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Return of the Ape Man More at IMDbPro »

8 out of 8 people found the following review useful:
So where was the Ape Man returning from?, 2 July 2006

Author: reptilicus from Vancouver, Canada

Bela Lugosi and John Carradine, both men played Dracula at Universal Studios and both men said "Yes" when Monogram Studios came calling with offers of work. In VOODOO MAN John was Bela's half-wit servant (Long John called that "The worst film I ever made!" of course he said that before he did BILLY THE KID MEETS Dracula.) At least in this film they are fellow scientists.

Prof. Dexter (Bela) and Prof. Gilmore (John) have perfected a way to freeze human beings and then thaw them out unharmed. They have kept Willy The Weasel (Ernie Adams) a "notorious tramp" (as a newspaper article labels him) on ice for 4 months. When he wakes up he thinks he has just spent the night in their basement! Bela suggests they could revive a person who has been frozen longer and suggests they head up to the North Pole to find a specimen of prehistoric man. With hardly any hesitation Carradine agrees and off they go. (Just keep repeating "It's only a movie . . . only a movie . . .")

Do they find what they are looking for? Well this would be an even duller film if they did not! As Bela says "One chance in a million and we've won!" They waste no time in thawing the Neandertal Man (Frank Moran) out but he is far from happy at being awakened from his 50,000 year nap. Bela grabs a handy blowtorch and forces the man into an even handier cage (You see? Fire is his Master! He probably never understood it.")

Now just bringing a prehistoric man back to life would have any other scientist ringing up the Nobel Prize committee but NOT Bela! He wants to transplant half the brain of a modern man into the ape man's skull so the world can hear first hand what it was like to live back then. Carradine is reluctant to do this ("That would be murder.") but Bela retorts "Murder is an ugly word. As a scientist I don't recognise it." Of course while determining just whose brain should be hijacked the Ape Man escapes and brutally kills a policeman. There is a splendid shot of Bela walking down a city street wearing a tuxedo with a lit blowtorch in his hand! This movie just has to be taking place in a parallel universe! Anyway moral and righteous Carradine reads about the killing in the papers and decides to spill the well known beans to the cops. Bela persuades him to drop by the lab first. Can you guess why? Yes! He has found his brain donor!

This movie is fabulous because of the sheer eccentricity of its plot. Bela, who is not even a surgeon, successfully performs brain surgery without even bothering the shave the Neandertal's head; whats more the patient recovers from this complex surgery and it up and walking in just a few hours! Where did Dr. Lugosi study medicine? Also, why is the caveman not hurt by bullets? Was he petrified after having been frozen so long or is that just one really tough animal skin he is wearing? Watch closely for the scene where the ape man climbs through the window of Carradine's home. You will see this prehistoric man is wearing a pair of 20th century underwear!

Originally the Ape Man was to be played by 2 people. Former prizefighter Frank Moran, who appeared in many movies for Poverty Row studios and even a few for the majors, was to be the title character before the brain surgery and George Zucco was to be the post surgery ape man. A still does exist showing the ape man sitting on a table with Carradine and Lugosi on either side. The profile is definitely not Frank Moran! That nose and those eyes do remind me of George Zucco; but that is not him in the movie at any time. A story goes that he got so fed up during the makeup tests that he "got sick" before his scenes could be filmed and Frank Moran played the role all the way through. Maybe George was still mad at Monogram because of his role in VOODOO MAN.

Bela is great. John seems to be just walking through his role, something he seldom did not matter how bad the script was. Then again the script does not give him much to do. With lines like "I believe you're quite mad!" and "As a public minded citizen it's my duty to report how the poor man happened to have been killed." Maybe that is why Bela's character thinks his colleague could only donate half a brain!

Supporting cast includes Judith Gibson, who was sometimes billed as "Teala Loring" and Michael Ames are the young-couple-in-love. Mr. Ames would later change his name to "Tod Andrews" and would star in such things as FROM HELL IT CAME (1957). Watch closely for Horace Carpenter (Dr. Mierschultz from Dwain Esper's 1934 sleaze classic MANIAC) in a non speaking role as a security guard who is killed by the ape man.

They don't make movies like this anymore. You know what? I am kind of sorry they don't.

4 out of 4 people found the following review useful:
Cheesy mad scientist tale redeemed somewhat by Lugosi, 17 June 2000

Author: Raymond Valinoti, Jr. (raymondva@comcast.net) from Murray Hill, NJ

RETURN OF THE APE MAN was one of nine films Bela Lugosi appeared for the Poverty Row studio Monogram between 1941 and 1944. In this film, he plays mad scientist Professor Dexter who with the help of his colleague Professor John Gilmore (John Carradine) revives a prehistoric man (Frank Moran) from an ice block. Dexter schemes to kill a modern person to use part of his brain in the newly thawed brute. Thus, the savage ape man will not only become manageable, but he'll have the speech and intelligence to describe his prehistoric life. Why not a WHOLE brain? Because Dexter believes that if he removes all of his subject's old brain, the ape man won't have any knowledge of his former life.

This synopsis suggests the film's silliness. The plot is more coherent than in most of Lugosi's other Monogram films, but it still has its share of inexplicabilities and inconsistencies. Monogram's typically poor production values further enhance the film's cheesiness. The sets are sparse and threadbare. An Arctic sequence where the scientists find the ape man is especially phony looking; one expects the curtain to come down when it ends. The music, consisting of randomly selected stock scores, is dull and often inappropriate, such as a marching band tune during action sequences.

Still, one can derive legitimate pleasure from Bela Lugosi's performance. Ever the trouper, he acts as if he's in one of his Shakespeare productions in his native Hungary and the film is all the better because of it. Lugosi emotes his standard mad scientist part with passion and conviction. He delivers such lines as "Some people's brains would never be missed" in his sonorous Hungarian accented voice with an air of sinister elegance. Such a unique delivery elevates his dialogue from stale cliches to arcane parlance. Lugosi fans should savor RETURN OF THE APE MAN.

It's a letdown for John Carradine's fans, however. As Dexter's sane and ethical partner, he just goes through the motions. His performance is so listless that one perversely roots for Lugosi's far more vibrant character when the scientists argue.

Overall, RETURN OF THE APE MAN exemplifies the situation of an outstanding performer (in this case, Lugosi) rising above his unpromising material.

3 out of 5 people found the following review useful:
Talk about false advertising - What happened to George Zucco?, 31 May 2009

Author: bensonmum2 from Tennessee

*** This review may contain spoilers ***

Two scientists, Prof. Dexter and Prof. Gilmore (played by horror legends Bela Lugosi and John Carradine), have developed a method of reanimating a frozen body with no adverse affects. They decide to test their discovery on a primitive man frozen in ice for thousands of years. Again, they find success. Still not satisfied, Prof. Dexter wants to place half of a modern brain into his primitive guinea pig. But where to find a brain? Prof Dexter's not above murder if it will advance his theories.

I'm usually willing to cut these Poverty Row films a break, but Return of the Ape Man features the worst of what these movies had to offer. First off, there's the incredibly misleading credit sequence that promises George Zucco. I'm a huge fan of Zucco. I was actually more interested in watching him than either Bela Lugosi or John Carradine. And even though his name appears twice in the opening credits, he's nowhere to be found. What's up with that! Next, the overall acting is absolutely terrible. Carradine has so little to do that he's hardly in the movie – and acts it. You can usually count on Lugosi for a fun performance, but even he appears to be going through the motions. The rest of the unknown cast is abysmal, except for Teala Loring. She provides the one lone spark Return of the Ape Man has to offer. Thirdly, the titular Ape Man is hardly an Ape Man at all. He looks more like a guy with long hair and a beard. It's a hoot to listen to character after character describe the hippy looking dude as more ape-like than man. My guess is that Monogram came up with a title and had a script before they checked their budget for the special effects necessary to create an Ape Man. Finally, even by Monogram standards, Return of the Ape Man is cheap looking. Often, the sets look like they might have fallen over had someone breathed too heavily in the wrong direction. And the Arctic expedition scenes are laugh out loud funny in how cheap they are. A few seconds of stock footage followed by Carradine and Lugosi standing around talking while wearing the most ridiculous fur coats and hats does not make for a very authentic looking scene. Return of the Ape Man might be the bottom of the proverbial barrel as far as Poverty Row thrillers goes. I'm being generous with my 3/10.

It's Not Lugosi's Fault, 5 May 2012

Author: m2mallory from California

*** This review may contain spoilers ***

Bela Lugosi made more than his share of low-budget stinkers during World War II, but "Return of the Ape Man" might be the worst. In fact, it might be the worst film he made prior to his teaming up with Ed Wood, Jr. Lugosi plays an amoral scientist with a special interest in cryogenics (though that word is never actually used). After abducting, freezing and reviving a bum, with the help of fellow scientist John Carradine, he ups the ante by sponsoring an expedition to find a frozen prehistoric man, which he does find, in about three minutes, thanks to dynamite. He revives the "ape man," who of course is a murderous brute, controlled only by waving fire in his face, but wants to go further by implanting part of a modern brain in him, allowing him to remember what it was like living in Bedrock. When Carradine objects, HE becomes the unwitting brain donor, and further chaos ensues. This is one of those films that is so cheap you can see the sets wobble. Carradine somehow manages to retain his dignity (more than he would in many other trash films), and Lugosi is...well, Lugosi. The scene in which Lugosi traps Carradine on an electrified plate in his lab, and then lassos him and ties him up, while the two are holding a philosophical conversation, has to rank high in the annals of bad cinema. George Zucco was supposed to play the ape man, and he's there literally for a couple seconds, but he took ill and was replaced by an actor named Frank Moran, who's actually not bad. But the script is awful, the direction non-existent, the prolonged ending involves the ape man carrying the heroine around, and around, and AROUND, in what at one point looks like a parody of Universal's "The Mummy's Tomb," and the canned musical score is ludicrously inappropriate to the action in just about every scene. The musical highlight comes early on during a stock footage sequence of the ship carrying the expedition, which is accompanied by a sprightly "Rosie O'Grady"-style waltz tempo. Sometimes these Monogram epics are so bad they're enjoyable, but the enjoyment wears out quickly in this one, leaving nothing but people running back-and-forth on cardboard sets to ridiculous music.

Going Ape, 14 April 2012

Author: Van Roberts (zardoz@bellsouth.net) from United States

*** This review may contain spoilers ***

Far-fetched but fast-moving, "Return of the Ape Man" qualifies as hilarious hokum. Of course, the horror here is similar to "Frankenstein." Mere mortals struggle to appropriate powers that belong to the gods. Predictably, our mad scientist heroes take themselves very seriously in "Spooks Run Wild" director Phil Rosen's black & white epic about suspended animation and brain transplants. Not even the suspension of your disbelief will make this low-budget, Monogram Pictures melodrama appear less dreadful. Indeed, "Return of the Ape Man" fits the description of a "so-bad-it's-good" movie. "Voodoo Man" scenarist Robert Charles gives a better account of himself with "Return of the Ape Man." At least, this Lugosi opus boasts some scope and spectacle, part of the narrative transpires overseas as our protagonists travel aboard with serviceable B-roll and adequate back projection. Comparatively, "Return of the Ape Man" surpasses "Voodoo Man."

"Return of the Ape Man" casts Lugosi again as an insane scientist. He is a scientist who sacrifices everything on the altar of research, including his closest colleague. Mind you, the teaming of Bela Lugosi with John Carradine makes this almost essential viewing for anybody who craves bad horror thrillers from the 1940s. Previously, Lugosi and Carradine appeared in "Voodoo Man," with Carradine in a supporting role as one of his goons. After the two scientists restore a homeless man to life who they have had in suspended animation for four months, they grow very ambitious, obtain funding for an Arctic expedition, and ten long months later excavate a caveman preserved perfectly in ice. Of course, media attention is confined to newspaper stories while our protagonists toil in secret. Professor Dexter (Bela Lugosi) and Professor John Gilmore (John Carradine) thaw the caveman out. The sight of Lugosi wielding a blow torch to melt the block of ice encasing the prehistoric man is amusing. "A perfect specimen of pithecanthropus," quips Gilmore to Dexter after they inspect the body, adding, "Neither man nor ape." They restore the Ice Age man to life. "It's alive," breathes Dexter in awe. No sooner has the cave man regained life than he threatens both Dexter and Gilmore. Like the Frankenstein monster, the "Ape Man" fears fire. Dexter brandishes the blow torch to control him. Dexter backs the brute into a cell and locks him up for safe-keeping.

Dexter confides in Gilmore that he wants to remove half of a contemporary man's brain and implant it into the Ape Man. Dexter wants to "endow him with just enough understanding" so he can communicate with him. He refuses to remove the cave man's entire brain. Dexter says "that would remove his entire connection with his former life." Dexter wants his patient to retain his memories. "I must leave in him enough of his old brain to stimulate his memory." At this point, Dexter goes off the deep end. Gilmore assures him he will never find a willing subject who will donate half of his brain. Nevertheless, this setback doesn't deter Dexter from recruiting reluctant subjects. He goes after the fiancé of Gilmore's niece Anne, Steve Rogers (Michael Ames), and tampers wit his drink so Steve will be more amenable to his designs. During this episode, Dr. Gilmore plays the "Moonlight Sonata" on the piano for Anne. Presumably, this display of musical virtuosity makes Gilmore more sympathetic. When he notices that Steve has left, Gilmore rushes to their laboratory. Gilmore catches Dexter before he can mangle Steve. Gilmore calls Dexter "despicable" to harm somebody dear to him. He refuses to continue with their research and says he should have heeded his wife's advice. After Gilmore leaves, Dexter has trouble with the Ape Man. The hairy brute pulls the bars of his cell far enough apart to slip through, eludes Dexter, and hits the streets. Not only does the Ape Man mug a woman, but he also struggles briefly with a uniformed cop before killing him. Later, Dexter lies to the gullible Gilmore about disposing of the Ape Man, and he convinces Gilmore to help him. Instead, he paralyzes Gilmore and implants part of Gilmore's brain into the Ape Man. When Dexter awakens Gilmore after surgery, he speaks to the Ape Man, and the latter responds to his words. "I have advanced his brain 20-thousand years in a few hours," Dexter marvels at his own success. When Dexter suggests a second operation may help matters even more, the Ape Man bursts from the house.

Naturally, after Dexter has implanted half of another brain, the Ape Man really goes on a rampage with predictable "Frankenstein" results. He flees to Gilmore's house, plays "Moonlight Sonata," and then in response to his wife's summons, he strangles her to death. Steve sees him leave the bedroom and pursues him, but he doesn't get far before the Ape Man slugs him. Anne alerts the cops, and they arrive to find Hilda dead in her bedroom. The Ape Man returns to Dr. Dexter, and Steve leads the police to Dexter's house. The authorities search the premises. Initially, they find nothing until the Ape Man smashes through the wall concealing his cell. He breaks out and takes about five shots from a cop before he seizes Dexter. The Ape Man escapes again, and Dexter admits to Steve and the cops that he transplanted Gilmore's brain into it. "In the interest of science you must destroy that thing," says the dying Dexter. Predictably, the Ape Man retraces its steps to the Gilmore residence. The Ape Man abducts Anne after it tells her that she is beautiful. The police issue an alarm for a maniac on the lam with a woman. "Return of the Ape Man" turns into "King Kong" with the Ape Man using high power wires to elude the authorities. He takes Anne to a theater and then to Dexter's home where he ignites a fire by accident. Michael runs into the lab and rescues Anne. The Ape Man dies in the blaze.

Bela Lugosi and an Ape Man, 10 October 2011
Author: gavin6942 from United States

While on an Arctic expedition, two scientists find the frozen body of a prehistoric caveman. They bring him home to their laboratory, but decide that in order to fully utilize (and control) him, they must transplant a more developed brain into the caveman.

I love Bela Lugosi. Not sure if I can say that enough. I have watched five or six films with him in it over the past ten days, and I would gladly watch five or six more. Oh, and I cannot complain about John Carradine either...

What I can complain about is the inclusion of "Moonlight Sonata", but that is just a personal bias. That song has always given me the creeps. There used to be a game called "Alone in the Dark" (a predecessor of Resident Evil) and that song was featured. It has given me the willies ever since.

I should probably write something about the ape man or the actual merits of this film. Let us just say it is pretty much standard. Without Lugosi and Carradine, it would be completely forgettable. But with them, you will enjoy seeing a hairy guy bust out of his cell and have a little prehistoric fun!

1 out of 2 people found the following review useful:
Good Fun, 12 March 2008
Author: Michael_Elliott from Louisville, KY

Return of the Ape Man (1944)

*** (out of 4)

A scientist (Bela Lugosi) and his assistant (John Carradine) travel to the arctic, find the missing link, bring him home, thaw him out and then he goes on a rampage. Extremely cheap, but enjoyable Monogram film isn't Citizen Kane but it's not suppose to be. Lugosi and Carradine work well together and both men are good in their roles playing it straight. The actual ape man is rather silly and gets plenty of laughs but this just adds to the entertainment value. This hasn't been released to DVD yet but it's worth searching for.

2 out of 4 people found the following review useful:
Hmmmmm!, 9 September 2000

Author: BaronBl00d (baronbl00d@aol.com) from NC

The story revolves around an Artic expedition headed by Bela Lugosi and his associate, scientist John Carradine, as they search for what might be the missing link. They find a frozen cave man...why this is called an ape man is totally lost on me. It must be based on the huge lack of success from an earlier Lugosi film called The Ape Man, of which this film has no relation too in plot whatsoever. Anyway, Lugosi brings this man back but finds that it needs at least a part of someone else's brain. He begins to search for possible subjects and settles on Carradine's soon-to-be fiancee. Carradine is not enthusiastic in the venture any further and severs ties, and the real mayhem begins as Bela gets to really ham it up trying to find and finally succeeding with a substitute. The Return of the Ape Man is undeniably cheap, poorly scripted, and laughably acted by most; it does, however, remain thoroughly entertaining due in large part to Lugosi in a charged-up role and Carradine in a rather subdued one. The cast credits list George Zucco but alas he is nowhere to be found. Quite a shame considering his ability to add class to almost anything.

3 out of 6 people found the following review useful:
Return Of The Ape Man (1944) *1/2, 8 July 2005

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

Having now watched some 12 of Lugosi's "cheapies", I'm surprised by how much I enjoyed some of them - but others are just so silly that, for me, it hampers rather than enhances their entertainment value! Unfortunately, RETURN OF THE APE MAN happens to be one of them.

Let's begin with the good stuff: Lugosi and Carradine interact well together and I'd say that their roles here are equally important, despite the latter's below-title billing (though he's not interesting as a straight man, and I obviously prefer him when he goes over-the-top). Well, that's basically it - somehow, I felt that this one fell below the standard of the other films I've watched. Apart from the usual plot contrivances (not the least of which is Lugosi mounting an Arctic expedition, with a million-to-one chance of discovering the 'Missing Link', just so he can prove his theory about 'suspended animation'!) and the fact that, once unearthed, the 'creature' is given very little to do, the film suffers from listless pacing - where everybody apparently takes his sweet time about everything (witness Lugosi's calm and composed reaction at the Ape Man's escape from his laboratory, or the sheer amount of time it takes two cops to break down the door to the lab at the climax) - which really drowns any effort to get involved in the story!

I truly wanted to enjoy this one for what it was and not examine it unduly but the script was so lazy and the handling so uninspired that it was awfully hard for me to excuse its deficiencies simply because it was Poverty Row stuff. Do you want examples? O.K...although I agree that the best line in the film was the one uttered by Lugosi - "Some people's brains would never be missed" - that very sequence is actually where my heart sank and I knew that it was going to get worse from that point on. Why on earth would Lugosi choose, of all people, his own assistant's future son-in-law as his 'guinea pig'?! As I said, the creature itself did nothing but commute from one house (Lugosi's) to another (Carradine's). Oh, yes...he did give us an unprecedented glimpse of his bare buttocks during his climb out of Lugosi's laboratory window! I have to say, though, that the image of Lugosi chasing the Ape Man into the streets with a blowtorch did put an effortless smile on my face! Worst of all, perhaps, is the hurried way in which the sequence where Lugosi traps Carradine is shot: rather than milk the scene for all the suspense it obviously contains by judicious cross-cutting, the director chooses to shoot it in one bland, medium-shot which, if one blinks long enough, would probably miss it!! Similarly tossed away is the sequence where the Creature (now with Carradine in control) goes back to his house and starts wandering about and even sits down to play the piano; one only has to recall how moving Freddie Jones was (in similar circumstances) under Terence Fisher's direction in FRANKENSTEIN MUST BE DESTROYED (1969). Sure, these programmers were made fast and cheap (as were Hammer's, after all) but how costly would it have been for the film-makers to pour some real effort into their work?

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