The Alligator People
Tags: flashback

Plot synopsis:
The movie opens with title and credits shown over a scene of a mangrove swamp. A Chrysler Imperial with Louisiana MD license plates pulls into a parking lot. It is the Doctors Only lot of the Webley Sanitarium. Doctor Eric Lorimer (Bruce Bennett) exits his car and enters the office of Dr. Wayne MacGregor (Douglas Kennedy). MacGregor is a neuropathologist. Eric is joining Wayne as a consultant on an interesting case. The case involves a nurse, Jane Marvin. Wayne explains, "That's the name she's using." Wayne is conducting research in narco-hypnosis techniques. Wayne calls his nurse to come into the office. Wayne introduces his nurse, Jane Marvin, aka Joyce Webster (Beverly Garland) to Eric Lorimer. Jane rests on the couch and Wayne injects her with a mild sedative and asks her to count backwards. The Pentothal acts quickly. In addition to a tape recorder, Wayne has a polygraph, or lie detector, set up to record the session. Wayne asks her name, and she replies, "Joyce Hatten...Joyce Hatten Webster." When he asks her if she is married she admits, "I was. I was Mrs. Paul Webster." Then she admits she is not sure. Wayne asks her to tell them her story. She starts by saying, "I met Paul overseas. He was a lieutenant. I was nursing in a hospital. We made plans to be married after we were both discharged." The tale is told in flashback.On a moving train, Joyce and her new husband, Paul Webster (Richard Crane) are sitting in a sleeping car. A train Porter (an uncredited Dudley Dickerson) opens a bottle of champagne and pours it into two glasses. Paul tips the Porter before he leaves and the happy couple share a kiss. Paul admits he was in an aircraft accident, but dismisses stories of how serious it was. Joyce tells him, "You wouldn't believe what that hospital doctor told me when I called. Well, according to him, you were more dead than alive. Almost every bone broken: completely torn, mangled, smashed." She notes that he has no marks or scars, therefore it couldn't have been that serious. Paul admits it was serious. He screws up enough courage to tell her the truth about why he waited so long to tell her the story. The Porter returns with telegrams of congratulations. Paul reads one telegram and is visibly upset. He folds it up and then exits the cabin. He asks the conductor (an uncredited Hal K. Dawson), "When's the next stop?" The next stop is in 35 minutes, but a very short mail pickup stop is coming up right now. Paul needs a telephone, but the conductor advises against leaving the train. It is a 30 second stop. Paul refuses to tell Joyce what is bothering him. The train pulls away and Joyce is frantic.We are back in Dr. MacGregor's office and Joyce is still telling her story under hypnosis. She tells the doctors she got off at the next stop and went back to the platform, but there was no sign of Paul. She talked to his friends and checked prior addresses. She spoke to police, hired private detectives, and spoke to the Army. Since Paul had never mentioned family she had no clues. Months later she contacted his college, via his fraternity. It was Louisiana State University, and the only address, when he enrolled, was in Bayou Landing, a place called the Cypresses. She went on the train and was the only person at the station. There was a large crate on the platform addressed to the Cypresses that had a large label indicating the contents: Cobalt-60. She sat on the crate waiting for someone to pick it up. A scruffy gentleman with a hook hand drove up and told her he was driving out to the Cypresses. Manon (Lon Chaney, Jr.) had come for the crate and invited Joyce for a ride back to the plantation house. Manon stops to clear a fallen branch that is blocking their path. Joyce witnesses two men wrestling an alligator in the swamp. She is visibly disturbed by the sight. Manon hates gators, and tells Joyce, "Dirty, nasty, slimy gators." A large one crosses the road in their path and Manon deliberately runs over the creature. He shows her his hook hand and explains a gator took it off. She exits the truck at the front door and knocks. The butler, Toby (an uncredited Vince Townsend, Jr.) answers the door. Mrs. Lavinia 'Vinnie' Hawthorne (Frieda Inescort) descends the stairs with a cane in hand. Lavinia directs the butler to admit Joyce into the house. Joyce tells Vinnie her story of her search for her husband. When Joyce tells the older woman her name, Mrs. Paul Webster, Vinnie tries to stifle a surprised response. Vinnie then accuses Joyce of playing some game and making up a story. She introduces herself as Mrs. Henry Hawthorne, a widow, and then asks her to leave at once. Toby reminds his boss that the next train is tomorrow. Vinnie reluctantly agrees to put Joyce up for the night. She tells the maid, Louann (an uncredited Ruby Goodwin) to show the lady to the guest room upstairs. Vinnie insists Joyce not leave her room under any circumstances.That evening, Joyce hears shots being fired outside. Vinnie orders Toby to tell Manon to stop shooting at the gators. That is when Joyce realizes she has been locked in her room. Down in the swamp, a very drunk Manon screams and shoots at the alligators. Louann will not give Joyce any information, but warns her to leave as soon as possible. The phone rings and Vinnie answers. It is Dr. Mark Sinclair (George Macready) calling. He stands next to a very large alligator strapped down to a table. Vinnie tells Mark, "She's here, Mark. Paul's wife." She tells the doctor shell be right over and they can decide what to do about this complication. Joyce watches Lavinia drive off in the station wagon. Vinnie drives up to the house Sinclair is using as a lab and hospital. A figure in a bathrobe struggles with three male nurses (uncredited: John Frederick, Ken Kane and Lee Warren). Dr. Sinclair enters the room as the nurses manage to get the patient under control and back to bed. We see the doctor inject the patient in the arm. The skin is reptilian in texture. Vinnie enters the lab and calls out to Mark. He explains that he had an emergency with number six (an uncredited Bill Bradley). Apparently Sinclair and Vinnie were not successful in covering all references to Paul. Sinclair explains he needs more time to test before he can proceed. Mark promises to stop in the morning and talk to Joyce.Paul, dressed in a trench coat, enters the plantation house. Joyce is upstairs in her room. She managed to steal the key from Louann earlier. She hears the piano being played downstairs and goes to investigate. She quietly enters the darkened room and sees the face of the man playing the piano. His face has a reptilian texture. Paul runs from the room leaving very strange footprints. Vinnie drives back to the house and Paul stops her on the path and demands, "What's she doing here?" They both agree she must leave the next morning.The next morning Dr. Sinclair drives his swamp buggy to the plantation house. Joyce is pacing outside on the porch. He introduces himself and waxes philosophical about the swamp. Joyce introduces herself as Mrs. Paul Webster, then carefully examines the doctor's face for any sign of surprise or recognition. He feigns ignorance, but Joyce calls him on it. Mark Sinclair departs. One of the nurses unpacks the Cobalt-60 and loads it into the X-Ray machine. At the house, Joyce looks through Vinnie's desk. Vinnie catches her and demands to know why Joyce abuses her hospitality. Joyce tells Vinnie, "I'm not leaving here until I get the answers to the questions that brought me here." Joyce bluntly accuses her hostess of lying to her. Vinnie finally admits that she is Paul's mother.Paul returns to the house. He enters and goes to the parlor to talk to his mother. He asks his mother if Joyce has gone, but Joyce gets up from the chair that hid her face, and responds, "No, Paul, she hasn't. Paul what is it? What happened?" Paul runs from the house, and Joyce chases him into the swamp. She calls to her husband, and Manon hears her calls and goes out after her. Manon rescues her and takes her to his cabin. He gets her a glass of moonshine, and then tries to take advantage of her. She screams and he slugs her, knocking her out. Paul enters the cabin and sees Manon starting to undress his wife. He attacks the drunk. Paul carries his unconscious wife back to the plantation house. Manon comes to and vows, "I'll kill you, alligator man! Just like I'd kill any four-legged gator!"Toby and Louann take Joyce upstairs to the guest room. Vinnie tells Paul they can't keep the secret any longer. Paul is becoming despondent over his condition but his mother is hopeful. Paul goes back to the lab and talks to Mark. Mark confirms the Cobalt-60 arrived, but any treatment using the radioactive element is months away. Paul insists the treatment begin immediately. X-ray combined with Gamma radiation has the chance of a complete recovery, but Mark argues, "And it might kill you!" Mark relents, and agrees he will proceed the next night. Mark informs Paul he will tell Joyce the whole story in the morning.Joyce goes to see Dr. Sinclair the next morning. An alligator is strapped down on the X-Ray machine and Mark exposes it to the treatment. The gator hisses during the exposure. Joyce tells Dr. Sinclair she is a nurse. Mark explains his research on hormones, specifically with hydrocortisone. He notes that some lizards can grow a new tail, or replace an entire limb if lost. His research was financed by Vinnie and alligator extracts were used on dying men and women. The recovery was remarkable, but there was a side effect. Patient number six presents with an emergency, so Mark invites Joyce to witness the side effect first hand. She sees Patient Number Six with the skin texture of an alligator. The man is suffering brain damage and responds to a sun lamp, "As a depressant on reptiles, it makes them lethargic, dormant." Joyce finally realizes what her husband is becoming: an alligator. Mark tells Joyce that Paul will be treated tonight. Joyce insists on seeing Paul and witnessing the treatment. That evening Paul arrives at the lab, and Joyce confronts him. He reluctantly agrees to discuss his condition. Vinnie and Mark arrive and preparation for the treatment begins. Joyce begins to cry and Vinnie comforts her. Vinnie admits, "I'm sorry for the way I treated you. Paul was so desperate to keep you from knowing. We did everything we could."A drunk Manon enters the main house with a gun. He demands to know where Paul is located. Toby convinces him Paul is not in the house. Manon concludes he must be in the lab and leaves the plantation house. In the lab, Paul is strapped to the X-Ray table. The exposure interval is 30 seconds, no more or it could be lethal. Mark tells Paul to relax and keep his eyes closed. Treatment begins and Mark times it with a stop watch. Manon breaks into the lab demanding to see Paul. One of the male nurses and Vinnie demand he leave. Manon enters the shielded area and knocks Dr. Mark Sinclair out while the treatment is under way. The machinery begins to overheat and the exposure lasts too long. Manon sees a man on the table with the head of an alligator. Manon is disappointed his quarry is not there, "No, you ain't him." Paul hops off the table and growls at Manon. Manon snags his hook in the X-Ray machine cables and is electrocuted. Paul exits the X-Ray room and faces his wife and mother. Joyce screams and Vinnie faints. Paul runs out of the lab and into the swamp. Joyce chases after her husband calling his name. Mark comes to just as the lab explodes. Paul sees his reflection in the water of the swamp. He wades into the water and attacks an alligator. Joyce follows and witnesses the struggle. Paul falls into quicksand and is pulled under to his death. She screams and we return to MacGregor's office.Wayne turns off the tape recorder and asks Eric what he thinks of the story. Aspects of her story check out. The problem the doctor faces is that Jane has suppressed the story and lives a happy life. So, what to do? Let her listen to the painful story or just leave well enough alone? Jane enters the office and tells her boss she is going off duty. Wayne and Eric decide not to tell Jane/Joyce. We close with a shot of the tape recorder running.

Review: 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.
Beverly Garland plays a newlywed wife named Joyce who despairs when her husband (Richard Crane) ducks off the train they're honeymooning on to make an urgent phone call, and then is never heard from again.
His mother (Frieda Inescort, who's pretty bad in this) tries to discourage Joyce in her search and at first does not give her a welcome reception.Miss Garland is quite believable and sincere in her part, and this is a nice-looking black and white film shot in the cinemascope process, showing off some nice imagery in the land of alligators and snakes.
Chaney is also involved in a violent rape sequence, which is pretty shocking for those times.The scaly makeup for Richard Crane in its early stages is pretty effective, but when he emerges in full alligator-headed form later on, the first instinct is usually to laugh.
But even if it was filmed at some other Louisiana location, I suppose I will continue to adopt this analogy.If you're like this reviewer, you will watch this movie and all of its seemingly ancient special effects and rubber costumes with a wide-eyed wonderment.
"Starring" the totally under-appreciated Beverly Garland (a scream queen of the 50s) and Tuesday Weld's mom in PRETTY POISON in the 60s, this sly "gator" tale is walked through Cajun swamps into unknown realms where George MacReady and Lon Chaney, Jr. live every day.
One has to be patient in some of these classic films, as many of them begin rather slowly.....but there is a reward if you stick with it.This story is told in flashback as a woman "Joyce Weber," played by Beverly Garland) is given an injection and relates to two doctors the amazing story of what happened to her and her missing husband.Garland did well and looked terrific.
She has a long resume of movies and TV shows.Lon Chaney plays a goofy role, a man who is obsessed with shooting alligators after one had the nerve to eat his hand.
George Macready, whose best days were behind him, too, ("Gilda" is my favorite film of his) is the other doctor, who is there to witness "Joyce's" story as it is told under some sort of truth serum.Lesser-known Richard Crane plays the "Paul Crane," the alligator man.The title of the film is a bit misleading.
It's all part of a man-plays-God experiment in which the good doctor is trying to help people who are desperate straights.Without giving the last 25 minutes away - which was very good - along with particularly excellent ending that had some intelligent twists to it - suffice it made up for the earlier slower moments..
The idea of the Alligator serum being able to rejuvenate damaged tissue is a good one (although the writers could not have known it at the time, there actually is something in Crocodilian blood which greatly accelerates the healing process and halts the spread of infection).The movie is worth watching, because Beverly Garland is always worth watching..
The newlywed bride(Beverly Garland)tracks her husband down in a Louisiana bayou getting injections of a serum from alligator glands.
Not gonna bother much with the plot for you b/c if you bother to see this you'll see that they enjoy explaining crap to you over and over again (seriously, how many times does Lon Chaney explain the reason he has a hook hand?)which actually kinda makes it an unintentionally funny film and most definitely hokey.
The special effects are not very special at all and the only redeeming quality other than the so bad it's good acting is Lon Chaney's portrayal of a drunken Bayou man who lost his hand to an alligator and has a big beef with them reptiles.
Now you can't take this movie seriously.The acting is fine especially Lon Chaney as Manon, the evil hook handed worker.Bev Garland is very convincing.(She went on to play Mrs Steve Douglas in My Three Sons.So who cares, right?).The swamp is very oppressive ,realistic set.The alligator suit is a howl.
The Alligator People is really a good horror movie that doesn't disappoint!My favorite actor Lon Chaney jr.
The rest of the cast is great too but Beverly is really shines here.There is a bit of a mystery that plays out in this one, over the course of the film you will find out what really happened to Joyce's husband Paul and why it has happened.The ending may not be exactly what you would expect but it's an interesting way to end a movie - in particular one of this nature.Worth watching if you like the older b-grade sci-fi horror films.
The Alligator People (1959) *** (out of 4)Fun monster film has a wife (Beverly Garland) goings into the swamps to try and find out what has happened to her missing husband.
Once there she's pretty much greeted with coldness but soon she realizes the terror that has happened to her husband and it's only going to get worse.THE ALLIGATOR PEOPLE is a pretty fun monster film that manages to have a nice cast doing fine work and there's just an overall good feel to the entire thing.
This was obviously done in the same mode as THE FLY and like that film there are certainly some flaws to be found but overall there's no denying that monster fans should have a good time with it.I honestly think the best thing in the picture are the performances with Garland doing an extremely good job in the role of the wife.
Lets face it, horror films are often victim to actors just phoning in their performances but that's not the case here because Garland really does the dramatics good and especially when she realizes that her husband is turning into an alligator.
I also thought Lon Chaney, Jr. was very good and certainly entertaining in his role as the swamp man with a hook for a hand.
The Alligator People is one of the last sci fi movies made by 20th Century Fox in the 1950's.A woman goes searching for her missing husband and she tracks him down at his family's estate in the Bayou.
To complete things, there is a drunk who has had one of his arms replaced by a hook after an alligator eaten it.The unusual looking alligator suit is quite impressive.The movie stars 50's sci fi regular Beverley Garland (It Conquered the World), Lon Chaney Jr.
(The Wolf Man) as the hooked drunk and Bruce Bennett (The Cosmic Man) who turns into the mutant alligator.I enjoyed watching this movie and is a treat for fans of monsters and 50's sci fi.Rating: 3 and a half stars out of 5..
As a kid, I couldn't bring myself to look at the Alligator People, but now that I'm more resilient, I'd like to say: Ms. Garland was a fine actress who definitely added dignity and class to whatever film she was in (and sad to say, she was in some stinkers), and the rest of the cast are top-notch.
Even today, I think that "The Alligator People" has an eerie ambiance that belies its B-movie origins: the hypnotism therapy, the mysterious plantation, Lon Chaney Jr.'s gators, and the tormented lead character.
Beverly Garland, in the role of the wife of the crocodile-man, and Lon Chaney Jr., in the role of the guy with one hand eaten by crocodiles, are both very good, convincing, perfect actors.
Also starring Lon Chaney Jr (with a really great accent) and Olympic silver medalist Bruce Bennett.The film is somewhat cheesy with the hook hand and the hypnosis, but this is a B-movie and by B-movie standards it sits as a fairly well-constructed story with some solid makeup effects and scientific gadgets.
The medical charts and animal diagrams that define 1950s sci-fi / horror are present for those who want to see the muscle structure of an alligator.There is a good bit of fun here, and there really never is a bad film when Lon Chaney (senior or junior) appears.
Like the fact that her newlywed husband has turned into an alligator man.Mad scientist George MacReady who keeps his lab on the sassafras and magnolia plantation of Frieda Inescourt is doing all kinds of experiments looking for disease cures.
Recounting a traumatic experience, a woman tells how her search for her missing husband leads to a scientist in the Everglades and his past experiments with him, eventually finding that he's been turned into a half-man, half-alligator monster who she must keep from getting loose.There's not a whole lot here that's really impressive about this one, making for a pretty disappointing effort.
Roy Del Ruth directed this Gothic horror yarn that stars Beverly Garland as Joyce Webster, who is being hypnotized by two doctors, who then tells her story about how, years ago, she was on her honeymoon with her husband Paul(played by Richard Crane).
Things however do not go well...Lon Chaney Jr.(over)plays a crazed Cajun determined to kill Paul.Despite some good atmosphere, cast, and (black & white) cinema-scope direction, this fails because of unintentional humor, since the alligator costume is inadequate and inflexible, though film is still worth some camp value, with an interesting modern day framing device..
The missing husband's trail leads to Louisiana swamps and strange goings-on.I grew up thinking Beverly Garland was just naturally attracted to monsters of one sort or another—and she was so pretty.
Joyce Webster (Beverly Garland) searches for her husband Paul (Richard Crane) who inexplicably abandoned her on their wedding night.
Paul Webster (Crane) disappears suddenly on his honeymoon, and his wife (Garland) spends years searching for him, finally ending up at a mysterious (and very damp) plantation called The Cypresses in the bayous of Louisiana.Frieda Inescort plays The Cypresses' tyrannical matron, and is accompanied by her unhinged hired hand Chaney (who else?), the local "swamp doctor" Macready, and an assortment of other household helpers.
At the critical moment during the treatment, Chaney bursts in, punches out the doctor, and manages to electrocute himself on Macready's space-age equipment, but not before Crane has been turned into a true "gator-man": big alligator head and scaly chest.
Chipper newlywed Joyce Webster (a typically fine and robust portrayal by the ever lovely Beverly Garland) gets dumped by her husband Paul (dashing hunk Richard Crane) on their wedding night.
Lon Chaney, Jr. contributes a lively turn as gruff, hearty, lecherous hook-handed local yokel troublemaker Manon, plus there are nice supporting performances by Frieda Inescort as Paul's stern, but loyal mother Lavinia Hawthorne, George MacReady as earnest physician Dr. Mark Sinclair, and Douglas Kennedy as helpful psychiatrist Dr. Wayne MacGregor.
The central narrative is unnecessarily framed – and, consequently, slowed down – by scenes in which heroine Beverly Garland recounts her incredible experience to a couple of psychiatrists: on the night of her marriage to a young man who had miraculously survived a plane crash, he runs out on her without so much as a word; she starts looking high and low for him until she stumbles upon an enigmatic address situated deep in the swamplands of Louisiana; of course, she goes there and is met with outright hostility by the lady of the house (Frieda Inescort) who claims to have no knowledge of the man in question!; since Garland has nowhere to stay, Inescort is forced to put her up for the night – with the condition that she doesn’t stray from her room and that she leave the next morning; however, that night, the heroine sees her host leave the mansion in a car at dead of night and, then, hears someone playing the piano downstairs (a silly sequence, and such a cliché!) – so, she determines to stay and unravel the mystery of “The Cypresses”; the morning after, she meets a local scientist (George Macready) sent by Inescort to find out just how much Garland knows.Needless to say, before long, the leading lady comes face to face with the awful truth: Macready’s cure involving a serum extracted from the hormones of alligators(!) has the unfortunate side-effect that its recipients’ skin starts to turn scaly and their countenance becomes generally reptilian – to be fair to the doctor, his aims were humanitarian rather than morbid curiosity (such as was the case with the somewhat similar SSSSSSS [1973], in which a man is turned into a Cobra).
Predictably, just when Macready is trying the newest and most dangerous experiment to try and revert the transformation, Chaney bursts in and, as per the norm in this type of flick, literally brings the house down: Macready is knocked out, the hero’s over-exposure to radioactivity turns him into a full-fledged croc (at which sight Inescort – his mother – obviously faints), while Chaney is electrocuted when he tries to attack the monster (eventually causing the lab to explode); the latter flees into the night (with Garland following), fights a host of real alligators, and finally drowns in quicksand!
It seems that the movie probably had a bit bigger budget than usual for the genre, as the special effects were a tad better than I'd expected.Beverly Garland stars as a young woman determined to discover what happened to her husband who disappeared on their honeymoon.
As one who likes this silly genre, I was definitely not disappointed--enjoying all the silliness you'd expect from this sort of thing.By the way, at the end when our fated hero is fighting with the alligator in the swamp, look carefully.
Newlywed Beverly Garland finds out that, as a side-effect of an experimental drug treatment, husband Richard Crane is slowly turning into an alligator.
In a mad frenzy Manon blew up the entire place killing himself as well as Dr. Sinclair and Mrs. Hawthorne and turning Paul into a man in an alligator suit who ends up, after having it out with the bayou's head alligator, going underwater in the swamps never to be seen or heard from again.Agog and shocked of what they heard from the sleeping and hypnotized Jane the two doctors, back at the Webley Sanitarium, decide to keep what Jane Marvin told them to themselves and not have her know what she had so successfully kept hidden from herself all this time, a good idea on the doctor's part..
If you can look past the crazy "man-gator" suit that pops up at the very end (admittedly, that may not be easy to do), you will find "The Alligator People" to be an original and even haunting B-movie with a very tragic edge to it.The film's greatest advantage is heroine Beverly Garland, who has never been lovelier or more sympathetic than she is here as Joyce Webster.
The only real villain of the piece is the drunk, hook-handed gator-hater Manon, played with over the top zeal by a badly out of shape Lon Chaney Jr. If it wasn't for his bungling interference, the story might have ended differently.The ending,too, shows compassion, as Joyce's horrible memories of the ordeal remain suppressed.The movie is directed by veteran Roy Del Ruth, whose career went back to the silents.
She claims she tracked him down to a plantation in a Louisiana swamp where she discovered the terrifying truth behind his sudden disappearance amidst scientific experiments gone horribly wrong...Directed by Roy Del Ruth this fun if somewhat underwhelming late 50's Creature Feature was made by 20th Century Fox hot on the heels of their recent monster film smash hit The Fly (1958) the year before & the two share more than a few similarities.
The whole half human half animal hybrid monster of the title, the whole story which is told in flashback by a woman who turns out to be the wife of said half human half animal monster & the whole scientific experiments for the good of mankind by a well intentioned scientist going horribly wrong means both The Fly & The Alligator People have near identical plots.
The acting is better than usual for this pedigree of film, horror veteran Lon Chaney Jr. appears as a bitter hook handed Alligator hater.The Alligator People is a fun & entertaining late 50's Creature Feature that feels a lot like the The Fly but if your going to steal you might as well steal from the best, right?
Have to admit the first time watching,it was to catch my favorite villain of all time,George Macready in action.But was I totally amazed,getting past the ridiculous scenes with the psychiatrists,at how impressed I was with the acting and the movie in general.Dr Mark Sinclair,financed by our heroes mother to experiment with alligators,to provide a "cure" for her horribly injured son,injured in a plane crash.He marries,and while on his honeymoon,receives a telegram from Dr Sinclair regarding complications of the treatment.His wife spends much time and money trying to locate her husband,and finally does in the bayou country.Was surprised to learn that a former "leper hospital" in Louisiana was site used for filming.My favorite scene is with Macready in the "swamp buggy",he's just so cool in it!Rivals the sports car he drives in THE GREEN GLOVE.Love him and Frieda Inescort best,Bev Garland superb also.Everyone deserves praise in this gem..
Recounts the story of a mentally disturbed woman (while under treatment recounts her distress to her psychiatrist) was over her lost husband who was experimented on by a mad geneticist that turned her husband into an alligator man and died in the swamp.*Special Stars- Lon Chaney, Beverly Garland, George Macready, Bruce Bennett.*Theme- Don't mess with Mother Nature.*Trivia/location/goofs- B & W.
Lavinia confides in a scientist, Dr. Mark Sinclair(George Macready), about a series of mysterious experiments involving alligators and soon Joyce discovers they concern her beau, Paul(Richard Crane).