Customer Reviews

The Ape

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I love campy old movies featuring a guy in a gorilla costume, especially when the guy is supposed to be a real gorilla. A movie with a moth-eaten gorilla outfit is even better when paired with Boris Karloff as kindly Dr. Bernard Adrian.

Dr. Adrian has been diligently working on a serum that will cure paralysis. Unfortunately, the doctor makes his serum using human spinal fluid. Even more unfortunately, his "donors" need to be alive when he makes his serum. Most unfortunately, his "donors" do not survive the experience. Dr. Adrian would probably call the death of his donors an unfortunate side effect.

I guess the FDA had yet to enforce the 1938 Food, Drug and Cosmetic Act in the area that Dr. Adrian was living, because he was injecting his untested serum into Miss Frances Clifford (Maris Wrixon, "Meet John Doe" and 70 plus other film and television appearances).

Backing up a little, a circus went through town. One of the features of the circus was a gorilla. One of the animal keepers seemed to enjoy tormenting the gorilla. One of the rules of horror movies is never abuse anything with the potential to kill you. After taking care of business, the gorilla takes a stroll through town and then into Dr. Adrian's house, where the injured keeper was brought after the ape attack.

The ape keeps hovering about Dr. Adrian's house, and keeps killing. I guess the gorilla enjoyed killing the keeper and took it up as a hobby.

A bunch of stuff happens to the end of the movie. We get to see how kindly Dr. Adrian is. We see that Dr. Adrian's serum is not likely to kill Frances Clifford and it might even do some good. The townspeople think the good doctor is evil and we wonder whether the townspeople will burn him at a stake (I exaggerate). Since the townspeople are reluctant to run the doctor out of town and they are reluctant to burn him at the stake, they stalk the ape instead.

You are left with a bunch of questions that the end of the movie will resolve. Do they catch the ape? Does Frances Clifford enter a marathon? Do they will the gorilla suit to another movie? Incidentally, I am thinking this gorilla suit might have been bleached and used in "White Pongo," which also featured Maris Wrixon. So many questions for a movie that is so short. Also, does Dr. Adrian win some sort of prize for his miracle serum or a short trip to the electric chair?

This movie makes a real shot at having a clever ending. I thought the ending was one of the better ones in a horror movie from this era, even if it was somewhat predictable for modern audiences. I liked Boris Karloff as Dr. Adrian. Dr. Adrian was a rather interesting variation on the Jekyll and Hyde theme. The gorilla suit was cheesy and I wonder if the same Gorilla suit has been making the rounds of Hollywood for decades. The townspeople were stereotypical and seemed to be the townspeople from "Frankenstein." The result is roughly three stars. Fans of Karloff's early movies will probably enjoy this one. Fans of Maris Wrixon might also like this film. If you are following the progress of the gorilla suit in this film, you might be interested in this movie. Everyone else can just go ape somewhere else.

Good luck!

Dr. Bernard Adrian (Boris Karloff) has been experimenting in his lab for years, trying to perfect a serum that will cure paralysis. Unfortunately, he needs human spinal fluid and the townsfolk think he's a nut. Thankfully, a circus comes to town, complete with animals. A vengeful trainer decides that torturing the go-rilla that killed his father is a dandy idea. This results in the ape escaping it's cage, wringing the trainer's neck, and lumbering away for it's obligatory rampage. The unlucky trainer is brought to Dr. Adrian for treatment, where he is summarily killed and becomes Adrian's first spinal fluid donor. Drawn by the trainer's scent, the go-rilla visits Adrian's place by crashing through the window. Adrian stabs the go-rilla to death, skins it, wears the go-rilla suit, and pretends he's the wacky ape out on a kill spree! This is fortuitous, as his only vial of spinal fluid serum rolled off the table and smashed on the floor. Now, he can knock off some locals and harvest their bodily yuck. Humanity is saved! THE APE is a fun little movie, kept interesting by Boris' amiable yet homicidal character. Yes, the ape costume is ridiculous, but hey, the budget was probably around 50¢. Just enjoy it...

Boris Karloff has always been one of my favorite actors and a double feature DVD is always welcome news. This DVD in particular contains one of Karloff's forgotten gems and possibly the silliest film he ever made.

"The Ape" (1940), made for Monogram, represents the nadir of Karloff's career. In the film he portrays a kindly doctor who seeks to cure ingénue Maris Wrixon of polio through injections of human spinal fluid. Of course, spinal fluid is difficult to obtain, particularly as the victim must be alive. Enter the solution to Karloff's problem. A circus ape escapes and breaks in to Karloff's home. Karloff kills the ape with a knife and skins it, sewing the skin into a costume. Since no one but Boris knows the ape is dead, Karloff dons its costume and goes out to kill townspeople for their precious spinal fluid. (Wouldn't it have been simpler just to buy a costume?) There is a hilarious scene with Boris running for home after one murder wearing the costume by carrying the headpiece. Simply precious. Directed by William Nigh, who directed Karloff in his "Mr. Wong" series, also for Monogram. To quote film critic Michael Weldon, "And you thought only Bela Lugosi made films this bad."

"British Intelligence," made the same year for Warner Bros., is a taut, nifty spy thriller set in World War 1. A master German spy has been operating one step ahead of the British and the causalities are mounting. As his mission is extremely important to the German war effort, the Germans dispatch Margaret Lindsay (operating as a nurse at a British field hospital) to England as an assistant. It is there in the home of one of the British bigwigs that she meets Karloff, who works as the butler. Is Karloff the dreaded spy? Or is he a red herring to throw us off the track? Could it be someone else? The film will keep the viewer guessing until the last tem minutes. Directed by Terry Morse, who also directed Raymond Burr's scenes in "Godzilla, King of the Monsters" (1955).

From Monogram Pictures comes this ridiculously funny, but very fun poverty row film. Boris Karloff, just one year after playing the Frankenstein monster for the last time in "Son Of Frankenstein, does his own mad doctor role in "The Ape". He stars as the seemingly kindly, old Dr. Adrian, a small town doctor and the subject of much talk amongst the town folks. They think the doctor is up to no good with all of his crazy experiments and they would like to be rid of him. Turns out that Adrian was kicked out of a research institute some 25 years ago for performing unethical experiments involving the use of spinal fluids.

Dr. Adrian is trying to cure a wheelchair-bound patient named Francis of her paralysis but is having no luck obtaining the experimental spinal fluid. He gets his chance when a cruel animal handler is attacked by an escaped circus ape and taken to Adrian's home for treatment. Rather than help the man, he kills him and takes his spinal fluid. He injects the fluid into the woman and she begins to have feeling in her legs. But Adrian dropped the last vial of fluid and destroyed it. When the ape crashes into his home, Adrian kills it, and makes an ape costume out of the hide. With the town sheriff and the residents still thinking the ape is on the loose, Adrian uses the ape costume to commit more murders to obtain more spinal fluid.

You don't want to over analyze the Ape too much as the plot holes are big enough to drive a truck through. I mean since no one sees Adrian dressed as the ape when he goes out to kill someone, why does he even need the outfit to begin with? The cast is strictly B or even less than B. Off hand I was not familiar with any of the other actors in the film by name although I did recognize Henry Hall who played Sheriff Halliday as Hall made a career out of playing sheriff's in B westerns.

The copy I saw ran only 58 minutes and was very choppy and dialogue often cuts off in mid-sentence. Still, how can you pass up Karloff in an ape suit? Karloff's next several pictures after "The Ape" were for studios such as Universal, Columbia, and RKO and one wonders why he needed to do such low-rent films. Not that I'm complaining, mind you...

Reviewed By Tim Janson

One of Karloff's lost gems, 'The Ape' is a hoot and Karloff gives a good performance as the kind yet homicidal doctor who is working for a cure for polio, but has some questionable methods for his cure. We've seen many films like this before and this ape suit has been around. (personally I don't think it's a bad looking ape suit like many reviewers) I guess because we've seen it dozens of times in many movies, it kind of reminds you of 'The Little Rascals' - 'The Bear Shooters' short! :-D

I have a 50 horror pack DVD which has a decent copy of the film and I know that the Roan Group has done a double feature which looks much better, but you'll have to decide if and how much you want to spend on this goofy yet entertaining little horror film.

Boris Karloff plays a kinder, gentler mad scientist in his only chiller for Monogram Pictures. The horror icon adds some dignity to the low-budget proceedings, but cannot redeem a familiar storyline. Thanks in part to Kurt Siodmak's screen adaptation, "The Ape" (1940) makes a better Karloff vehicle than Monogram's dreary "Mr. Wong" series. If you must see this Poverty Row quickie, try to find a good quality print.

From Monogram Pictures comes this ridiculously funny, but very fun poverty row film. Boris Karloff, just one year after playing the Frankenstein monster for the last time in "Son Of Frankenstein, does his own mad doctor role in "The Ape". He stars as the seemingly kindly, old Dr. Adrian, a small town doctor and the subject of much talk amongst the town folks. They think the doctor is up to no good with all of his crazy experiments and they would like to be rid of him. Turns out that Adrian was kicked out of a research institute some 25 years ago for performing unethical experiments involving the use of spinal fluids.

Dr. Adrian is trying to cure a wheelchair-bound patient named Francis of her paralysis but is having no luck obtaining the experimental spinal fluid. He gets his chance when a cruel animal handler is attacked by an escaped circus ape and taken to Adrian's home for treatment. Rather than help the man, he kills him and takes his spinal fluid. He injects the fluid into the woman and she begins to have feeling in her legs. But Adrian dropped the last vial of fluid and destroyed it. When the ape crashes into his home, Adrian kills it, and makes an ape costume out of the hide. With the town sheriff and the residents still thinking the ape is on the loose, Adrian uses the ape costume to commit more murders to obtain more spinal fluid.

You don't want to over analyze the Ape too much as the plot holes are big enough to drive a truck through. I mean since no one sees Adrian dressed as the ape when he goes out to kill someone, why does he even need the outfit to begin with? The cast is strictly B or even less than B. Off hand I was not familiar with any of the other actors in the film by name although I did recognize Henry Hall who played Sheriff Halliday as Hall made a career out of playing sheriff's in B westerns.

The copy I saw ran only 58 minutes and was very choppy and dialogue often cuts off in mid-sentence. Still, how can you pass up Karloff in an ape suit? Karloff's next several pictures after "The Ape" were for studios such as Universal, Columbia, and RKO and one wonders why he needed to do such low-rent films. Not that I'm complaining, mind you...

Reviewed By Tim Janson

The Ape

The film begins with scenes of a circus, then a small town garage. Boys want to see the circus. They pick up stones, are they up to mischief? The sign by the house says "Bernard Adrian M.D.". Adrian has small dogs inside. Does he give the town a bad name? Should he be run out of town? The local money-lender wants to do this. Doctor Adrian has patients, one is Frances, a crippled girl. Her boyfriend Danny is an auto mechanic. The traveling circus brings entertainment and thrills to this small town. Trapeze artists are graceful. Doctor Adrian hopes his animal cures can help mankind. The great ape is restless because of ill treatment. A fire starts from a discarded cigar in the loose straw. Will the great ape escape? People move animals to save them from the fire but the circus burns down. [Did they have fire insurance?]

Man is the highest kind of animal. Doc Adrian will take spinal fluid from a dead man to inject into his patient Frances. An armed militia will hunt the great ape to protect the people in town. Mason wants a dispossession order served, but the Sheriff is too busy. Frances' legs feel very heavy. An accident breaks the vial of fluid! The ape invades Doc Adrian's house but succumbs to medical science. Mason shows his heartlessness towards his wife. [Will he become a victim?] Danny worries about Frances, she feels pain in her legs. Doc Adrian arrived in town during the paralysis epidemic. Doctor McNulty arrives to question Doc Adrian about his procedures. A young boy shoots his .22 at the ape! They tell the Sheriff about it. Could the coat of the trainer be attracting the ape?

Doc Adrian uses psychology to get Frances to move her legs. Can she walk? Sheriff Halliday gathers information on gorillas. They eat vegetables and generally hang out around one place. [Is that what makes them different from humans?] So they return to watch Doc Adrian's house. Will the ape return? The drama continues when the ape attacks Tommy. Tommy stabbed the ape. A shot drops the ape at Doc Adrian's door. There is shocking surprise! Frances gets out of her wheelchair to walk! So there is a happy ending to this story.

There is no explanation how Doc Adrian acquired a gorilla costume, or why he sacrificed men to treat a crippled girl. Was this symbolism for some higher political ideal? The background to this film tells about small town life when the circus came to town. The "paralysis epidemic" referred to poliomyelitis, the plague that threatened America (and other countries) in the 20th century. A book can tell you what caused it and the vaccine that prevented it in developed countries.
The writer Kurt Siodmak was famous for his scripts for many horror films of the 1930s. He modified many of the stories about vampires and werewolves that became Hollywood legends and part of popular culture.