Reviews & Ratings for
Captive Wild Woman More at IMDbPro »

Filter:

Best Chronological Prolific Authors Loved It Hated It Hide Spoilers:

Page 1 of 2:

[1] [2]

Index

16 reviews in total

---

11 out of 11 people found the following review useful:
It's All in the Glands, 30 November 2003
Author: BaronBl00d (baronbl00d@aol.com) from NC

Scientist and surgeon John Carradine, having worked miracles in the area of glandular research, now wants to change a stolen gorilla into a woman - why? We really never understand his motivation, but what we do get in Captive Wild Woman is a pretty entertaining ride that one can learn to expect from Universal Studios. Ferocious lions and tigers, a fairly good imitation of a gorilla, John Carradine hamming it up, Milburn Stone reminding me of Gunsmoke every minute he is on film, Evelyn Ankers wearing outfits that only Auntie Mame would wear, and the beautiful, silent Acquanetta all make this a very unique and welcomed addition to the Universal pantheon of horror goodies. Though not a great film, this one packs a punch for a 61 minute film. Never a dull lull in the action. Carradine plays a very suave, polished doctor that is utterly crazy, mad, and heartless. It is a pretty good performance from Mr. Carradine. The rest of the cast is very able. Ankers and the silent girl transformed from ape - Acquanetta - are appealing eye candy as well. A couple quick notations. Ms. Ankers is a secretary, yet has a wardrobe of a wealthy socialite. She apparently lives in a boarding house, as in one scene she is in a bed witnessing the ape woman coming into her room by the window - a landlady type comes to the door way across the other side of the room. The landlady yells and runs and the ape woman, rather than killing her intended victim inches away from her - runs way across the other side of the room and down the hallway to kill a woman for no reason. Hmmm. Despite these little observations, a highly recommended film. Hope this one comes out on DVD soon.

---

11 out of 12 people found the following review useful:
Terrific fun Classic!, 6 July 2001
Author: PrincessAnanka from United States

This is a terrific fun movie to watch, to see how great Universal Studio was back in the early 40s, when they could whip up this glittering little gem on a very low budget. For one thing, its technical crew and cast were all the very best. Evelyn Ankers shows her classic horror heroine side and her screams are among the best. Cult B-Actress, Fay Helm, plays one of her nurse roles and is fantastic, especially when she defies the mad scientist, John Carradine--also in top form--about the dangers of transfusing human blood into a gorilla. Sultry starlet, Acquanette, says not a word but is wonderful eye candy in her short, sexy skirts. Her transformation into a human gorilla is stunning. Lots of stock footage of animal tamer, Clyde Beatty, although it's supposed to be Milburn STone (later of "Gunsmoke" fame) in the lion cages. Wonderful photography and lighting. Vera West does outstanding job outfitting Ankers, especially in her fur hat and coat in the finale. Ankers supposedly hated making movies, especially the ones that Universal type-cast her in. Her talents were criminally wasted since she proved her talent in Sherlock Holmes "Pearl of Death" where she plays 3-4 roles and especailly "Sherlock Holmes and the Voice of Terror" where she plays the heroic Kitty, the prostitute. Watch her go to town in "Weird Woman" where she plays one of her rare villains. Helm never had big roles but she always made the few minuts on screen really count. She was also "Jenny" in the "Wolf Man" and her greatest role as Margaret Ingston in the horror classic, "Night Monster" where she and another acting great, Doris LLoyd, steal the movie right out from under the hideous "Night Monster."

---

10 out of 11 people found the following review useful:
Not a bad programmer but Paula the Ape Woman was only good for one film., 9 March 2002
Author: jim riecken (youroldpaljim)

Mad scientist Dr. Walters steals a tame gorilla named Cheela from animal trainer Fred Mason for use in his experiments. Through the use of sex hormones (!) and a brain transplant, Dr Walters turns Cheela into a beautiful woman whom he names Paula Dupree. When Walters brings Paula to the circus where Fred works, it is discovered that Paula has a hypnotic power over animals, and Fred uses her in his animal act. Paula becomes attracted to Fred, but she goes ape (literally) when she discovers Fred is engaged to Beth Coleman.

CAPTIVE WILD WOMAN has an unjustified bad reputation among fans of the classic Universal horror films. Because the film spawned two poor sequels, this pretty good programmer shocker is often unfairly maligned. The film has good performances from Evelyn Ankers, Milburn Stone and especially John Carradine. John Carradine plays the mad scientist Dr. Walters with a cool icy demeanor. Its a surprisingly low key performance from Carradine. Acquanetta is perfect as the beautiful woman whom Dr. Walters creates from an ape. She projects a perfect exotic animal sensuality. Of course her role here is helped by the fact she does not utter a single line of dialog. Acquanetta was a fine looking woman, but she was never much of an actress. Edward Dmytrk handles the director chores well, the film is well paced and moves along at brisk 61 mins. One shudders to think what would the film would have been like if the studio brass handed the directorial chores to one of studio's standard hacks.

One problem with the film is inserting animal training sequences with Clyde Beatty from an old Universal film, THE BIG CAGE. While Stone resembles Beatty, some of these scenes are poorly inserted. In one scene we see Beatty in the cage with the lions and tigers. Then we see Stone enter the cage! The editor should of most certainly have caught this. To make matters worse, the same error turns up again when the studio used the same footage in the films sequel, JUNGLE WOMAN.

While CAPTIVE WILD WOMAN certainly doesn't rank among the classic the Universal horror films, its not a bad little saturday double bill shocker. However, the premise was only good for one film. The films two sequels were not warranted. I can't believe Universal actually thought Paula the Ape Woman was a potential classic monster like Dracula, The Wolfman, The Mummy and the Frankenstein Monster. They should have quit while they were ahead.

---

7 out of 10 people found the following review useful:
Gorilla my dreams--LOL--sorry, but I just had to say that!!, 9 August 2000
Author: SkippyDevereaux from Parkersburg, West Virginia

Typical 1940's Universal monster film. It is enjoyable and is a nice way to spend an hour. The cinematography, when they show the sanitarium, is spooky looking. Now that I think of it, it looks like the same mansion that was used in "Munster, Go Home". Could have been, as both of these films were filmed at Universal!! I liked this film, but then I like all of those Universal monster films.

---

4 out of 6 people found the following review useful:
Better than the material deserves - thanks to Edward Dmytryk - but ends too abruptly, 22 October 2007

Author: zetes from Saint Paul, MN

Silly, forgotten Universal horror film, now found on DVD in a Best Buy exclusive set. This one concerns a mad scientist with Nazi undertones (John Carradine) who kidnaps a circus gorilla and turns her into a human being (played by Acquanetta). As a human, Acquanetta has an uncanny ability to control lions and tigers, and is thus employed at a local circus (the one whence she, as the gorilla, was kidnapped) to help big cat tamer Milburn Stone. If Milburn Stone looks familiar, it's because he became famous as "Doc" Adams on Gunsmoke. The movie is silly but fun, with Carradine hamming it up like he usually does. And, while Acquanetta does little acting, she has a hypnotic look with those giant eyes. Unfortunately, the film, like many of the Universal Horror movies, ends abruptly, with a weird narration about the Carradine character. The animal work is pretty stunning for the time, and the editing is mostly convincing that Stone and the big cats are in the cage simultaneously. I would credit director Dmytryk, who was far too competent to be directing this kind of crap (the next year he would do the wonderful Murder My Sweet). If you love animals, you might be sickened at what is done to them. Lions and tigers are thrown into a cage and forced to fight each other. The one big fight ends with a fire hose, and the tiger, at least, looked like it was badly injured. The film is completely forgotten nowadays, but it did spawn two sequels.

---

1 out of 1 people found the following review useful:
Carradine Does it Again, 11 July 2010

Author: heisalexh from Toronto, Canada

*** This review may contain spoilers ***

The film is not really 10/10. I just want to get the vote average up.

Anyway it's simply a "Mad Scientist puts human brain in an ape" movie and you can't expect too much, but this film is one of the best of it's infamous kind. Carradine is quite a dedicated scientist who will, as usual do just about anything to accomplish his goals. Acquenetta, top billed, has virtually no dialogue whatsoever, she usually just looks over at the camera in a possibly intoxicated haze. The film will not change your life but if you've seen most of the Universal horror classics and want to explore some of the lesser ones, this is a great one to start off with.

---

1 out of 1 people found the following review useful:
CAPTIVE WILD WOMAN (Edward Dmytryk, 1943) **1/2, 22 March 2009

Author: MARIO GAUCI (marrod@melita.com) from Naxxar, Malta

To be honest, I had little faith in this one – and, if the "Leonard Maltin Film Guide" is to be trusted, that feeling is certainly true of its two sequels; however, I was pleasantly surprised by it – even if, at the end of the day, the film rests squarely on the (most capable) shoulders of John Carradine and, admittedly, the animal training scenes (actually stock footage from a much earlier title!) probably take up more than half of its running-time (which is barely over an hour to begin with!). Anyway, the plot is basically "The Island Of Dr. Moreau" using more up-to-date technology (glandular transplant) and given an American small-town setting; however, the latter stages – denoting the hybrid creature's murderous jealous fits – are a definite nod to the Val Lewton classic CAT PEOPLE (1942). Having preceded this with a viewing of the superior (and more sci-fi oriented) MAN MADE MONSTER (1941), it was interesting to witness the similarities in the "Mad Doctor" characterization – down to the dialogue, where not only is he willing to commit murder (sacrificing one measly life for the good of Science) but in the way the mind of a brilliant scientist has warped in the pursuit of his own 'immortality'; a Shakespearean actor, Carradine cannot have been pleased to be appearing in this type of fare (and he made scores of them throughout his lengthy career!) but there is no denying the intensity and, thus, conviction of his performance here (amusingly, he plays a Dr. Sigmund[!] Walters) – particularly the calmness with which he tosses circus wrangler Paul Fix into the path of a gorilla which hates his guts or working out in his mind how to use, rather than merely dispose of, people who threaten to disrupt the all-important experiments (such as wavering assistant Fay Helm and, eventually, heroine Evelyn Ankers). The latter (with whom I happen to share my birthday!) graced many a Universal horror movie – as did, incidentally, some of the borrowed music cues! – but here she has to contend with the oddly-named Acquanetta, who looks exotic enough (and certainly fetching in 'jungle' garb) albeit saddled with a speechless role (thus having to act virtually with her eyebrows alone!) and, later, unbecoming ape make-up!!; also appearing briefly as Ankers' younger sister (and Carradine's guinea-pig) is Martha Vickers – billed under her real surname, MacVicar, and who would later be memorably sexy in Howard Hawks' THE BIG SLEEP (1946). Lloyd Corrigan, then, is the flustered circus owner, Vince Barnett the diminutive comic-relief of an absent-minded feeder and, of course, there's rugged Milburn Stone as the would-be animal trainer leading-man: apparently more often seen as a character actor or in bit parts, he makes for one of the dullest heroes in the annals of Universal Horror! Although this film eventually found its way on that exclusive (or is that elusive?) "Universal Classic Horror Archive" 3-Disc Set, I had to regretfully settle for an artifact-riddled DivX copy...

---

2 out of 3 people found the following review useful:
Universal programmer proves to be a mixed bag., 11 March 2010

Author: JohnRouseMerriottChard from United Kingdom

Dr. Walters {John Carradine} has made great strides in his field of glandular transplants. But as his work progresses, the more unhinged his approach to his science becomes. Stealing a tame gorilla from the local circus, Walters transforms the gorilla into a beautiful woman whom he names Paula Dupree {Acquanetta}. Upon taking Paula to the circus it's found that she has hypnotic powers over the lions and tigers and is promptly made part of the taming of the beasts act. But can Paula contain her true animal instincts?

Sounds bonkers doesn't it? Well it is, but it's not the plot that makes the film so distinctly average. This is after all a low level Universal Pictures movie, we want, in fact demand, bizarre plots and berserker horror episodes. The problems exist with the complete lack of tension in the script, for a film that has a running time of just over an hour, you would think the big "transplant" and creation of "wild woman" would come sooner rather than later. But it doesn't, what we get is 45 minutes of musing about science and continual takes of circus animal training. With the latter containing some truly awful editing. Paula puts in an appearance late in the piece, then bang! it's pretty much the end and one can't help be disappointed after having stayed with it thus far. Carradine hams it up and enjoys himself one feels, while Evelyn Ankers gives the other performance of note as Beth Colman. The film also serves as an interesting point of reference in the career of director Edward Dmytryk, who in the following few years would deliver some classics in a number of genres. He deserved better material here, hell they all did. But as ever with most of Universal's horror pictures, you end up taking the rough with the smooth and still enjoy yourself. A watchable yet frustrating experience it be. 5/10

---

2 out of 3 people found the following review useful:
More Universal 40's horror fun, 1 October 2009

Author: Woodyanders (Woodyanders@aol.com) from The Last New Jersey Drive-In on the Left

*** This review may contain spoilers ***

Brilliant, but ruthless and unscrupulous scientist Dr. Sigmund Walters (nicely underplayed by John Carradine) turns a huge wild ape into a beautiful, yet still deadly mute woman named Paula Dupree (an impressively expressive pantomime performance by the ravishing Acquanetta). Paula gets a job keeping animals tame in a circus. Complications ensue when Paula falls for rugged and dashing animal trainer Fred Mason (a likable portrayal by Milburn Stone) and reverts back to a hirsute bestial state. Director Edward Dmytryk, working from a compact script by Griffin Jay and Henry Sucher, relates the engrossing plot at a steady pace, maintains a serious mood throughout, and stages the thrilling climax involving a fierce thunderstorm and a hulking rampaging gorilla (veteran simian thespian Ray Corrigan in a nifty suit) with considerable rip-snorting aplomb. This movie further benefits from sound acting by a sturdy cast: Carradine keeps his trademark eye-rolling hammy tendencies on a leash for once, Acquanetta's dark exotic beauty adds credibility to her admittedly far-fetched role, plus there are praiseworthy contributions by the fetching Evelyn Ankers as Mason's concerned girlfriend Beth Colman, Lloyd Corrigan as jolly circus owner John Whipple, and Fay Helm as the reluctant Nurse Strand. The scenes involving savage lions and tigers performing various daring feats in a cage are genuinely gripping and exciting. George Robinson's crisp black and white cinematography makes neat use of fades and dissolves. The spirited film library score likewise does the rousing trick. The terse 61 minute running time ensures that this picture never gets dull or overstays its welcome. A huge enjoyable fright feature potboiler.

---

Silly but fun, 14 November 2010

Author: Wayne Malin (wwaayynnee51@hotmail.com) from United States

*** This review may contain spoilers ***

Dr. Sigmund Walters (John Carradine) is a mad scientist (of course) who wants to put the glands of a human into a gorilla (for some reason). He has to kill to do it but it works and the gorilla turns into beautiful Paula Dupree (Acquanetta). She falls for lion tamer Fred Mason (Milburn Stone) and gets angry when she realizes he has a girlfriend (Evelyn Ankers). She then begins to revert to her gorilla form...

Even for a horror film this plot is pretty stupid but they pull it off. It moves quick, has good acting and some very exciting lion taming at a circus (even though they reuse the same shots multiple times). Stone is just OK but Carradine hams it up, Ankers looks beautiful and screams nicely and Acquanetta doesn't have a word of dialogue but looks incredible. A silly but very enjoyable Universal horror film. Not one of their classics but lots of fun.

---

---

Page 1 of 2:

[1] [2]

Add another review

---

Related Links

Plot summary	Ratings	External reviews
Plot keywords	Main details	Your user reviews
Your vote history