Product Details

• Actors: Robert Lowery, George Macready, Ralph Morgan, Carole Mathews
• Directors: Howard Bretherton
• Format: Color, DVD, NTSC
• Language: English
• Region: Region 1 (U.S. and Canada only. Read more about DVD formats.)
  
• Aspect Ratio: 1.33:1
• Number of discs: 2
• Rated: Unrated
• Studio: Cheezy
• DVD Release Date: July 27, 2010
• Run Time: 450 minutes
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (6 customer reviews)
• ASIN: B003PBYSVS
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #79,785 in Movies & TV (See Top 100 in Movies & TV)
• For more information about "Monster and the Ape" visit the Internet Movie Database (IMDb)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

11 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Do we get both discs?, June 18, 2010

By 

Sonny T "The Watcher" (Omaha, NE United States) - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Monster and the Ape (DVD)

Three stars is based on the portion of the movie I watched. I purchased this movie serial in the first release. I love movie serials and enjoyed this one up to the point where I reached the end of chapter nine and realized there was no second disc. The second disc was not included and it wasn't even a two disc case.
Perhaps this second release (if that's what it is) is a correction of this error. I returned the DVD for a refund and would like this movie in my collection but I'm leery of buying it a second time if the whole movie isn't there. I don't see that this problem is addressed anywhere by Amazon.
Apart from this major snafu, the movie itself was enjoyable, being fairly typical for serials of the 1940's. If you're familiar with serials, you'll know there is always a cliff-hanger ending of each chapter to be resolved in the next. Be aware that the movie cheats the "escapes" more blatantly than most. Not a problem for fans, but it's a groaner for the casual viewer. The video quality is only fair to be charitable being murky with some scratching.
All this would have been acceptable IF I HAD GOTTEN BOTH DISCS!

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Sci-Fi, in a Columbia Serial, September 19, 2010

By 

Stanley Kohl; - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Monster and the Ape (DVD)

"The Monster and the Ape is a Columbia serial released in 1945, directed by Howard Bretherton. Despite the title characters the story is treated fairly seriously, requiring less suspension of disbelief than with many serials from Columbia.

The so-called "Monster" is a robot, developed at Bainbridge Laboratories by Professor Franklin Arnold (Ralph Morgan) and Professor Ernst (George Macready) as a means freeing mankind from doing tiresome, repetitive and potentially hazardous tasks such as sitting through 15 chapters of a Columbia serial without going berserk. Known as "Metalogen Man" after the rare material used in the control unit, the robot is demonstrated, first by lifting a large, empty cardboard box badly disguised as a block of granite -- it wobbles as the chains around it are grabbed, seen also in the chapter titles -- and then, in a curious application for a law-abiding robot, by pulling a bank vault door out of a mock-up wall. But later, three of the lab's associates, Professors Ames, Marsden and Shaw, are mysteriously killed by a gorilla named Thor (Ray Corrigan). Arnold tells Ernst that an engineer from the company planning to build the robots, Ken Morgan (Robert Lowery) is coming to move the prototype to a safe place, but Morgan is waylaid by a couple thugs, Joe Flint (Anthony Warde) and Dick Nordik (Jack Ingram) who steal his credentials. Morgan is picked up by a car containing Professor Arnold, his daughter, Babs (Carole Mathews) and his chauffeur, Flash (Willie Best) who were looking for him. They are not surprised that the robot has been stolen, but discover the hard way that Ernst is behind all the trouble. Ernst has a lot more trouble to cause in his quest to control the world by robots, with many serial-movie hurdles to overcome such as finding more Metalogen, a problem also for our hero.

The robot, identified on the DVD package as being played by Ray Corrigan isn't badly done, though a little too human in shape and motion, and Corrigan's gorilla is familiar from several earlier serials. The dual role is possible since, contrary to the cover art, the Ape never appears while the Metalogen Man is active. As far as the plot allows, the acting is up to serial standards; Ralph Morgan and George Macready do quite well, and Robert Lowery is a reasonable hero most of the time. He has one inexcusable sequence for a role model, in which he has entered a cabin looking for some stolen Metalogen, lights a cigarette, and then drops it, still burning, on the floor. Smoking was still legal in 1945, but such careless behavior was expected only from the bad guys and he shows no other signs of being a nicotine fiend. It looks like a creative shortfall in finding a source of ignition. I wouldn't want to give away the plot, but there are a couple nearby drums marked "Danger - Flammable" and "Explosive." Carole Mathews seems studious enough to be Professor Arnold's daughter, shows initiative in following clues and screams convincingly when required to do so. Willie Best is mostly restricted to uninspired and racially stereotypical "comic relief" routines of the era, fortunately not too often. Still, he proves in the next to last chapter that unlike his captors he has something other than sawdust for brains, and he was one of the five actors who received screen credit. Use of two "creatures" helps propel the action, and while it might be wondered why Ernst's supposedly-abandoned house isn't guarded more closely, his hidden tunnels are a nice touch, clever enough to fool most serial-movie heroes. The cliffhangers have a few minor "cheats" where the hero gets burned to a crisp in a brickyard furnace or is squashed flat by a giant boulder, only to be shown at the start of the next chapter rolling out of the way in the nick of time; nothing unusual. Forgetting cliffhanger details is one reason why these are supposed to be watched with time between the chapters. As for the activities of the Ape, the cover art on Cheezy's DVD appears to be of an actual movie poster with the tag lines "A Thrilling 15-chapter serial of a mechanical monster GONE MAD!" and "His companion...the ape that fights crime...in a wonderful fantasy!" Apparently, Columbia's marketing people were in a wonderful fantasy of their own, having never watched the film they were advertising.

Cheezy Flicks' edition, number 10-007, is on two DVD's. In most chapters the print is clear enough and in fairly good condition, but no extensive restoration has been done. Chapter 3 is badly scratched, in a band covering about a quarter of the frame width all the way through. The other chapters are much better; the image is a little unsharp and mildly muddy, not "from the original negative" quality but reasonably good. There are a few splices and some dirt, fairly minor defects. The transfer to DVD is fine, the only obvious videotape artifact is the normal head-switching blip a few lines above the bottom of the frame, usually off-screen. The sound is loud and clear, if occasionaly with a little noise, and mild low-frequency distortion common in 1940's Columbia serials. The package advertises an "original theatrical trailer" and it is present, but following the last chapter and not indexed. The picture quality of the trailer isn't very good, looking a bit faded, and is from "A Columbia Reprint" but at least it is authentic.

So while not an outstanding serial, it has entertainment value, proceeds with more logic than many and given the poor representation of Columbia's serials it is good to have it on DVD. The transfer is good enough, and for two discs, the price is reasonable.

7 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars You can let yourself "Go Ape" over this serial; it's great fun!, June 24, 2010

By 

Videonut "Videonut" (New Yawk USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Monster and the Ape (DVD)

I'm reviewing the two DVD set that I just received from Cheezy Media. The picture quality is quite acceptable and all the chapters are intact. A lot of this type of material is lost, and most collectors realize that a DVD created from a fair 16mm print is a lot better than a vague memory of a fun experience that one had as a kid.

As far as the plot and storyline go, well it's the same wonderful formula that made all these type of serials fun:
A good scientist invents something to help mankind, then an evil scientist tries his darnedest to steal the revelation for the purpose of enslaving mankind. The robot is a marvelous servant to man while residing with the good scientist, but turns into a deadly threat to humanity when he falls into the clutches of the bad scientist. What a revelation! And the ape is a product of his environment; hanging out with gangsters helped turn him into a real sociopath. Can the ape be redeemed, or will the Robot end up conquering the world for the evil scientist? I'll never tell!

This sure isn't a Criterion type restoration that was culled from the best assortment of 35mm material, but it's also a lot cheaper than a Criterion release. And we should try to support small enterprises such as Cheezy, because who else is going out of their way to find this obscure material? The market for this type of subject matter is way too small for many of the larger production companies.