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~ Dissecting horror films

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Tag Archives: amelita ward

Retrospective: Jungle Captive (1945)

27 Saturday Feb 2021

Posted by surgeons of horror in retrospective

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amelita ward, jerome cowan, otto kruger, paula dupree, rondo hatton, the ape woman, Universal Horror, universal pictures

The third and final outing for Paula Dupree aka The Ape Woman for Universal would revert back to the mad doctor scenario.

This time the twirling moustache award goes to Mr. Stendahl (Otto Kruger) who successfully pulls a rabbit out of the afterlife, resurrected its once lifeless form.
Riding on the euphoria of his achievements, Stendhal then trudges off to be the next Dr. Frankenstein to reanimate the corpse of Paula Dupree.

To do his dirty work however, Stendahl calls upon his lumbering assistant Moloch (Rondo Hatton) to snatch the body from the city morgue, but in his efforts kills the attendant on duty.

Now, not only has a murder occurred, and a body stolen, but Inspector Harrigan (Jerome Cowan) suspects another doctor, Don Young when he discovers a medical smock belonging to the young practitioner at the morgue.

All does not bode well for Don when it is discovered that his fiance, Ann (Amelita Ward) has provided a false alibi.

When Ann suddenly disappears, Don must now prove his innocence, find his gal, and the true murderer.

It is little wonder that this film would inevitably fall flat on its face and kill off any hopes for any further misdeeds from the Ape Woman.

Whilst Kruger puts forward a strong performance as the dastardly doctor, Universal produced another misfire, which never manages to muster up any hopes of creating a monster to be feared from the Ape Woman.
There are too many leaps in the script to ignite any identity of its own, and too often tries to ride on the shoulders of previous incarnations in Frankenstein’s Monster or The Wolf Man.
This is even more stifled in the third outing by not only losing its initial lead in Acquanetta, and even losing its first choice replacement in Betty Bryant, who was dropped two days into the shoot, but mainly due to subjecting the creature into the background, thrusting the maniacal doctor front and centre and in doing so, casts the Ape Woman into the shadows.

  • Saul Muerte

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