Jungle Captive (1945) – Review

Universal’s Cheela, the Ape Woman series comes to a close with this third and final chapter, not getting close to the number of outings The Wolf Man had achieved, but what’s sad about this trilogy is the recasting of plays Paula Dupree/Cheela who played the Ape Woman and the reason behind it, though to be fair, the whole series was hindered by the fact that the character never quite managed to rise to the level of being interesting.

From the very beginning, it is clear that the filmmakers behind Jungle Captive were in desperate need of a coherent script and after 1944’s Jungle Woman I’m pretty sure they had a clue as where to go with this series of movies. The plot of this entry follows the absurd story of a deranged biochemist, Mr. Stendahl (Otto Kruger) who has this terrifying assistant, named Moloch the Brute (Rondo Hatton), steal the body of Paula Dupree The Ape Woman (Vicky Lane) from the city morgue. This results in the death of the morgue attendant and this sets Detective Harrigan (Jerome Cowan) from homicide to investigate the matter of the missing body and the murder. But what is the reason behind this body-snatching? Turns out that Stendahl has developed a way to bring the dead back to life via electricity and blood transfusions, unfortunately, he decides his pretty assistant Ann Forrester (Amelita Ward) would make a great blood donor and he brings her to his secluded laboratory located out of town. Any protestations she has about this treatment are explained away in the “name of science” and then stopped completely by the hands of Moloch.

 

“Let me take your hat and coat, and your blood if you don’t mind.”

As is required by any film in this genre, we have a protagonist who must save his one true love, and in this film, that comes in the form of Ann’s co-worker and fiancé Don Young (Phil Brown), who not only has to deal with a missing fiancé but being a suspect in Harrigan’s murder investigation. This due to a medical smock from Stendahl’s lab being found at the scene of the crime.  Unfortunately, Don is not much of hero and he spends much of the film’s conclusion tied to a chair and it’s the revived Paula who must save the day. It goes without saying that by this third film the writers were completely out of ideas, relying on simple clichés and some of the laziest pieces of writing ever brought to screen, and Otto Kruger’s mad scientist while entertaining to watch makes little to no sense. Stendahl trots out the usual tripe about the need for sacrifices “In the name of science”  but how he expects to announce his findings to the scientific community without immediately landing in jail for murder is beyond me.

 

“Do you think they’ll deliver the Nobel Prize to Alcatraz?”

Stendahl also doesn’t have only one murder on his hands as poor Dr. Fletcher from Captive Jungle Woman gets murdered by Moloch when the brute breaks into steal the doctor’s notes on Paula Dupree, then there is the fact that the blood and glandular transfusion on top of a proposed brain transplant will certainly be fatal to poor Ann. As for the revived Ape Woman, not much can be said of the performance by Vicky Lane as the role mostly requires her to stare vacantly off into space or wander around the woods like a bathing-beauty zombie.  But that’s when she’s not trapped under Jack Pierce’s Ape Woman make-up, and when your title character is pretty much a blank slate throughout your film the end result is not going to be good.

Note: The role of Paula Dupree, the Ape Woman was originated by Acquanetta but when Universal discovered that she was an African American passing herself as white they dropped her contract and she was replaced by blonde beauty Vicky Lane. Not a shining moment in Hollywood history.

The real star of this movie is actor Rondo Hatton, who suffered from the disorder acromegaly that results in excess growth of certain parts of the human body and gave him distorted features, which allowed Hollywood to bill him as “The monster without make-up.” While that does seem cruel and callous this was the 1940s and this terrible condition did give the actor a decent career and his appearance not only inspired many villains throughout cinema history, such as the killer in Disney’s The Rocketeer, but most famously he was the inspiration for The Creeper in the Scooby-Doo episode “Jeepers, it’s the Creeper.” As for his performance in Jungle Captive, Hatton was able to layer in a little bit of sympathy, his attraction to poor Ann Forester resulted in his dying his in an attempt to save her, but it was his pragmatic use of violence in the name of science that was his stand out characteristic.

 

This makes him the star of the film in my book.

Stray Observations:

• Stendahl was able to successfully restore life to a rabbit that had been dead for twelve hours, using electricity and a blood transfusion to revive it, but in all these “mad science” movies nobody seems concerned about the amount of brain damage that would result after due to the lack of oxygen over that much time.
• Stendahl justifies the stealing of Paula Dupree’s body because experimenting on her isn’t experimenting with humans, her being an ape woman, but Ann’s blood is required for the experiment and she is decidedly human. I’m starting to think Stendahl isn’t all that ethical.
• That Paula would be submissive after being whipped by Stendahl doesn’t make a lot of sense. I’d have expected her to yank the whip out of his hand and then wring his bloody neck with it.
• Stendahl is a biochemist and not a doctor but he plans on performing brain surgery only using Dr. Walters’s notes and a book off his own shelf, which I’m surprised wasn’t titled “Brain Surgery for Dummies.”
• Despite the fact that Paula has the strength of a gorilla and a very animalistic nature, Stendahl puts no security measures in place to keep her from wandering around. He may be a great biochemist but he’s shit at running mad science properly.

 

“I’m not a mad doctor, in fact, I don’t even have a PhD in mad chemistry.”

Directed by Harold Young, Universal’s Jungle Captive is one of many forgettable horror entries from the studios, which isn’t that strange as the previous two films in the series weren’t all that great, but Otto Kruger was the king of playing these types of erudite and charming villains and Rondo Hatton as the brutish Moloch gave more dimension to his character than both of the film’s protagonists, unfortunately, it had a nonsensical script that didn’t give our Ape Woman much to do, she kills one dog and one mad scientist and that’s about it, which dooms this effort to the trash heap of cinema. Jungle Captive isn’t entertaining in the “So bad it’s good” fashion and it certainly isn’t good enough to stand on its own merits.

 

Paula getting her last shot at revenge.

With Rondo Hatton running around committing murder, a mad scientist taking notes so he can perform impromptu brain surgery and an ape woman resurrected and let loose on the world, this should have been a fun movie, unfortunately, with boring protagonists and a plot that had more holes than a shipment of Swiss Cheese, Jungle Captive is a case study in how not to make a monster movie. Add in how poorly Acquanetta was treated by the studio and you have a feature film that is not only forgettable but is best forgotten.

Jungle Woman (1944) – Review

In this second of the Cheela, the Ape Woman series, Universal Pictures decided that rather than trying to recapture the success of The Wolf Man they would, instead, attempt to mimic the success of Val Lewton’s Cat People, unfortunately, this sequel fails on almost every level and being a rip-off of a much better film was the least of its problems.

The events of Reginald LeBorg’s Jungle Woman are told in a flashback format that follows the second death of Paula Dupree (Acquanetta), who had been shot by the police while in gorilla form in the previous film, and it is here where we find Dr. Carl Fletcher (J. Carrol Naish) on trial for her murder – we see a shadow-play of Fletcher struggling and killing poor Paula in the movie’s opening scene – to which several people are brought in to testify on his behalf including Fred Mason (Milburn Stone) and Beth Mason (Evelyn Ankers), who were the ostensible leads of the previous film.  It is during these courtroom proceedings that we are told how Paula ended up coming to the home of Dr. Fletcher and why things spun out of control.

 

“I swear to God that all of this is complete rubbish.”

When Dr. Fletcher testifies we learn that he witnessed the climatic events of Captive Wild Woman and being intrigued by Cheela the Gorilla’s heroic act in saving Mason he requests that the beast’s body kept for examination, only to discover that the gorilla wasn’t quite dead and he is able to revive the animal. Fascinated by the creature, he purchases Crestview Sanitarium with the hope of recovering some of Dr. Walters’s notes – what could go wrong with investigating the notes of a mad scientist? – but as a surprise to no one, or at least no one familiar with horror movies, Cheela reverts to her human form of Paula and is found wandering the grounds by Willie (Eddie Hyans), a simple-minded patient at Crestview, whose horny attraction to her will lead to his doom.

 

“I’m gonna take her home and hug her and kiss her and squeeze her with all my heart.”

While Willy is off channelling Lon Chaney Jr from Of Mice and Men we get the introduction of our two love birds, Dr. Fletcher’s daughter Joan (Lois Collier) and her fiancé Bob Whitney (Richard Davis), but the interesting dynamic here is that the once mute Paula can now speaks and it seems she has set her amorous sites on Bob.  This leads to some lame stalking scenes with Collier and Acquanetta that was clearly meant to “ape” similar scenes found in Val Lewton’s Cat People, unfortunately, Acquanetta is no Simone Simon and Reginald LeBorg is definitely no Jacques Tourneur.  Thus these scenes come across as pale imitations, which is exactly what they were. Of course, even if this film had decent direction and brilliant cinematography the screen chemistry between this love triangle was absolutely nonexistent and without that, you’re simply left with a big steaming pile of nothing.

 

“Why don’t we just paddle our way off this picture?”

The film attempted to build upon the enigmatic character of Paula Dupree yet failed to address her connection with wild animals that she had in the previous film because in this outing we learn that she kills the groundskeepers’ dog and some chickens – it should be noted that no reason is given as to why she did these things – and the overall narrative lacks depth and fails to provide any substantial development or insight into her backstory.  The plot feels convoluted and poorly constructed and leaves us confused and uninvested in the unfolding events. When the film comes to its “startling” conclusion we the viewer are left with no emotional ties to the characters or the events as neither the script nor the director managed to make anything all that compelling, and are left with a lame on-screen text in what I assume was an attempt to explain the movie’s theme.

 

How to solve poor writing in one easy step.

Stray Observation:

• This entry could be considered an ouroboros of filmmaking as not only does it contain flashback footage from Captive Wild Woman but that material also contains shots “borrowed” from the film The Big Cage.
• In court, Fred Mason testified that while on an expedition into the Belgian Congo, where he captured Cheela, he’d heard stories of a doctor who could turn human beings into animals, which makes Cheela end up in the hands of a similar scientist one helluva coincidence.
• Paula becomes instantly attracted to Bob Whitney but in the previous film she was insanely jealous of Fred Mason, which implies that gorillas or at least ape women are incredibly fickle.
• Despite the fact that Paula’s accusations against Dr. Fletcher are false that Bob would ignore her wishes to escape supposed abuse at her doctor’s hands makes him a complete dick.
• Of the three Cheela, the Ape Woman movies this is the only one in which Paula Dupree speaks, which seems a bit sexist when you consider the fact that Lon Chaney Jr. as The Wolf Man practically never shut up about his curse over the course of five films.

 

“I should have gotten an old gypsy woman for an agent.”

Despite Acquanetta’s exotic beauty her portrayal of Paula Dupree fails to ignite any interest or sympathy in her character as her character lacks any sense of depth and remains a one-dimensional figure throughout the film, unfortunately, her poorly developed character is the least of the film’s problems as rest of the cast is even worse. J. Carrol Naish as Dr. Fletcher is dull, ineffective and patronizingly terrible, while Richard Davis as the film’s supposed hero is someone that I’d rather see crushed by a gorilla than walk off into the sunset with the girl. Not that he wins much as Lois Collier’s damsel in distress is even less compelling of a character, if Paula Dupree is one-dimensional then Joan Fletcher is zero-dimensional. Basically,with this terrible cast of characters, a short running time and the weak script we have a film that fails to build on its somewhat interesting premise, a woman with the strength and mindset of a jungle animal, this is all compounded by the lack of chemistry between any of the characters, further exacerbating the film’s lack of emotional connection.

 

“What if we transplanted her brain into a different gorilla?”

Of course, one of the greatest crimes committed by this film is its lack of actual “Jungle Woman” as the film also fails to provide the audience with any “ape woman action” whatsoever, at most we get several scenes with characters explaining what happened off-screen.  Also missing is the excellent Jack Pierce make-up transformations from the previous film, instead, we simply have Acquanetta glowering menacingly at people as if they stole her lunch money. Needless to say, this resulted in a film that was an insult to the original and represents a forgettable entry in the classic monster movie genre, offering nothing new or innovative.  This sequel acks the charm and intrigue that made its predecessor enjoyable, making it a disappointing continuation of the story.

 

Sadly, this is the only shot of the ape-woman we get.

In conclusion, Jungle Woman is a rather forgettable film that failed to deliver on its promise of adventure and mystery. Its uninspired performances and a predictable storyline, which struggles to hold its weak plot together, will disappoint fans of  the original film and likely be disappointed fans of the genre in general. This makes it a entry from Universal Pictures that is nothing more than another forgettable chapter in the vast jungle of mediocre cinema.

The Climax (1944) – Review

A Universal film taking place in an opera house and starring Boris Karloff as a deranged killer must have, at the outset, seemed like great ingredients for an excellent horror movie with its obvious elements being lifted from The Phantom of the Opera, but what we have here is actually more melodrama than horror. Thus 1944’s The Climax works best if you think of it more as a psychological thriller rather than a straight up horror film.

Directed by George Waggner, Universal’s The Climax is a 1944 horror/mystery film that is set in a Vienna opera house  during the 19th century and follows the gripping tale of love, jealousy and murder. At the centre of the plot is Dr. Friedrich Hohner (Boris Karloff) who is employed by the Vienna Royal Theatre to take care of its artists but he has a dark secret, ten years ago he murdered his prima donna fiancée in a rage. This murder occurred because she chose her career as a singer over him and blaming her voice for ruining their relationship. A decade later, Angela Klatt (Susanna Foster) is the new singer on the scene and she is prepared to dominate audiences with her extraordinary vocal gifts, however, Angela sounds a little too much like Hohner’s dead lover and this brings out his old obsessions and a desire to stop that voice once and for all.

 

“That’s one thing I hate! All the noise, noise, noise, noise!”

Standing in the way of his controlling and dominating this new prima donna is her protective fiancé, Franz Munzer (Turhan Bey), but the performance by Turhan Bay in this role is about as lacklustre and uninteresting as it gets and you almost wish her to fall into the clutches of Boris Karloff’s mad doctor just to break up the monotony. This is not a good way to establish conflict. Aside from Karloff’s voice-obsessed villain the other interesting character in this film is that of his housekeeper (Gale Sondergaard) who at first seems just as sinister Karloff’s mad doctor and an ally in his plan, but in a surprising twist, she is revealed to have been the devoted servant of Hohner’s murdered ex and has been working for him for an entire decade with the hope of uncovering proof of what really happened to her missing mistress. In fact, one of the biggest missteps the film makes is giving us a flashback of Hohner committing the murder right at the beginning of the film, thus robbing us of actually having a mystery to solve. That kind of thing can work for an episode of Columbo but not here. This elemental lacking of mystery is somewhat offset by Hohner having this really cool “At-Home-Mesmerizing Kit” that he uses to rob Angela of her will to sing.

 

“Now, my dear, let’s hear you bark like a dog.”

The story of a man obsessed to the point of murder and mutilation may not be all that original – i.e. The Phantom of the Opera – but Universal’s The Climax showcases a beautiful blend of horror and opera, with the filmmakers incorporating actual operatic performances into the storyline. The movie features some breathtaking musical numbers that highlight the talents of Susanna Foster and giving us a taste of the beauty and intensity of the opera world. These sequences not only enhance the film’s visual and auditory experience but also serve as integral components of the plot. Then we have Boris Karloff, whose performance as Dr. Hohner is front in centre and is the highlight of the film, with Karloff effortlessly embodying the tortured and obsessed villain of the piece.  He captures both the character’s charm and underlying darkness while also underplaying the villain’s Svengali aspect. Karloff’s screen presence is undeniable and he adds a touch of gravitas to every scene he appears in.  His portrayal alone is worth the price of admission.

 

Karloff is the most dangerous of music critics.

Stray Observation:

• This film was obviously intended to be a sequel to Universal’s 1943 remake of The Phantom of the Opera and was shot on the same lavish sets. I bet that saved them a lot of money.
• If your house doctor is Boris Karloff you may want to rethink your hiring practices, in fact, you may just as well call up Lionel Atwill and have both mad doctors on your payroll.
• Actress Gale Sondergaard plays a Mrs. Danvers-like housekeeper, much as she did in the horror comedy The Cat and the Canary, and one must wonder if some charm school specialized in churning out stern and scary housekeepers for the rich.
• Doctor Hohner has a shrine for the corpse of his dead lover and this makes him a forerunner of the Abominable Dr. Phibes.

 

I wonder how easy it is to find contractors who can build secret shrines.

Visually, The Climax is a feast for the eyes as the opulent sets and lavish costumes create an immersive atmosphere, transporting viewers to the grandeur of the Vienna opera house. The film effectively utilizes shadows and lighting to heighten the sense of suspense and mystery. The technicolor cinematography, combined with the eerie score, contributes to the film’s Gothic ambience and really pulls the viewer into the world of music and horror. While The Climax may not be as well-known as some of Boris Karloff’s other works it offers a unique blend of horror, romance and murder mystery that should keep his fans happy. The film also provides a nice glimpse into the world of opera during the 19th century and the haunting backdrop adds an extra layer of intrigue to the story. If only the mystery itself had been allowed to be an actual mystery and if a few more horror elements had been added this could have been one of the better Universal entries.  As it stands, what we have here is a film mostly forgotten due to it leaning more into melodrama than horror, and for a film called The Climax it has a very rushed climax, not to mention a romantic pairing that was kind of cringe.

 

Susanna Foster had a great voice but no chemistry with Turhan Bey.

In conclusion, director George Waggner’s The Climax is an enjoyable and atmospheric film that showcases Boris Karloff’s exceptional talent and the amazing voice of Susanna Foster to bolster the proceedings. It may not be a flawless masterpiece, but it delivers on its promises of suspense, Gothic charm and in giving us a memorable performance by the great Karloff. If you are a fan of classic horror or appreciate the allure of the opera than this one is a worthwhile watch.

Captive Wild Woman (1943) – Review

If turning a man into a wolf could bring big box office returns then a movie about a gorilla being turned into a woman must have seemed like the logical next step, at least that is what I assume was in the minds of the execs over at Universal Pictures when they released their first of Cheela, the Ape Woman movies.

From the opening scenes of director Edward Dmytryk’s Captive Wild Woman one could assume this movie was about circus animal trainer Fred Mason (Milburn Stone) returning from overseas with his new menagerie of animals and a desire to create an act that would combine both species of big cats, that is not the case. while those plot elements do make up a large portion of the film the key “subplot” is what the film’s title alludes to.  This film centres around a brilliant but deranged scientist, Dr. Sigmund Walters (John Carradine), who becomes obsessed with the idea of using glandular transfusions to alter animals and human beings to create a race of superhumans. These plots converge when Mason’s fiancée Beth Colman (Evelyn Ankers) takes her sister Dorothy (Martha MacVicar), who seems to be suffering from unexplained weight loss, to see Dr. Walters at his sanitarium. This is perfect timing for Walters as his animal experiments haven’t been going well and Dorothy will be his next guinea pig. Walters’ assistant Nurse Strand (Fay Helm) isn’t keen on the idea of human experimentation and she doesn’t buy his “for the betterment of mankind” schtick and threatens to go to the police. That is, of course, one of things you don’t say to a mad scientists, so things go as expected and poor Miss Strand finds herself donating part of her brain to the experiment.

 

“I’ll have you know, I went to school with Josef Mengele.”

But what exactly is this experiment? It seems that his failures stemmed from the use of small animals such as guinea pigs, rabbits and frogs, so to solve this problem Walters enlists the aid of a disgruntled former circus employee to steal Cheela, a female ape that Mason had captured while in Africa and has spent a good amount of time training. Obviously, an intelligent gorilla would make for a perfect subject and before you can “The Island of Doctor Moreau” he transplants glandular material from Dorothy into Cheela as well as a portion of Nurse Strand’s brain to supposedly stabilize the patient’s mental acuity. The experiment is a success and the result is a sultry and exotic young woman who remembers nothing of her previous existence as a gorilla. Walters names her Paula Dupree (Acquanetta) and quickly takes her on a road trip to visit the circus to see if she remembers any of her prior life as an ape. While watching Mason practice his animal act an accident occurs and Paula rushes into the cage and saves him from the ferocious felines, who display an unnatural fear of her and retreat from her presence. But it’s not only the big cats that need to fear Paula as it’s quickly made apparent that she has feelings for Mason and Beth could be in for some trouble.

 

Beware the stare of Acquanetta.

Stray Observations:

• One of Fred Mason’s lions is a killer, having killed four natives and mangled a handler during transportation, but instead of getting rid of the dangerous feline, he relishes the challenge, which makes Fred an irresponsible idiot and a poor hero.
• If you work for a scientist who considers murder a necessary side effect for the benefit of science maybe you don’t call him a warped mind and threaten to call the police, that kind of thing ends with your brain in an ape.
• The use of only a partial brain transplant was apparently to eliminate any possible implication that a human soul might transfer into an animal and violate religious doctrine. You’ve got to love how ridiculous production codes were at the time.
• The film is only an hour long yet still relied heavily on borrowed footage from the 1933 circus movie The Big Cage, but not only was footage borrowed from The Big Cage it also lifted the entire subplot of Mason wanting to do an act that combined both lions and tigers.
• A jealous Cheela climbs through Beth’s window planning to kill her but attacks and brutally murders another woman instead, I guess gorilla women are easily distracted.
• Beth frees Cheela before the mad doctor can operate on her and Dorothy, the enraged gorilla kills Dr. Walters and then runs off to save Mason from some enraged lions and tigers.

 

It takes a killer ape to counter mad science.

Despite the film’s limited resources, Captive Wild Woman manages to captivate us through an engaging narrative and impressive makeup effects. The creature transformation scenes, considering the era’s technological constraints, are surprisingly well-executed and hold up reasonably well even by today’s standards. Acquanetta’s portrayal of the ape woman Cheela is suitably feral and mysterious, carrying the weight of the film on her shoulders, unfortunately, screen time as the “ape woman” adds up to only a few minutes and may disappoint fans of the genre. The film also suffers from some of the common pitfalls of B-movies as the pacing can feel sluggish at times, with certain scenes overstaying their welcome. Additionally, the dialogue and character development are rather simplistic, with some performances leaning toward melodramatic acting styles. While this is expected from a film of this genre, it may be a hindrance for viewers seeking a more sophisticated viewing experience.

 

The men in this movie are either mad, egotistical, dumb, or all of the above.

John Carradine, in his first starring role, delivers a captivating performance as the obsessive Dr. Walters and his portrayal is convincingly unhinged, embodying the classic mad scientist archetype with zeal and intensity and this part would set him on a path to star in many Universal Horror Films. Acquanetta, known for her exotic beauty, brings an enigmatic quality to her role as Paula Dupree/Cheela, and while her character lacks depth and development, Acquanetta’s screen presence and unique persona make her a mesmerizing presence onscreen.

 

 Note: The effects for Acquanetta’s transformation were created by Universal’s legendary make-up Jack Pierce and hold up well against those found in The Wolf Man.

 

 In conclusion, Captive Wild Woman remains a noteworthy entry in the horror genre of the 1940s. Its captivating story, engaging performances, and effective use of suspense make it a solid choice for fans of classic horror movies, not to mention it’s always nice to see stuntman Ray “Crash” Corrigan in a gorilla suit, and while Captive Wild Woman may not have the same impact as contemporary films, it is a valuable addition to the genre’s history and a testament to the creative ingenuity of its time.

The Mad Ghoul (1943) – Review

Decades before George Romero would turn the zombie film into a horror genre unto itself, Hollywood was still trying to figure out how to utilize this particular shuffling dead menace. The 1932 Bela Lugosi film White Zombie was the closest representation at the time but with Universal Pictures’ The Mad Ghoul we get a mindless ghoul searching for the fluid of human hearts to survive, which is just one step away from “More brains!”

A scientist trying to create life from death was nothing new even in 1943, Universal’s own Frankenstein being the flagship of such a blend of science fiction and horror, but it was in The Mad Ghoul that the studio took a rather interesting turn with the subject matter as it dealt with archaeology, mad science, jealousy and murder in this bizarre take on the zombie in films. The plot of this film is just as unusual as the zombie subject matter as it deals with a scientist named Dr. Alfred Morris (George Zucco) whose discovery of an ancient nerve gas used by the Mayans during rituals of human dissection leads him to recreate the gas and begin his own experimentation – what scientific use a gas that can kill and then later allow a resurrection is never made clear, but that’s science for you – and he turns to one of his students Ted Allison (David Bruce) to help with his experiments, of course, things in the name of science rarely go well.

 

“Doctor, you’re not going to turn me into a zombie, are you?”

What is rather interesting in The Mad Ghoul, as opposed to numerous other mad scientist movies, is that while the motivation of Doctor Morris starts out as the typical “We must uncover the mysteries of the universe” it quickly shifts into a more libido-driven direction with the introduction of a pretty face. Turns out that Ted has a fiancée named Isabel Lewis (Evelyn Ankers), who is a beautiful and talented opera singer, unfortunately for Ted their romance has become decidedly one-sided, having gone on tour and seen the world Isabel has now outgrown her homespun boyfriend. Now, this would be bad enough, relationships being a fragile thing and things tend to happen, but Morris notices Isabel’s discomfort about her relationship with Ted and he confides with Isabel, saying that she does indeed need a man more involved with her love of music, of course, he means himself but he has read the signals all wrong because she is actually in love her piano accompanist Eric Iverson (Turfan Bey), and thus the stage is set for tragedy.

 

“What is your opinion on balding older scientists?”

Morris comes up with a diabolical dumb plan that involves destroying Ted by exposing him to the lethal Mayan gas the next day, and in effect, making him a mindless ghoul who he can control, apparently, a side effect of being a zombie/ghoul is that you are very susceptible to influence and are basically a mind-controlled puppet. To get Ted back to looking normal, as in not an emaciated-looking corpse, the poor sap has to have the fluid of human hearts and this is obtained by performing cardioectomies on the freshly dead, which leads to some fun grave-digging moments and the occasional murder. This sets the rest of the movie up for the two of them going on a grave-robbing spree through several towns where Isabel is also performing on her tour – Ted chasing after her like a lovesick puppy while Morris keeps insisting that he’s too sick to be a proper husband for Isabel – and that’s the dynamic for much of the film.

 

“Ted, I’m sorry, but I don’t think Isabel is into marrying the undead.”

Stray Observations:

• Watching all these horror films of the 40s and 50s has left me wondering “Just how many scientists had personal laboratories in their homes?” Do real estate agents have special listings for such places?
• Being exposed to nerve gas and becoming an undead creature is pretty much the inciting incident of 1985’s Return of the Living Dead.
• Doctor Morris and Ted Allison break into a cemetery for some good old fashion grave robbing, which has been a standard operating procedure for mad scientists dating back to the original Frankenstein.
• Ted is a rare zombie who can perform rather complicated tasks, such as cardioectomies, while your typical zombie simply shuffles around looking for a snack.

 

Who needs an operating theatre when you’re a zombie?

The plot of The Mad Ghoul is a fairly silly movie and ends with your standard “villain gets his comeuppance” endings, and while George Zucco is great at this type of over-the-top villain – he was great in The Cat and the Canary and The Mummy’s Hand – he was the only notable performance in this outing as David Bruce, playing the ill-fated lover turned zombie, is tragically boring and all the zombie make-up in the world can’t make him interesting.  Not that Turhan Bey is much better as the rival love interest, but he’s not the title character so he gets a pass, and the lovely Evelyn Ankers wasn’t given much to do other than be the object of everyone’s affection. The only time I got invested in the story was when ace reporter “Scoop” McClure (Robert Armstrong) entered the picture because nobody can play this kind of fun character as well as Robert Armstrong – he nailed it as the charismatic Carl Denham a decade earlier in King Kong – and he really killed it as the tenacious reporter, unfortunately, he exited the movie almost as fast as he entered when a plan to apprehend the “grave ghoul” ran into an undead snag.

 

If only Scoop hadn’t lacked peripheral vision he’d have survived this.

This is one of the forgotten Universal horror films, and it’s not surprising when considering that despite the horror pedigree of having George Zucco, Evelyn Ankers and Turhan Bey in the cast this outing gave us a lacklustre “monster” and a very contrived and messy love quadrangle.  It should be noted that The Mad Ghoul was developed to support Son of Dracula as a double feature and paled in comparison to that film as it was one of the better Dracula sequels, and even though this film does give us an interesting take on the zombie genre, the story itself was decidedly less than captivating.

I Walked with a Zombie (1943) – Review

The type of zombies found in modern media are a far cry from their early cinematic depictions as you will find no brains being eaten in these early outings and it was more supernatural affliction rather than viral.  Thus films like 1932’s White Zombie, which dealt with the voodoo aspect of the affliction, and so does the film we will be looking at today, I Walked with a Zombie, an entry that blends voodoo with the narrative structure of Charlotte Bronte’s Jane Eyre.

Loosely based on the article “I Walked with a Zombie” by Inez Wallace, the plot takes place on the tropical island of Saint Sebastian and revolves around Canadian nurse Betsy Connell (Frances Dee) who is assigned to care for Jessica Holland (Christine Gordon), the ailing wife of plantation owner Paul Holland (Tom Conway), who is suffering from some strange waking death. Right from the start it’s made clear this is not your typical horror movie as the romantic chemistry that builds between Betsy and Paul is quite palpable. Paul’s Byronic monologues really get Betsy’s engines running and as the story progresses we learn of the “love triangle” that had existed between Jessica, Paul and Paul’s half-brother Wesley Rand (James Ellison) and that this brotherly betrayal may or may not have led to Jessica’s zombie-like state.

 

Stalking the halls like a mindless sleepwalker.

As Betsy delves deeper into the eerie environment, and discovers the secrets hidden within the island, the line between the supernatural and psychological begins to blur. We learn that Wesley’s mother and Paul’s stepmother (Edith Barrett) has been using the local’s belief in voodoo to slip in actual medical aid to the rather superstitious community, telling the islanders that Vodou spirits speak through her so that they will comply with her medical and sanitary recommendations.  She also holds a darker secret, one that dates back to the supposed tropical fever that put Jessica in her current near-catatonic condition, in fact, every one of the household seems to feel tons of guilt – with the possible exception of Wesley whose alcoholic cheating heart I don’t think can even process guilt – but his love for his brother’s wife will eventually take a page out of an E.C. comic.  What we get isn’t something I’d call a “just end” but it’s definitely poetic.

 

This is not quite walking off into the sunset together.

Stray Observations:

• Despite being optioned by the studio, Val Lewton did not like Inez Wallace’s “I Walked With A Zombie” so he adapted the story to fit the novel “Jane Eyre” as he felt Wallace’s plot was too clichéd. 
• While sailing to Saint Sebastian, Paul tells Betsy “There’s no beauty here, only death and decay. Everything good dies here. Even the stars.” With an attitude like that I’m betting he wasn’t asked to write for the island’s tourism board.
• On her first night, Betsy follows the sounds of a woman sobbing up the stone staircase of the old fort’s tower, and you can add that to my list of “Things I would never bloody do.”
• Both this film and Cat People feature rather graphically violent statuary that figure heavily into the plot.  Val Lewton and Jacques Tourneur clearly liked their symbolism to be a little heavy-handed.
• Dr. Maxwell comments “She makes a beautiful zombie doesn’t she?” which is a statement that will rarely be attributed to the zombie genre again.

 

The ethereal and lovely Christine Gordon.

With this horror entry, Val Lewton and director Jacques Tourneur proved you didn’t need zombies munching on flesh to terrify an audience, just some great lighting and a fantastic score, and it was all back-dropped by a tragic romance.  Basically, there’s a lot to love about this film and one of the most remarkable aspects of I Walked with a Zombie is its skilful use of atmosphere. The movie’s Caribbean setting, accompanied by its impressive cinematography and hauntingly beautiful visuals, creates a sense of other worldliness that permeates every frame. The shadowy forests, mysterious voodoo rituals and the constant presence of the crashing waves contributed to an unsettling ambience, leaving us immersed in a world where the line between reality and nightmare is indistinct.

Note: Jacques Tourneur’s handle of Haitian Vodou’s subject matter was surprisingly tactful and the script never treats it as evil, this is not to say its depiction here doesn’t have spooky elements.

Jacques Tourneur’s direction is masterful, showcasing his ability to build tension and suspense through subtle visual cues and deliberate pacing. The film’s narrative unfolds slowly, allowing both the characters and the audience to become enveloped in the unfolding mystery. And rather than relying on cheap jump scares or excessive gore, Tourneur builds a sense of dread through his expert control of the film’s atmosphere, creating a genuinely unsettling and eerie experience. With the combination of J. Roy Hunt’s brilliant cinematography, creating a world of light and dark, and the haunting score by composer Roy Webb you have the ingredients for a first-class horror movie. Then screenwriters Curt Siodmak and Ardel Wray take the whole genre up a notch and the result is more a tragic love story than it is a horror movie.

 

“If only my wife wasn’t a lifeless zombie, I could divorce her and marry you.”

On the acting side of things, Frances Dee delivers a commendable performance as Betsy Connell, the film’s compassionate and curious protagonist. She exudes a perfect balance of vulnerability and determination, drawing us into her quest for the truth. Tom Conway as Paul Holland adds an air of mystery to the film, portraying a conflicted and haunted man torn between love and duty.  This was a change of pace for him after playing the rather rakish psychiatrist in Cat People. Pretty much all of the supporting cast deserve praise for their contributions, particularly James Ellison as the drunken and tortured brother who is both sympathetic and pathetic in his struggles.  Finally, there is Christine Gordon as the enigmatic zombie-walking Jessica and she does a lot without saying a single word.

 

Not to say that’d I take her for a walk.

At its core, I Walked with a Zombie explores themes of love, fate, and the clash between science and spirituality. It delves into the complexities of the human psyche, examining the power of suggestion and the blurred boundaries between the conscious and the subconscious. By blending supernatural elements with psychological exploration, the film provokes thought and leaves a lasting impression on its viewers. However, it is worth noting that the film’s portrayal of the Caribbean and its inhabitants can be viewed through a lens of colonialism and cultural appropriation, which was prevalent in Hollywood productions of that era. While it is important to acknowledge these problematic aspects, it is also possible to appreciate the film’s artistic merits and its contributions to the horror genre.

Note: Jessica is stabbed in the arm during a voodoo ceremony and doesn’t bleed, which causes the islanders to believe she is an actual zombie, and while the film never declares the events depicted here as being supernatural this lack of bleeding is never explained.

In conclusion, I Walked with a Zombie is a classic horror film that continues to captivate audiences with its timeless atmosphere, exquisite visuals and evocative storytelling. It is Jacques Tourneur’s direction, coupled with standout performances of its cast that makes this film an unforgettable cinematic experience. Despite its age, this movie remains an essential watch for fans of classic horror and anyone seeking a haunting journey into the depths of the human psyche.