William Beaudine
L'uomo scimmia - The Ape Man

We are in the early forties, two immense masterpieces in the history of cinema had just come to life, I'm talking about "Casablanca" and "Citizen Kane," but alongside this cinema rightly considered as "A-List," there was also a desire to entertain the public with a type of cinema that critics labeled as "B-List," which over the years has been analyzed and discussed, leading to the conclusion that perhaps it was not all that "B-List" after all.

This cinema had as its main theme the transformation of man into something else. It's no coincidence that during those years, films like "The Wolf Man" and this "The Ape Man" were released, along with many other films that considered the dramatic and unwanted transformation from man to animal or, even worse, from man to monster.

At that time, the "transformists" par excellence were three. The first was undoubtedly the great, but what do I say great... the incredibly great Lon Chaney, an extraordinary actor, featured in immortal films like "The Phantom of the Opera" from 1925 and many others where Chaney always proved to be an extraordinary and chameleonic actor like very few. If you don't know Lon Chaney, I advise you to delve into this name because, really, if you love cinema, you'll realize that Lon Chaney was an actor of immense talent, a true transformist. An artist in everything. Unforgettable.

Then another unforgettable transformist was certainly Boris Karloff, an extraordinary actor who doesn't need any introduction! I think I will write many reviews on films featuring Karloff!

But in this "The Ape Man," the actor undergoing a metamorphosis is not Lon Chaney, but another great actor, Bela Lugosi, the great interpreter of Tod Browning's "Dracula" and many other films. Lugosi's face has now become legendary; surely "Dracula" helped make him a legend. It should also be noted that there was a bit of rivalry between Chaney and Lugosi at the time. They often ended up working on the same film and fought to get the lead role, a "monstrous" role, naturally.

"The Ape Man" is the story of a man of science who takes his experiments too far, causing great havoc and massive damage to his body. Scientists have always had an insatiable thirst for knowledge, but also for power, willing to do anything to achieve their goals and make sensational discoveries, even at the risk of their own lives. This theme has been addressed many times in cinema, with a prime example being Cronenberg's "The Fly," a remake of "The Experiment of Dr. K."

In any case, the ape man finds himself hidden in his secret laboratory, contemplating a way to return to his normal physical state. He realizes that to become a normal human again, he needs spinal fluid, which means he must kill to obtain it. Thus, our ape man, with the help of a real gorilla (perhaps also a victim of a brutal experiment?), becomes a ruthless killer, starting to murder everyone he encounters to obtain a decent amount of spinal fluid. Terror spreads through the streets.

Here, I'll stop for now. This is a brief film, barely an hour long, but it entertains marvelously, has a fantastic pace, and assures fun. Mind you, we're not facing a masterpiece or even an extraordinary film; many aspects leave much to be desired... The gorilla, for example, is blatantly fake, but perhaps this was intentional and works fine. The film completely relies on Bela Lugosi, who is excellent, especially in the movements he makes. A fun little flick that entertains superbly and, in my opinion, is worth watching. For genre enthusiasts, it's undoubtedly a nice gem!

The recreated atmosphere is also not bad at all. The ape man's laboratory has a gothic flair; in short, it's a film that can amuse anyone. I know very well that a lover of this type of cinema is Rob Zombie, who always includes images of these films, monsters, vampires, demons, and much more in his concerts. So, wolf-man enthusiasts, watch this nice little film, because in my opinion, the fun is assured. Watch it calmly without any expectations. Every now and then, even a simple but well-made film is needed!

VinnySparrow