The Ape (1940)

Dr. Bernard Adrian is a kindly mad scientist who seeks to cure a young woman's polio. He needs spinal fluid from a human to complete the formula for his experimental serum. Meanwhile, a ... See full summary »

Director:

William Nigh

Writers:

Adam Shirk (suggested from the play: "The Ape"), Curt Siodmak (adaptation),

Stars:

Boris Karloff, Maris Wrixon, Gene O'Donnell

Cast

Complete credited cast:
Boris Karloff	...	Dr. Bernard Adrian
Maris Wrixon	...	Miss Frances Clifford
Gene O'Donnell	...	Danny Foster
Dorothy Vaughan	...	Mother Clifford
Gertrude Hoffman	...	Jane - Adrian's Housekeeper (as Gertrude W. Hoffman)
Henry Hall	...	Sheriff Jeff Halliday
Selmer Jackson	...	Dr. McNulty

Storyline

Dr. Bernard Adrian is a kindly mad scientist who seeks to cure a young woman's polio. He needs spinal fluid from a human to complete the formula for his experimental serum. Meanwhile, a vicious circus ape has broken out of its cage, and is terrorizing towns people.

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Plot Keywords:

spinal fluid | serum | circus | ape | mad scientist | 

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Taglines:

These cold eyes have watched a thousand men die screaming!

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Genres:

Action | Drama | Horror | Romance | Sci-Fi

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Certificate:

Approved

Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

30 September 1940 (USA)

Also Known As:

Gorilla

Filming Locations:

Santa Clarita, California, USA

Company Credits

Production Co:

Monogram Pictures

Technical Specs

Runtime:

62 min

Sound Mix:

Mono (Western Electric Sound System)

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

The play opened in Los Angeles, California, USA on 13 December 1927.

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Goofs

When the doctor is showing off his 'cured' guinea pigs, one of the poor critters falls off the table, at the end of the shot.

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Quotes

Danny Foster: I don't like things I can't understand.

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Connections

Referenced in Cinemassacre's Monster Madness: The Screaming Skull (2010)

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Soundtracks

"Auld Lang Syne"
(uncredited)
Traditional Scottish music
Lyrics by Robert Burns (1788)
Played on a bugle by a relaxing circus worker

User Reviews

THE APE (William Nigh, 1940) **

Very minor and frankly dull Boris Karloff vehicle, one of the "mad scientist" roles he specialized in during this phase of his career. The plot takes pains to render the idea of how despised his character is, presumably because of his unorthodox experiments, but I cannot fathom why – surely what he was engaged in would prove exceedingly beneficial to mankind if successful (as readily acknowledged by an authority brought in from out of town to investigate him)! A measure of the film's ambivalence in this respect is that both views will be accounted for at the very end – as Karloff's miracle cure does work, but he has had to resort to the despicable act of murder in order to procure specimens!; incidentally, this latter business and the fact that one of the protagonists is wheelchair-bound would both resurface – to infinitely infinitely greater effect – in a later Karloff picture, the Val Lewton classic THE BODY SNATCHER (1945). The titular creature, then, is seen prowling about a number of times – even after having watched Karloff stab it: where we supposed to know that he was behind subsequent killings?; my brother actually arrived at this conclusion about three-quarters of the way in…but I just could not believe Karloff would go to such extremes for Science (after all, he failed to save the immediate members of his family and had kept up the fight for a good 10 years afterwards – why should he bother so much with the rest of the world, especially since they hated him for it?!) and, in any case, being a doctor does not automatically give one a propensity for taxidermy, does it?! All things considered, this is watchable but inessential – and not nearly as much fun (in a guilty pleasure kind of way) as when Bela Lugosi did something similar i.e. in THE APE MAN (1943).