The Ape Man
Tags: murder

Plot synopsis:
Famed psychic and ghost hunter Agatha Brewster (Minerva Urecal) returns home to the U.S. and is met at the docks by a gaggle of press wanting to interview her. Young news reporter Jeff Carter (Wallace Ford) catches her interest though as he says he is researching a story about the disappearance of her brother, the scientist James Brewster (Bela Lugosi). Agatha was unaware that her brother was missing and agrees to arrange for Carter to visit her at her home for an interview. Agatha immediately goes to see her brother's research partner Dr George Randall (Henry Hall) where she learns that James has not really vanished but in fact has gone into a self-imposed exile as the result of a disastrous experiment. In order to try and prove his evolutionary theories Dr Brewster had injected himself with an experimental serum to turn himself into a 'missing-link' between man and ape. The serum had succeeded in transforming James into an ape-man but with no way of turning himself back into a man the scientist has retained his intelligence but is now trapped in the body of a hideous man-beast. George tells Agatha that her brother keeps himself locked in his secret laboratory at Springfield, the Brewster estate, with a gorilla in a cage as he desperately seeks a remedy to his problem.Meanwhile at the newspaper office Jeff Carter is assigned a keen, female photographer Billie Mason (Louise Currie) to accompany him to the Brewster place for the pre-arranged interview with Agatha Brewster. During the interview both Jeff and Billie hear cries that sound like a gorilla. Agatha dismisses their suggestions but Billie thinks she sees something and takes another photo of Agatha. When the duo return to the newspaper offices Billie develops the photos she took at the Brewster place and sees the ape-like face of James Brewster in the background of one of them.James secretly goes to visit his colleague George Randall to tell him that he has made a breakthrough and believes that a possible cure for his condition lies with human spinal fluids, but when he realises how James means to obtain them George refuses to help James, so James in a rage murders George's butler (George Kirby) and obtains the spinal fluid from his body. James forces his reluctant colleague to inject him with the spinal fluid. The serum does not work but James is convinced that it is merely not a large enough dose to restore his humanity. George flatly refuses to help the murderous James obtain any more spinal fluid. So, back at his lab James (who can communicate with his gorilla in guttural grunts and cries) hatches a plan to send the gorilla out to obtain specimens for him to extract the vital spinal fluid from. The two go on a murderous rampage killing and killing again so that James can build up his stores of spinal fluid.Jeff and Billie become suspicious of the odd Brewster siblings when they read the press reports of the killings all of which state that the victims were found to be clutching ape hair in their dead hands. While the two newshounds are investigating the Brewster mansion, James again visits George to try and force him to inject him with the spinal fluid he has obtained, but George angrily smashes the vial of fluids. Enraged, James kills George moments before Agatha arrives - who has rushed over to warn George of her brothers intentions. Returning to the Brewster mansion James surprises Billie and takes her down to his secret lab intending to draw her spinal fluid. However, the gorilla becomes territorial and attacks James. After killing the ape-man the gorilla goes after Billie but Agatha provides Jeff and the police with the clue to the secret entrance to the lab and the police shoot the gorilla before it can harm Billie.

Review: To be certain, poor Bela wants spinal fluid for regressing the advancing stages of apeness, and he and his gorilla friend kill with this goal in mind.
One of Bela Lugosi's low budgeted Monogram films, THE APE MAN is entertaining in a so-bad-it's-good way.
It's a riot to see poor Bela, so down on his luck by this point that he needed to act in anything just in order to eat, swaying and crouching about in a bad wig and beard, acting like he's "part ape" due to an experiment gone awry.
The great Bela Lugosi and a talented cast give us a good story and a fine movie.
But, the plot is fun, and must've worked well enough at the time because they actually did a not-so-sequel, using the title in part but not the plot line or characters, the next year in "Return of the Ape Man".
"Some Spoilers" One of the many films that Bela Lugosi made for Monogram Pictures as well as among the other bargain-basement Hollywood studios that he worked for during his "Lost in the Wilderness", as well as heroin addiction, phase of his career during the 1940's and early 50's until he kicked his drug habit.
"The Ape Man" is pretty standard stuff in the movies that studios like Monogram put out back in those days.
A prominent scientist Dr.James Brewster, Bela Lugosi, makes a major discovery about the link between man and primate but not being able to test the serum that he discovered on human beings, for it's against the law, tests it on himself where he becomes a half man half ape "missing link".
Later in the movie Dr. Brewster with the help of his partner, the ape, kidnaps beautiful newspaper photographer Louise Currie, Billie Mason, but when Dr. Brewster is about to extract Billie's spinal fluid the love sick ape, who took a liking to Billie, attacks and kills Dr. Brewster during a long and bitter struggle.
There's nothing really that great about the movie "The Ape Man" unless, like me, you're a Bela Lugosi fan and Bela does lift the movie up a couple of notches making it if it's not scary both cheesy and campy.
The guy who played the ape, Emil Van Horn, made a monkey out of himself wearing a gorilla suit with him flinging his arms and grunting during the entire movie.
Van Horn's or the ape's fight in the end with Dr. Brewster, as Billie was trying to get away from the carnage that resulted from it, was both exacting and suspenseful.What really annoyed me about the movie was that skinny and goofy looking reporter, Jack Mluhall, who popped up in almost every scene in the film as well as acting like a jerk and spoiling any tension and surprises that there were in the movie.
A doctor (Bela Lugosi) is accidentally turned into an ape man after an experiment goes awry, causing him to resort to a series of murders so that injections of his victims spinal fluid can possibly return him to normality.
"The Ape Man" could have been a more enjoyable film, but Lugosi's walking around like an ape (which is unintentionally embarrassing) and awful, monotonous canned background music (which was used in Monogram's "Ghosts on the Loose" the same year) take somewhat from the overall enjoyment of the film.
In a Jekyll & Hyde genre, Bela Lugosi plays Dr. James Brewster, a scientist who injects himself with the spinal fluid of an ape and who then find himself becoming an ape.
The only antidote is human spinal fluid, and, well, Brewster goes out to get it.Lugosi's performance was not bad, really, although I couldn't help wondering why someone with the decidedly English name of James Brewster spoke with such a pronounced Hungarian accent, especially when his sister Agatha (played by Minerva Urecal) spoke perfect English.
(Perhaps becoming an ape affected his voice!) The movie never really offered an explanation of what great medical marvel the spinal fluid of an ape was supposed to achieve, although at the start of the movie Brewster's friend Dr. Randall (Henry Hall) assures Agatha that it was a marvel.
I will say that Agatha, a dedicated ghost hunter, injected a bit of humour (perhaps unintentionally, although it's hard to tell) from time to time as she tries to throw reporters (played by Louise Currie and Wallace Ford) off the trail.Overall I enjoyed this short (64 minutes) movie and because it had a few twists here and there I give it a 6/10, which might have been higher had it not been overall so predictable as a retelling of the Jekyll and Hyde story..
Well , Bela Lugosi acts a very bad scientist (a role that we've so many times , we loved it , we got used it in , but we never borrowed of it) Dr. James Brewster , who transforms Emil Van Horn (`Sleepy Lagoon') to Ape. Police Captain O' Brien is the role of the classical J.
Buise Currie (`Here Comes The Boogie Men') , Wallace Ford (Tod Browning's `Freaks' , `The Mummy's Hand' , `The Mummy's Tomb' , Alfred Hitchcock's `Spellbound') , Henry Hall (`The Ape') , Minerva Urecal (who was played again the first role with Bela Lugosi at the films `The Corpse Vanishes' and `Ghost On The Loose') , the classical Wheeler Oakman (who was played in 195 movies , from whom we chose the `Ghosts On The Loose' with Bela) , Jack Mulhall (who has not only played in 314 movies but is also the producer of Madame Spy) , Charles Jordan (Cat People) , Charlie Hall (who made some short roles in movies with Oliver Hardy and Stan Laurel).
Terrible script, dreadful acting, poor lighting, and worse sound than a Caruso or Nellie Melba recording 40 years earlier.Bela Lugosi does a poor ape imitation, and wears a very rough prototype of the mask Roddy McDowall wore in 'Planet of the Apes.' He monkeys about (sorry!) with one Emil Van Horn wearing a full gorilla suit - he looks exactly like the one (called Ethel) that Oliver Hardy ended up with when the circus went broke.
The star turn is the wonderfully named Miranda Urecal (almost born to appear in cheap horror films) who plays Lugosi's sister, screaming energetically or fainting at the drop of a coffin lid.This isn't quite as funny as Ed Wood's stuff, but better than nothing now the hockey season's finished.
The Ed Wood films are universally acclaimed as the nadir of Bela Lugosi's film career, but this sad entry in his filmography is worse on many levels than any of those later pictures.With the golden days of horror pictures long gone, Lugosi is captured here in what can only be described as a laughable attempt to recreate that bygone era in what is little more than a dreadful reworking of the Wolf Man.With a weak script, total lack of suspense, and of course the expected bad ape costume, it is to Lugosi's credit that he actually does appear to be trying his best in this film.Unfortunately it isn't enough to save the day; I watched this hoping for that odd satisfaction only to be found in poor B pictures of this era, but even such sadistic viewing pleasures were denied simply because this film is so bad.At only 67 minutes, it isn't long but boy does that time drag.
While a bit of the hijinks is good for unintentional laughs, this has less the fun tone of "The Devil Bat", and more the bone crushing boredom of "The Corpse Vanishes." While it mostly served the purpose of cheap laughs, can we just note now that George Barrow's much employed suit did not look much like a real Gorilla?Your heart also has to go to the excellent Wallace Ford, whose crack comic timing was often put to use in moviessuch as this.
In the William Beaudine epic, THE APE MAN, Bela Lugosi (THE DEVIL BAT, THE CORPSE VANISHES) stars as Dr. James Brewster, who has gone missing.
The Ape Man produced by Monogram Pictures stars Bela Lugosi as a scientist who has been experimenting on himself with ape spinal fluids.
The press are police are kept somewhat at bay, by Bela's sister Minerva Urecal.But when Bela and his gorilla start killing people for their human spinal fluid so Lugosi can get back to being human again, that of course arouses the populace.
In a recent biography of Bela Lugosi, the author Arthur Lennig uses The Ape Man as a prototype Monogram product and contrasts it with the Universal Pictures Gothic horror films.
Lugosi is The Ape Man, Doctor Brewster, whose experiments with evolution have gone awry.
"Dr. Brewster (Bela Lugosi) is working on a serum derived from gorilla spinal fluid and tests his experimental formula upon himself.
Only human spinal fluid will return him to normal but, Dr. Brewster uses some nefarious methods to extract his needed supply," according to the DVD sleeve's synopsis.The author of the story supposedly makes an appearance at its closing - it's a good thing he rolls up the car window, to miss whatever you feel like throwing up at the screen.
But, the best actor has to be Emil Van Horn as "The Ape", since he gets to save face.* The Ape Man (1943) William Beaudine ~ Bela Lugosi, Louise Currie, Wallace Ford.
Ape Man, The (1943) ** 1/2 (out of 4) No, this isn't Citizen Kane but it is a fairly entertaining Monogram flick that works in large part thanks to Bela Lugosi's performance.
In the film Lugosi plays a scientist doing strange experiments and soon finds himself turning into an ape.
Along with the help of another doctor he must try and find spinal fluid that can turn him back.Without the benefit of Lugosi in the main role then this film would be pretty awful but with the great actor in the lead we at least get a fine performance and a fun one at that.
Monogram quickie starring Bela Lugosi as a scientist who is turned into a man-ape after an experiment goes wrong.
Wow some of these low budget "b" movies are so wonderful, this one is at or near the top of the spectrum, Bela Lugosi is just charming in this one, he has to get some kind of serum from people that he needs to turn back into full human.
"The Ape Man" (1943), directed by legendary hack William Beaudine (the man who gave us "Jesse James Meets Frankenstein's Daughter" [1966] and "Billy the Kid versus Dracula" [1966]), this b-movie gives us a deliciously hammy, over-the-top performance from Bela Lugosi, who had gone down a long way since his myth-making role in Tod Browning's "Dracula" (1931).
The plot is the usual hokum: a crazed scientist, Dr. James Brewster (Bela Lugosi), with help from his more sane counterpart, Dr. George Randall (Henry hall), injects himself with spinal fluid that turns him into an ape man.
THE APE MAN (Monogram, 1943), directed by William Beaudine, with original story by Karl Brown, is a fine example of a bad movie becoming a "camp" classic.
The story opens on the pier where a group of reporters, headed by Jeff Carter (Wallace Ford) of the Globe Tribune, awaiting for the arrival of spiritualist Agatha Brewster (Minerva Urecal), sister of the famous Dr. James Brewster (Bela Lugosi).
When Randall refuses, Brewster goes on the murderous rampage with his ape, leading Carter and his assistant, Billie Mason (Louise Currie), to enter the scene and get the scoop for the next edition.Others members of the cast include Wheelar Oakman, Jack Mulhall and Charles Jordan.
Though not essentially scary or high art cinema, THE APE MAN is worth while mainly for watching Bela Lugosi going bananas once in a while.
William Beaudine directs and Bela Lugosi stars in this cheapie horror that finds Lugosi as a mad scientist who has transformed himself into an ape man hybrid.
(You get the feeling that they didn't write this as a Lugosi vehicle until he came by looking for drug money.) Lugosi injects himself with a serum that gives him ape like qualities, but has to kill people to get back to normal.The thing was that Lugosi was not a bad actor, but his thick accent, typecasting after Dracula and inability to learn English better limited his ability to get good work.
Bela Lugosi is a mad scientist that comes up with a secret serum that turns him into a very agitated ape.
It is a fun time watch though; catch it when you can.Also in the cast are:Wallace Ford, Louise Currie, Emil Van Horn and Henry Hall.
The Ape Man is best remembered as another of the multitude of poverty row pictures which have been given historical interest as vehicles for horror acting legend Bela Lugosi.
Dr. Brewster turns himself into an ape man and decides he does not want to live the rest of his life like that - he feels he must be cured at any cost.This movie make a good afternoon film - something to kick back to and enjoy a few giggles with.
Quite fun to watch Lugosi as an ape man - he did a pretty good acting job with this character.8/10.
Lugosi plays a doctor who does an unethical experiment on himself that transforms him into an Ape-Man, and now he's willing to go on a murderous spree to fix what he messed up.The movie is set up for an ensemble cast, unfortunately I only know Lugosi.
The plot:Returning back from an expedition,a group of scientist make the tragic announcement that one of them sadly died during the expedition.Whilst everyone else goes for the explanation hook,line and sinker,two journalist suspect that foul play may have been involved in the scientist death.Searching around his house,the reporters begin to gather evidence that Dr James Brewster has been performing weird operations on apes.As the reporters start digging,Breswster (who has turned into a human-ape hybrid,due to performing an operation which went a little bit wrong!) comes out of hiding,and with needing spinal fluid to fully transform back into a human,Brewster discovers that he has found the perfect two people to get spinal fluid from.View on the film:With most of the acting being on the incredible "chewy" side,Bela Lugosi shines like a beacon for the film,who along with composer Edward J.
He, along with his gorilla assistant, must kill to get the spinal fluid he needs to reverse his previous experiment.The Ape Man can be fairly entertaining if you don't take it too seriously.
The Ape Man starts as famed ghost hunter Agatha Brewster (Minerva Urecal) returns from Europe to be greeted by Dr. George Randall (Henry Hall) & newspaper headlines that scream 'Dr. Brewster disappears', the same Dr. James Brewster (Bela Lugosi) who just happens to be her Brother.
Jeff knows something fishy is going on & investigates further as James reveals that to completely cure himself he needs human spinal fluid to counteract the ape fluid, the only problem is he need fresh fluid from still living donors...Directed by William Beaudine there is very little to recommend The Ape Man as a film, in fact nothing at all really.
There's no real horror in The Ape Man & Lugosi in his make-up & stooped over hunchback pose looks awful.
"The Ape" was another of those ultra low budget Sam Katzman "clasics" turned out by Monogram Pictures in the 1940s featuring Bela Lugosi.The story opens with Agatha Brewster (Minerva Urecal), a spiritualist, returning from Scotland after her brother Dr. James Brewster (Lugosi) is reported as missing.
And what is this nonsense of an unnamed stranger (Ralph Littlefield) popping up through the film dispelling advice to Carter and Mason?Lugosi does what he can in the ape man make up, even to the point of walking stooped over and "bellowing" like an ape but unfortunately looks ridiculous.
He did himself no favours by appearing in crap like this and the scene where he injects himself is rather sad considering his later problems with morphine.The Ape Man concerns Lugosi as Dr. James Brewster - an extremely unlikely name for a Hungarian - desperately searching out human spinal fluid to cure himself of his apish affliction.
Director William Beaudine should at least get a share of the accolades for "The Ape Man"; perhaps that's who Lugosi's character had in mind when early in the picture he states - "What a mess I've made of things"..
Bela Lugosi is the film's main saving grace he delivers a very campy but enjoyable performance and was a lot of fun to watch in that ape makeup!.
About what you'd expect from a low-budget Lugosi horror flick featuring a guy in an ape suit!.
This film offers few surprises (including the expected guy in a silly gorilla costume) but it's still a dandy horror flick that should appeal to die-hard Bela Lugosi fans.
While his good friend the doctor cannot allow himself to do this, Bela's sister is a fine piece of work and helps him on his evil task.Throughout all this, the film is interspersed with clips of Wallace Ford and his assistants looking for a story--which you know they will eventually get.
While it's understandable that Bela Lugosi may have become disenchanted with the roles he was offered following the success of Dracula, even his staunchest critics would have to agree that he nonetheless managed to turn in some outstanding performances- like that in THE APE MAN.
The answer lies in the basement of a house inhabited by a ghost hunter, Agatha Brewster (Minerva Urecal), where mad scientist Brewster (Bela Lugosi) has turned into THE APE MAN of the title..
Although Bela Lugosi wakes up next to an ape (who shakes him to let him know his sister Minerva Urecal has just arrived), he actually looks more like the ape's cousin, the chimpanzee.