether a bad thing. The snowmen do look pretty scary here, especially in the film's finest scene, in which the yetis attack our heroes for the first time, in a dark cave. This scene is filmed largely in silence, and in somewhat slow motion, and is pretty darn nightmarish. As reported in the fine book "Sleaze Creatures," stock footage and filming in the hills of Bishop, CA do a decent job of simulating the Himalayan locale. Still, at least half of the film's compact 63-minute running time consists of scenic shots of our band plodding through the snow. Bottom line: This is a fun hour at the movies, inferior to the Brit version as it may be. Oh--the DVD here is nice and clean looking, but scratchy in spots, and with no extras to speak of.

Man Beast is one of several Yeti movies made in the 1950's. Though not brilliant, I quite enjoyed this one.

An expedition heads for the Himalayas to search for one of the party's brother, who has gone missing while on another trek. When they reach the higher regions, they encounter Yeti's and are put in more danger when it is revealed that one of the party is a mad scientist who has been cross breeding Yeti's with humans and is half Yeti himself. At the end, just two pf the party survive while the others are killed off in various ways. There is also an avalanche.

Man Beast contains some good scenery, even though it wasn't filmed on location in the Himalayas.

I've heard of nobody in the cast and their acting isn't brilliant either. You can clearly tell this movie was made on a low budget. Despite this, certainly worth a look.

Rating: 3 stars out of 5.

Man Beast (1956)

** (out of 4)

One of many "Yeti" movies to be made during the 1950s, this one here from Jerry Warren who is best known for being one of the worst director's in the history of movies. Just check out Teenage Zombies or Frankenstein Island for more proof. This film here falls into the "so bad it's good" range because while it contains some dumbness it remains entertaining. A group of scientists head into the mountains where there have been countless reports of people running into the Yeti. Once on the mountain the Yeti certainly attacks but the scientists have a plan of their own. If you're a fan of bad movies and can laugh at them then this one here should keep you entertained because some of the performances are among the worst I've ever seen. They're bad enough to where you should be laughing even when the scene is trying to be dramatic. The attack sequenced are even better as apparently Yeti's like to beat people over the head with sticks. Seeing this might leave tears in your eyes so be sure to have something nearby to wipe your eyes.

Which is surprising, given the nature of schlock purveyor Jerry Warrens' subsequent output. This entry in the yeti genre of the 1950s may be silly at times and not 100% convincing, but it's also pretty atmospheric, even spooky. Granted, the appearances of the monster were laugh inducing for this viewer, but the effects certainly could have been worse. The acting isn't as abominable as one might expect, and the protagonists aren't unlikable people. In addition, there's a delicious revelation from our primary antagonist.

Working from a screenplay by B. Arthur Cassidy, Warren tells the tale of young and headstrong Connie Hayward (Asa Maynor), who launches an expedition into the Himalayas in search of her missing brother Jim, in the company of worrywart friend Trevor Hudson (Lloyd Nelson). They meet up with others in the area including Steve Cameron (Tom Maruzzi) and Dr. Erickson (George Wells Lewis), and come to learn that local stories about beast-men aren't as crazy as they might think. What's more, their guide, Varga (George Skaff), seems to have a hidden agenda.

This viewer admits that he had a pretty good time with this one, although it helps if one is partial to monster movies and horror features set in mountainous or snowy environments. Another good thing is that Warren ensured that the running time remained very brief; there are versions running both 63 minutes and 67 minutes. Only the resolution really fell short of being satisfying.

Incidentally, Maruzzi is actually billed twice, once under his own name and once under the phony matinée idol pseudonym Rock Madison given to him by Warren. The pretty Maynor can also be seen in "Conquest of the Planet of the Apes", and co-stars Skaff and Nelson had pretty extensive careers afterwards; Skaff did other genre films such as "Frogs", "Exorcist II: The Heretic", and John Carpenters' 'Someone's Watching Me!', and Nelson became a frequent script supervisor and bit player in Clint Eastwood vehicles.

A decent watch overall.

Seven out of 10.

This wasn't that bad, you only have to sit through this film for only 67 minutes, its sort of a quick story about the growing popularity of Yetis, Abdominale Snowmen, the Sasquatch, etc... in the 1950s, which grew its highest in the 70s. "Man Beast" is a fun movie too watch if you're not feeling critical about movies at the time. ... Plus, there's not as much talk in this as there is in other bad 50s b-sci fi films.