The Alligator People

I heartily agree with the comments provided by reptilicus from Vancouver, Canada (and I appreciate the "high heels" heads-up, and the various actors' cross-refs).

I recommend this movie for its creative application of pre-60s sci-fi/horror canon: eerie melodrama, sympathetic characters, strictly implied gore, rough & toothless scientific explanation, and absolutely no pretensions to credibility, 'cause we're all just here to have fun anyway. Great use of bookends, and of ominous bayou atmosphere.

Note that the synopsis on the DVD case (20th Century Fox, released September 7, 2004) incorrectly lists "Lon Chaney" as our heroine's husband. Mr. Chaney actually plays the drunken Cajun, and Richard Crane plays the husband.

This is actually a pretty good horror flick from the late 50's when it seems that all of God's creatures were being mutated somehow by radiation. This movie differs from that premise and that's what makes is unique and fun to watch. Beverly Garland plays a young woman on her honeymoon when her new groom suddenly disappears from a train. She desperately tries to find him and her search leads her to his home in the Louisiana Bayou where she confronts terror from all different levels. The movie is fast paced and the storyline good, I really enjoyed it. Lon Chaney, Jr. is a hoot as a drunken cajun who tries to rape the young bride. The ending is a surprise as well. Enjoy!!!!

A honeymoon is cut short when a maimed war hero(Richard Crane) seeks healing. The newlywed bride(Beverly Garland)tracks her husband down in a Louisiana bayou getting injections of a serum from alligator glands. A mad scientist tries to heal cripples with his bizarre experiments. After awhile the injected mutate into...well you can guess by the movie's title. Veteran actor Lon Chaney Jr plays a crazed Cajun with a left hook(pun) and a strong aversion to 'gators'.

Great scenery and background score. Special effects are pretty neat. Garland is beautiful and flawless in this Sci-Fi thriller. Notable support from George Macready, Bruce Bennett and Frieda Inescort. This is an attention grabber and well worth your while.

You have to like a movie that offers the heroine (Beverly Garland in this case) running through a swamp during a rainstorm wearing high heels. Okay, to be fair watch this scene carefully and you will notice her heels change into sneakers in the long shots. Anyway, this very unusual plot offers a scientist (George Macready who was the villain in the 1945 Columbia serial THE MONSTER AND THE APE) who believes he can help crippled people to grow new limbs by injecting them with serum from alligator glands. Guess what happens. Richard Crane (from TV's "Rocky Jones, Space Ranger")is a war hero who was literally blown apart but who healed overnight thanks to the serum but something goes wrong and he start mutating into a . . .but then you saw the title of the movie didn't you? His new bride (Beverly) follows him to the forboding bayou mansion where his mother lives (Freida Inescourt from RETURN OF THE VAMPIRE, 1944) and soon uncovers the truth about the bizarre experiments. She tries to tell hubby that she will stand by him no matter what but that's kinda hard when every day he looks more and more like a 'gator. Also around to complicate things is Lon Chaney Jr as Mannon, a drunken Cajun (without a French accent) who hates alligators. Lon wears a hook on his left hand that he is constantly adjusting on camera. he also shoots at some (real) alligators from all of 10 feet away and misses! Sure the premise is silly, but if injecting a person with alligator glands can turn them into a gator remember that George Zucco created a werewolf by injecting a man with wolf blood in THE MAD MONSTER (1944). If THE ALLIGATOR PEOPLE had been made 15 years earlier I'll bet it would have come out of Monogram or PRC. Give it a try, you just might find yourself having fun.

This 1959 Fox picture was actually filmed in Cinemascope; I've never seen it that way. The television and video version are severely cropped from aspect ratio 2.35:1 to 1.33:1 - you're missing almost half the picture. I'm sure they will correct this if it ever comes to DVD. We need see the expansive mansion and exotic swampland locales in their entirety, as well as the giddy climax of the alligator man's LONG, horizontal snout. Top-billed Beverly Garland (here a brunette) is very good as a woman seeking her missing fiance, now holed up in a mansion with a doctor (George MacCready) who's trying to cure him (he was in an accident) with reptilian serum. The man's domineering mother (Frieda Inescort) also resides, protecting and hiding her son from all, including Garland. Lon Chaney is superb as a drunken, one-handed hunter who detests alligators. The music is also eerie and effective. However, the film's plotline begins to fizzle out, with the fiance escaping from the laboratory and not doing much and the film sinks, like quicksand.