The Ape

I made the mistake of basing a New Year’s Resolutions around movies lists which were mainly cult or obscure horror (actually, they aren’t so much obscure horror as they are lists of horror where I’d already seen all the popular movies on them, leaving only the obscure and hard to find). I’m familiar enough with many of the films left on the lists to know that I’m not interested in seeing them. Back on January 1, I even wrote “I’ve seen about 95% of the movies on these lists so new ones might be a challenge.”

Fortunately I left myself an out by including movies of Vincent Price and Boris Karloff. I’ve seen almost everything of Vincent Price so I’m scrambling for Karloff movies.

As Gob said.

It’s no secret that Karloff was dissatisfied with the films the studios were forcing him into (you’d think British actors would be suave enough to avoid bad Hollywood contracts).

The Ape wasn’t the worst film of Karloff that I’ve seen but he deserved better.

The Ape begins with opening credits with circus music. Okay so far.

The first scene has four brat kids throw rocks at a doctor’s house. I think they were meant to be endearing but I wanted a monster to eat them slowly. Instead the story moves to a local store where patrons talk of running the doctor out of town. Most vocal in his criticism is the local loan shark whom the director is setting up to be what TVTropes calls “The Asshole Victim.”

Later the film shows that Karloff has been experimenting on dogs which makes him less sympathetic but it is repeatedly emphasized that he is only doing it to find a cure to the disease that killed his wife and child. Animal experiments were less controversial before Pearl Harbor.

Unless I missed a line, the disease is not specified as polio but the main character afflicted with it is confined to a wheelchair and everything described sounds like polio.

The director shifts to a traveling circus and uses a lot of circus footage for a 62-minute film.

The title character appears as a not-fake-as-it-could-look gorilla strangles his keeper who was poking him with stick. The ape breaks loose and the dying keeper is taken to Karloff who uses his spinal fluid to create a miracle cure. His creation seemed to cure polio but the vial it was in rolled off his table and shattered.

Where to find more human spinal fluid?

Before Karloff can decide, the gorilla breaks in and attacks him. Karloff beats the ape (who is essentially invulnerable against anyone else) and conceived a cunning plan.

More townsfolk, including the loan shark (who is shown to be an adulterer) are killed. Puncture wounds on their backs indicate that spinal fluid was drained.

The sheriff tracks the ape to Karloff’s office but finds only the good doctor. In the most infuriating scene in the movie, the brat kids shot the “ape,” but only wounded it. I typically don’t like movies where children are hurt or killed but I wanted the ape to rip their arms off.

After extracting enough spinal fluid for a cure, Karloff was shot and killed while wearing the gorilla’s skin. He dies unsure if the girl in the wheelchair will walk again. The film ends on a happy note as she does.

I’ve posted about, almost 50 years ago, watching the the Cool Ghoul’s Shock Theater. Even as a kid, some horror movies weren’t even remotely scary. I can’t remember if the Cool Ghoul ever showed The Ape, but if he did, it would be on the “not scary” list.

Even compared to an Ed Wood movie, The Ape was heavily padded. I don’t know if the circus scenes were stock footage or shot for the movie but, with a running time of 62 minutes, even P.T. Barnum would say cut the circus scenes down.

As I mentioned, the four kids who popped up intermittently were meant to be funny. The Little Rascals debuted in 1934 and, by 1940, obnoxious kids were everywhere in Hollywood. I’m sure audiences 80 years ago weren’t as sick of them as we are today, but the movie sags every time they appear.

The townswomen are depicted so badly that even the worst sexist would be annoyed. They exist almost entirely to nag the sheriff and other men into killing the ape. They make The Music Man look like The Vagina Monologues.

One saving grace is Karloff. He’s doing his best with weak material but it’s hopeless. Vincent Price was able to save otherwise unwatchable movies but it’s just sad watching poor Karloff mired with this.

The other point of interest is the attitude towards polio. Is stealing dogs to experiment on morally acceptable? Maybe, the movie argues, if it will cure polio. Is killing a few people acceptable if it cures polio? Well, the movie gives us jerks who deserve to die and a beautiful girl who deserves to walk.

I can’t imagine a movie doing this today. Sadly, many anti-vaxxers imagine scientists doing even more outlandish acts than putting on a gorilla skin and sucking out spinal fluid.

Serious Karloff fans or viewers interested in depictions of polio before the actual cure might check out The Ape. Anyone else should stick with Karloff’s better work.