The She-Creature

Plot synopsis:
We open with the credits amid an underwater panorama of sea life, this is followed by a pounding surf. We see Dr. Carlo Lombardi (Chester Morris) on the beach. He encounters a barking dog (King) and through his hypnotic power repels it.Dorothy Chappel (Cathy Downs) arm in arm with her new boyfriend, Dr. Ted Erickson (Lance Fuller), who is a professor of Psychic Research, step outside on the terrace from a cocktail party at her parent's beach house. They go for a walk along the beach. We see Dorothy's parents, Timothy Chappel (Tom Conway) and his wife (Frieda Inescourt) out taking some air. Mrs. Chappel is concerned because Dr. Lombardi predicts something terrible will happen on the beach that very evening. Dorothy and Ted walk along the beach talking, as Lombardi enters a beach shack and discovers it is a shambles. He also discovers a dead couple. He seems neither surprised nor concerned. He discovers what appears to be seaweed on the floor. The dog approaches Dorothy and Ted and becons they follow him to the beach shack. They see Lombardi departing the house. Ted enters and sees the bodies, exits, and tells Dorothy to go home and call the police. He will remain there.The police arrive. Lt. Ed James (Ron Randell) and his Sergeant (Frank Jenks) examine the crime scene. They also notice the seaweed. The sergeant thinks it is Lombardi's creature, or so he tells James that is his wife's conclusion.Johnny (Paul Dubov) the carnie and general busybody runs a game of chance on a rundown pier arcade. We learn that he knew Andrea before Lombardi. He and Lombardi trade barbs. Lombardi goes to a small auditorium and we meet Andrea Talbott (Marla English). She is in a trance and Lombardi kisses her to wake her. He is in love with her, but she does not reciprocate. She hates and resents the power he has over her, and she tells him as much. There's a knock at the door. Lt. James and Ted arrive and confront Lombardi. Ted makes a positive identification of Lombardi as the person exiting the beach shack, the site of the recent Jefferson double murder. Lt. James questions Lombardi, then takes him in for further questioning.Olaf (Ed Brendel) is serving Mr. Chappel coffee with his breakfast out on the terrace. Ted arrives, dressed for tennis. They discuss the Jefferson murders and a possible business venture based on same. They conclude Lombardi is somehow involved, but Chappel intends to use Lombardi as a moneymaking vehicle. Ted is very reluctant to get involved for both professional and ethical reasons.Chappel goes down to the arcade to discuss business with Lombardi, but Lombardi anticipated his visit. They agree to a 50/50 arrangement, each for his own reasons. Lombardi returns to Andrea, and through her summons the She-Creature (Paul Blaisdell) and directs it to kill Johnny. It breaks down Johnny's door while he is relaxing on his cot, and kills him. The next morning, Lt. James returns to see Lombardi and arrests him for Johnny's murder, but Lombardi's lawyer (Jack Mulhall) springs him shortly after his arrest. The beaches are closed.That evening a party at the Chappel house is well attended. Mrs. Chappel is excited that Lombardi will be entertaining. Olaf and his wife, Marta (Flo Bert) are the serving staff for the evening. They are employed by the Chappels as much for comic relief as their domestic skills. A very drunk Bob (William Hudson), former fiancée of Dorothy, tries to rekindle their former relationship, but she gives him the brush off. Andrea and Lombardi arrive, and all eyes are on Andrea. Dorothy reacts with a tinge of jealousy. Lt. James arrives almost immediately thereafter. He asks Chappel for permission to remain and watch the performance. Everyone is instructed to be seated. Lombardi proceeds with his hypnosis of Andrea. She tries to resist his commands, but eventually complies. Lombardi challenges Dr. Ted Erickson to debunk his work publicly during the demonstration. Ted watches Lombardi regress Andreas back to a past life. She details the life of one Elizabeth Anne Weatherby from the year 1618. She provides very accurate details of her life and times. Elizabeth is the spirit that Lombardi uses to summon the She-Creature. The spirit of Elizabeth is asked to open a window and close some drapes, which happen on cue. The crowd murmurs astonishment. King appears and growls at Lombardi, and he commands the spirit of Elizabeth to remove the dog, which it does. Lombardi predicts the creature is coming to the assembled guests and they depart the Chappel house. Mrs. Chappel faints. Lombardi grabs his hat and coat and departs with Ted close behind. The She-Creature appears and is about to attack Ted, but Andrea wakes and screams and the creature walks back to the ocean.The next morning Dorothy and Ted talk of the evening's events. Lombardi was asked to spend the night as a guest of the Chappels. He joins them on the terrace. Mr. Chappel congratulates Lombardi on his performance. Lombardi informs Chappel he will be his house guest for a while. Lombardi meets with Andrea and informs her Ted will try to hypnotize her later at an arranged experiment and she should resist.Ted and Lt. James meet in Ted's lab. He agrees to let Lt. James sit in on the meeting he will be having later with some colleagues to test Andrea. Andrea and Lombardi arrive, along with Ted's professional colleagues (Kenneth MacDonald) and Professor Anderson (Edward Earle). Lt. James is recording the session. As proof of his powers, Lombardi summons Elizabeth to remove Prof. Anderson's glasses, and they come off his face. Lombardi departs with Andrea.The story is published and a million books are sold. Chapel tells Lombardi he is now rich and should find other lodgings, but again Lombardi refuses to leave. A tour of the country with Andrea follows to huge crowds.The She-Creature kills a couple in their car as Lombardi and Lt. James look on. James is convinced Lombardi did it, despite being Lombardi's alibi. During the tour, Andrea and Ted have fallen in love. Lombardi is furious at this new development and tells her he will arrange Ted's death. Dorothy tries to reconnect with Ted, but he makes it clear to her he's now in love with Andrea.Ted and Andrea walk along the beach with Lombardi spying on them. Lombardi directs King to attack Ted, but Andrea intercedes and calls the dog off. They head back to the Chappels house for the evening show. Lombardi tries to hypnotize Andrea but she resists. She eventually succumbs and falls into a trance, but is still uncooperative. Lombardi scares the crowd into leaving. He returns to Andrea to summon the She-Creature. Lt. James is on the beach and sees the creature materialize and shoots it, but it is impervious to bullets. It attacks him. Ted sees this and helps him to his feet and James tells Ted he now believes in Lombardi's power to summon the creature. The She-Creature, now set loose, attacks Chappel in his study. It then heads for the living room and Ted. But Andrea has now developed a little power herself, and directs the creature to Lombardi. After attacking Lombardi, she directs the creature back to the sea, where the police shoot at it. Lombardi, badly beaten, lives long enough to release Andrea from his control then collapses. Andrea, now herself, and Ted walk out on the terrace. We close with a shot of waves on the beach.

Tags: paranormal, romantic, murder

Review:
Directed by Edward (50 movies a year) Cahn and written by Lou Rusoff (who also penned Dragstrip Girl, Cat Girl, Runaway Daughters, Apache Woman, Oklahoma Woman, and Girls in Prison; hmmm, I notice a violent femme pattern here), the She Creature is notable for Albert Kallis evocative poster, Paul Blaisdell's terrific prehistoric "she" monster (complete with scaly hooters), and the mesmerizingly gorgeous Marla English in what appears to have been her last role.
Fuller's acting expressions range from "gee that's a tight sweater" to "gee that's a tight dress" to `gee my pants are tight.' The snidely-whiplash villain, Dr. Carlo Lambardi, is played by Chester Morris with the seriousness of a man passing his 15th kidney stone.
Powerful, resentful and diabolically clever hypnotist Carlo Lombardi (deliciously played with lip-smacking suave menace by Chester Morris) puts his beautiful lady assistant Andrea (the strikingly lovely Marla English) under his evil spell and causes her to transform into a hideously ugly, scaly, clawed murderous prehistoric she beast (famed 50's monster make-up maven Paul Blaisdell in a fabulously funky rubber suit) which bumps off people he hates.
It's got all the usual bad film vices (or are they virtues?) which make this kind of dross so entertainingly awful: blah direction, incredibly slow pacing, chintzy cinematography, some very poor acting (Lance Fuller as Lombardi's rival gives a performance that's so flat and wooden you can use it as a diving board), a hokey script, a seedy seaside California location, blundering idiot cops, lousy dialogue, a laughably sluggish'n'shambling monster that's more silly than scary, and a rousing cornball spacey'n'spooky score.
'Tis a shame the creature moves so slow as to make anyone killed by it look utterly pathetic.The plot is a mixture of clichéd horror and cut-price hypnotism, a concern which you can tell was topical in 1956.
The crucial figure is that of the sole experienced and professional actor in the film, Chester Morris, who seems to know how to handle this ludicrous material, by playing it deadly seriously.
A woman in a hypnotic trance allows a worker of psychological magic to bring forth a she-creature from the sea that kills to makes his predictions of death come true.
One of his few unfortunate ventures back to the big screen was The She-Creature.Morris is in a cast with a whole lot of players like Cathy Downs, Tom Conway, El Brendel, and Frieda Inescourt whose careers had evaporated in film, due to blacklist and other problems.
Most of the film she's in a trance and at a certain point in the trance, she dreams up from her past life a long extinct sea creature who looks like The Creature from the Black Lagoon's bride.
You can tell by the rack the makeup people provide so we know it's the dreaming Marla.This She-Creature is Morrris's personal hit squad, killing both skeptics of his hypnotic abilities to bring out past lives and anyone else who looks longingly at English.
And I do remember him from the Fifties and Sixties showing a lot of quality acting in various television series.Maybe the guy from The Black Lagoon might like this film..
Even with a decent-looking B monster, which doesn't get enough screen time, this movie is lacking in suspense and over all the story just isn't as intriguing as one would think.
The She-Creature is typical of the stuff American International were making at this time and is one of their better efforts.A series of murders are the result of a rather nasty prehistoric monster that keeps coming up from the ocean.
As more killings take place, the hypnotist gets the blame for the murders but the monster kills him at the end and everything returns to normal.The monster suit looks surprisingly quite good and was the responsibility of Paul Blaisdell, who designed and played a lot of the monsters in these sort of movies.The movie has quite a good cast: Chester Morris, Falcon actor and sci-fi/horror regular Tom Conway (Cat People, The Atomic Submarine), Cathy Downs (The Amazing Colossal Man, Missile To the Moon), Lance Fuller (This Island Earth), Marla English (Voodoo Woman)and Ron Randell.The She-Creature is worth watching, especially if you are a 1950's sci-fi/horror fan.Rating: 3 stars out of 5..
The She Creature, a creation of fabulous monster maker Paul Blaisdell, was actually a scary looking creation.
The plot is pretty predictable; Marla portrays Andrea, a young woman under the spell of a slimy hypnotist/con man, portrayed by Chester Morris.
Of course we have to have a young hero to come save the beautiful maiden, and that part was played by Lance Fuller, in a drop dead dull performance...did the man have botox injections in his face, or what?
This movie was made when the whole Bridey Murphy reincarnation phase was popular, and the makers of the film want us to believe that we apparently didn't evolve from apes, but we evolved from some weird half lobster, half reptilian creature from the ocean...don't ask.
Granted, the guy who played Dr. Carlo Lombardi at least did a relatively good job and his assistant was a pretty sight.The story in this film has a man who uses hypnotism in an act that does not look all that entertaining.
Well this man falls for the evil hypnotist's assistant and wishes to break the hold Dr. Carlo Lombardi has on her because she is attractive leaving me to wonder why so many females fall for this guy.This made for a very funny episode of MST3K featuring many good riffs as there was plenty to work with even if you only take into account Lance Fuller's acting ability.
Maybe it was cut out, but there seems to be no good reason for him to be staying with the family if he doesn't like them.So not really a great movie in my eyes as it is one of a number of films that feature a monster that comes out so infrequently that at times you forget the movie features it.
I notice a lot of other films with the title She Creature and I wonder if they are a play on this film and I may check them out as they came out later which means perhaps a better looking monster, some good gore and maybe a topless assistant!.
Professor Lombardi (Chester Morris)hypnotizes Andrea(Marla English)sending her back through past lives.All the way back until she was a sea creature from the pre historic days.This creature is under his control and kills wantonly.While the creature suit is a fondly remembered favorite, it isn't enough to save this bomb.
Ron Randall as a policeman does the worst Humphrey Bogart impression I've ever seen.For a better & funnier Bogart act check out Anthony Carbone in Creature From The Haunted Sea.Tom Conway who played the Falcon is in this as well.One of the doctors in a scene was played by one of the villains who starred in a majority of the Three Stooges reels.I kept expecting Moe & Curley to show up.Spread out!!One actor does a Foster Brooks drunk act years before Brooks.Not nearly as funny either.
Interesting 'B' horror pic from AIP about a carnival hypnotist (Chester Morris) who is able to use hypnotism to make a woman regress to her prehistoric self, a humanoid sea monster.
Director Edward Cahn would reunite with stars Conway, English, and Lance Fuller the following year for Voodoo Woman, an uninspired effort that tries (and fails) to recapture this movie's charms.
Yes it is slow at times, but better than you might expect with Chester Morris staying totally in character for every second he is on screen displaying acting skill and supreme polish.
Most 50's cheap-o films would not take the time and effort to plan and stage scenes as well as this.The hypnotist (Morris) and the creature at times are menacing and overall Morris is hypnotic to watch, if at times slow-moving.Washed up cheap cast and cheap 50's B&W but somewhat entertaining and not just a time-waster, despite its basic schlock nature..
This picture is most famous for its grand monster creation: a lobster-like, humanoid female prehistoric beast that's a reincarnation of the leading lady (Marla English).
Many people had been waiting years to see Boston Blackie (Chester Morris) and The Falcon (Tom Conway) on screen together.
To make it happen, he hypnotizes the beautiful Marla English (who does things with sweaters that would rival any of today's starlets) and regresses her to a past life.
Tom Conway keeps Morris on because he likes seeing his resort packed (if you think this is ghoulish, think of all the people who paid to see Lennox Lewis and Mike Tyson just hoping to see Iron Mike bite of a body part).The only interesting part of this schlock is Paul Blaisdell's creature.
I had to pity Chester Morris as Lombardi, who very obviously wasn't happy about doing these cheesy roles in low budget B movies towards the end of his career.
The She Creature Itself is a great rubber costume, looking like a cross between a giant catfish, a lobster and a Horror Of Party Beach reject.
Several people believe the doctor to be at the heart of the killings.The most ridiculous thing about the film is, of course, the monster itself...which looks pretty silly.
The film clearly didn't have much of a budget either and much of it is taken up by talking and/or scenes that don't require any special effects - director Edward L Cahn having the good sense to keep the monster's appearances down to a minimum.
A sad end for a very good actor.In this film, Chester Morris plays Dr. Lombardi--a stage hypnotist with amazing powers.
Apart from looking at how beautiful Lombardi's muse (Marla English) is, there isn't a lot of positive things to say about this cheap film.
The monster, in particular, is pretty comical looking...and instead of instilling fear in the audiences watching the movie, it likely just elicited laughter.
I personally like this film - it's not perfect, it's entertainment.Not a bad B-film but it's not the best of the 1950s B sci-fi horror films but it is entertaining in it's way.Someone said this film is (Creature from the Black Lagoon) Gill-man's girlfriend - and I will have to agree.
As awful as The She-Creature is, it may hold some interest for the following types: Those wondering what Chester Morris would look like with black shoe polish on his hair...People who don't believe whiskey can make a 52-year old man look as if he is eighty-two -- here's what's left of Tom Conway...Serious perverts who may become excited by the sight of a female Creature from the Black Lagoon -- wow!
Not only is these the endless scenes of him at parties and showing of her going around trying to build a case of his phoniness that comes off as the main focus here, there's not a whole lot here which makes it seem interesting or exciting and this leaves the film just wandering around and just plain stalling for creature action as it winds through them, leaving the few moments of action fun but entirely all-too-brief.
look like the inside of a 1958 Los Angeles Savings and Loan).Not to mention, that the script makes absolutely no sense, the dialog is embarrassing, the acting, (by all concerned, though Lance Fuller comes off best) abysmal, and the whole thing is ponderously dull.No one on the production team seems to have had any idea of what they were doing, (many scenes are under-lit and actors routinely block out the key light of the player with whom they are playing the scene).The final sequence depicts Lance Fuller and Marla English in a nighttime, moon lit garden, where, (absolutely no kidding here) they both cast their shadows on the cyclorama behind them !
One from "The Arkoff Library" released as R2 DVD exclusives and a film I was intrigued by after viewing its trailer in view of the theme (reincarnation-by-hypnosis inspired, as was Roger Corman's similarly fanciful THE UNDEAD [1957], by THE SEARCH FOR BRIDEY MURPHY [1956]) and the cast (led by old hands Chester Morris and Tom Conway).
Apparently, Morris is able to take his subject as far back to the beginning of time where the titular creature emerged from the sea to kill(?!); of course, he cannot resist bringing it back again to do his evil biddingthat is, until the girl concerned falls for (and learns to resist his will thanks to) a rival yet much younger 'practitioner'.
Actually, the design of the monster (looking a bit like the gill-man from Universal's "Creature From The Black Lagoon" series) is quite effective and the film as a whole (anticipating in its carnival/watery setting Curtis Harrington's decidedly more poetic debut feature NIGHT TIDE [1961]), though hardly essential genre fare, is somewhat more tolerable than I was expecting it to be – given a less-than-stellar reputation.
Chester Morris plays Dr. Carlo Lombardi, a mysterious hypnotist who claims that he can revert a hypnotized girl(played by Marla English) into a past life, not only recent past, but ancient past, when she was an aquatic prehistoric "she-creature"!
No Gill Man. One of the worst monster movies of the 1950s, THE SHE-CREATURE is about a sinister hypnotist (Chester Morris) who somehow is able to awaken a sea creature from the distant past to do his bidding.
Actually, my nomination for "This movie's so bad, I'm not even going to try" award goes to Chester Morris, formerly known as Boston Blackie, with Ron Randell's "where am I" cop a close second.
She Creature, The (1956) * 1/2 (out of 4) An evil hypnotist (Chester Morris) puts his assistant under a trance but she just happens to be the reincarnation of a 300-year-old sea creature who returns to start killing.
The look of the creature is very good but that's about all this film has to offer.
Chester Morris is a delightfully sinister villain as Dr. Carlo Lombardi, a hypnotist who deals in matters of transmigration, age regression, and reincarnation.
His unwilling assistant is young Andrea Talbott (the strikingly attractive Marla English); every time after he "puts her under", a prehistoric monster that was supposedly HER in a long ago past life emerges from the ocean and kills somebody.
The inept police, led by the stubbornly skeptical Lt. James (Ron Randell), and Dr. Erickson (Mr. Fuller) think Lombardi's a big fat phony but still see him as dangerous; naturally, by the end of this picture their minds have opened a bit more."The She-Creature" ain't high quality stuff, to be sure, and it's ultimately too dull too much of the time to get rated very high, but it *is* at least amusing enough to have appeal for schlock devotees.Seven out of 10..
Like Chester Morris in the lead role as the villainous Dr. Carlo Lombardi, keeping his lovely female assistant (Marla English) under a hypnotic spell as he regresses her into the spirit and form of a prehistoric she-creature.
The plot is a bit odd, though: hypnotist Chester Morris is obsessed with his assistant, Marla, putting her under deep so he can summon folks from the past including a lady from the 1600s and a sea creature that appears at first in a cloud before manifesting into a scaly monster that kills at his command.
Hypnotist Dr. Lombardi (Chester Morris) puts his assistant Andrea (Marla English) into a deep sleep.
When this happens her thing in a past life (the title creature) comes out of the sea and kills people.
THE SHE CREATURE has going for it one of the greatest monster costumes ever (rarely) seen- and the voluptuous Marla English (who makes the movie tolerable whenever the Creature's not on screen).
Tom Conway's the Big Name Star slumming this time around, but his death makes for one of the movie's better scenes, so all is forgiven.
Lance Fuller as "Ted" is the unsung star of this one: watch his eyes as they widen when he's told: "They'll swallow it, they'll swallow it whole- and they'll LOVE it..." Paul Blaisdell's Creatures were ALWAYS worth seeing, even if the movies in which they (rarely) appeared weren't.
Complete with breasts, this scaly creature with crab claws appears to be some ancient ghost, reincarnated as the living human beauty Mara English who ends up under the thumb of the psychotic Chester Morris.
**SPOILERS** The movie "The She Creature" seems to have been highly influenced by the reincarnation craze of the 1950's revolving around the past life of Colorado housewife Mrs. Simmons who in her previous incarnation was the 19th century Irish woman Bridey Murphy.The movie instead of concentrating on the reincarnation angle goes all over the place with the somewhat unstable carnival hypnotist and mind reader, as well as prognosticator, Dr. Carlo Lombari, Chester Morris, who's completely obsessed with his beautiful assistant Andrea Talbott, Marla English.
Dr. Lombardi is so possessive of Andrea that his trying to get her to be his soul-mate just turns her off to the wild and crazy guy.It's when the handsome and a bit skeptic, of Dr. Lombardi's psychic powers, Dr. TedErckson, Lance Fuller, comes on the scene that things really start to unwind with the by now mad Doctor Lombardi going so far as conjuring up this She, or Sea, Creature to do Dr. Erickson in.
Besides being a woman from 17th century England, Elizabeth Wetherby, It's also brought out that Andera was this 1950's looking spaceman, or spacewoman,in the very distance, about 300 to 400 million years ago, past that came out of the primordial soup and was to become the precursor or mother of the human race;The She Creature!The film has money hungry entrepreneur Timothy Chapple, Tom Conway, make a deal with Dr. Lombardi to manage his carnival act and make millions for both himself and the mad doctor.
With the assistance of hypnotist Dr. Carlo Lambardi (Chester Morris), Andrea Talbott (Marla English) is capable of regressing through a series of past lives.