Killer Ape (1953) User Reviews

The best action occurs off-camera!

[JohnHowardReid · 5/10 · 16 November 2017]

Johnny Weissmuller (Jungle Jim), Carol Thurston (Shari), Burt Wenland (Ramada), Nestor Paiva (Andrews), Ray Corrigan (Norley), Rory Mallinson (Perry), Max Palmer (man ape), Paul Marion (Mahara), Eddie Foster (Achmed), Michael Fox (medical officer), Nick Stuart (Maron), Redro Regas (magi), Harry Wilson (Andrews' henchman).

Director: SPENCER GORDON BENNET. Screenplay: Carroll Young, Arthur Hoerl. Story: Carroll Young. Suggested by the comic strip Jungle Jim by Alex Raymond. Photography: William P. Whitley. Film editor: Gene Havlick. Art director: Paul Palmentola. Set decorator: Sidney Clifford. Make-up: Clay Campbell. Music director: Mischa Bakaleinikoff. Unit manager: Herbert B. Leonard. Assistant director: Carter De Haven, jr. Sound recording: Josh Westmoreland. Western Electric Sound Recording. Producer: Sam Katzman.

Copyright 1 December 1953 by Columbia Pictures Corporation. No recorded New York opening. U.S. release: December 1953. U.K. release: May 1954. Australian release: 6 January 1955 (sic). 7 reels. 68 minutes.

SYNOPSIS: Jungle Jim discovers that the Wazuli tribesmen are selling wild animals to hunters who are using the creatures to produce ingredients for bacterial warfare.

NOTES: Number twelve of the sixteen-picture Jungle Jim series, all starring Johnny Weissmuller, and all produced by Sam Katzman.

COMMENT: Like most of the movies in the "Jungle Jim" series, the credits are superimposed on a few snips of the interesting excitements to come. Then, as usual, the film itself starts off with very obvious and very ancient stock footage. Jungle Jim and his compatriots look on and most unconvincingly try to tie this bewhiskered material in with the main action.

Even more of a possible letdown is that at first it seems that our killer ape is going to play but an incidental part in the story. However, he soon comes into his own.

Director Bennet contrives a few nice thrill effects with menacing low angles and terrifying close-ups of the beast. Of course, Bennet reverts to routine for the rest of the movie, but there's still enough action to satisfy Jungle Jim's young fans.

True, the picture could advantageously be trimmed of a fair swag of excess dialogue in which the characters just stand around swapping clichés.

And, would you believe, here again is that familiar monkey stampede without which no Jungle Jim opus would seem complete. But at least our hero doesn't swim in this entry, so we are spared some of the tired underwater reprises.

As for the acting here, it rates as no more than adequate, often less. Johnny is okay and Miss Thurston gets by, but even a disguised Nestor Paiva makes an inadequate villain. The rest of the players belong in amateur league.

We could also do without a long dissertation by the wise man of the tribe on "Strange Animals", which is not even illustrated! Naturally, the topography, flora, fauna, and especially the native costumes, present a weird and bizarre mixture.

Still, it all comes to a fair climax, though some fans will be annoyed that the actual apex of the action occurs off-camera!

"It's hard to believe what some men will do for money"

[hwg1957-102-265704 · 6/10 · 27 August 2018]

Some mad scientists are using a tribe to obtain wild animals for them to use in experiments to develop a viral weapon which pacifies people into submission. They are doing this in a rocky valley which is also inhabited by a man-ape of towering stature. Into this situation comes Jungle Jim and Tamba the chimpanzee to sort it all out. The man-ape is eventually destroyed by Jim which is a bit unfair as the man-ape tries to free the captive animals and only wants protect his domain. He does have a yen for a pretty girl in a sarong but Shari the native nymph is certainly worth a second glance.

Johnny Weissmuller plods along as Jungle Jim and the rest of the cast do the same apart from Carol Thurston of course as feisty Shari who gives the liveliest performance. Max Palmer as the man-ape shuffles around but without much menace though his furry boots were pretty awesome. The director Spencer Bennett made some excellent serials in the 1940's. His touch here was only routine.

One of the more watchable Jungle Jim movies.

[youroldpaljim · 25 December 2001]

Jungle Jim does battle with an evil band of scientists who are capturing wild animals for use in testing a mind control drug. Meanwhile the evil scientists have trespassed into the valley of "The Killer Ape"; a half man, half ape monster that kills all those that enters his domain.

As far as these Jungle Jim movies go, this one is one of my favorites. It's probably the most watchable of all the films in this mostly dreary series. Max Palmer as the strange prehistoric apeman helps enliven this film.

And the Oscar goes to: Johnny Weissmuller for 'Killer Ape'!

[JohnSeal · 3/10 · 20 November 1999]

Just kidding. Anyone who's watched a Jungle Jim film--or, for that matter, an MGM Tarzan that isn't Tarzan the Ape Man or Tarzan and his Mate---know that Johnny Weissmuller was probably the worst actor to ever strut his stuff in Hollywood (well, until Keanu Reeves came along). Here he's outacted by a tall gentlemen wearing particularly poor makeup who plays the Killer Ape of the title. He really looks more like a caveman with fluffy boots, but whatever. Once again the natives are all white and there's plenty of stock footage courtesy Sam Katzman's penny-pinching ways.

Killer Ape

[malcolm-68 · 2/10 · 11 January 2012]

This lays claim to being the worst of the "Jungle Jim" series. Normally these films are mildly enjoyable escapism which compensate for a low budget with imagination. The best of the scribes is frequently Carroll Young, but this time his flair has deserted him. This film is just plain stupid. It is easily possible to lose track of the number of times characters have their back turned and are looking in the wrong direction when the ape man attacks. The story goes round in circles with characters being attacked, tortured, escaping and then being recaptured in ridiculous circumstances. Plot threads go nowhere such as the lynch-pin of the story which opens with crocodiles behaving oddly. Potentially this is quite an original idea (and was probably used because producer Katzman had some stock footage he wanted to insert), but after an early scene no further mention is made of this. Carole Thurston does one of her patented native girl characters. The title character does not look like an ape more like a big moron clothed in a dress from a charity shop. Best acting comes from the chimp!

What is affecting the great wildlife of Africa?

[mark.waltz · 3/10 · 8 July 2017]

Bring on the rubber crocodiles! They certainly the agitated ones seen in obvious stock footage in the very beginning. Something is agitating them and other wild life, although Tamba the chimp remains cute and cuddly. Esther Williams once commented on the rubber crocodiles that Johnny Weismueller wrestled in the Tarzan movies, and her remenence of that fact is proved here. A cute baby elephant is also examined to determine what is going on with mother nature's prized mammals and the fearsome reptiles, and the discovery leads to a horrifying discovery. Once again, it's the intrusive white man with his destructive ways, filled with an obsession of wealth, power and domination.

There's silliness abound in this entry in the Jungle Jim series, showing a desperation for ideas and the need to stretch these stories out to feature film length rather than put them on TV in a half hour format. The creature itself is a silly looking caveman and any resemblance between it and an actual ape is strictly in the mind of its writers. Weismueller really just seems to be walking through these now, and the acting skills of professional wrestler Max Palmer is limited to unemotional grunts and wild arm movements. Next to him, Tor Johnson and Richard Kiel (not to mention Andre the giant) seems Shakespearean in comparison. This time around, Palmer gets the laughs, not Tamba, and I'm sure that was not intentional.

It's Jungle Jim vs the ape man

[chris_gaskin123 · 7/10 · 21 November 2005]

Despite reading a lot of bad reviews about this movie stating that it is the worst of the Jungle Jim series, I quite enjoyed it.

A giant ape man kills somebody and Jungle Jim gets the blame at first. But the local natives finally believe him when they see the giant themselves. At the same time, mad scientists are experimenting on animals for a serum for drugs and the natives are supplying the animals. The giant is killed at the end.

Joining Johnny Weissmuller as Jungle Jim are Nester Paiva (Tarantula, The Mole People), Ray "Crash" Corrigan (It! The Terror From Beyond Space, Unknown Island), Carol Thurston and Max Palmer as the ape man.

Check this out if you get the chance. Great fun.

Rating: 3 stars out of 5.

killer laughs

[arkent · 23 June 2001]

My granddaughter and I caught only the last half, or so, of this film, so it's possible that we may have missed something that would cause me to reconsider what I say about it here. What might we have missed that would make a difference? Perhaps a plot, or at least some logical premise to explain what is going on.

This film must rank as a minor classic in the jungle-epic-filmed-in-a-garage genre. Although most of its action ostensibly occurs outdoors, there's hardly a scene in the film--apart from stock footage of rampaging animals--that isn't claustrophobic. Lots of interior shots in tents, huts, caves, dense jungle cover, etc., and even the exterior shots look like they were filmed indoors.

No point in being coy. Everything about this film is bad: cheesy production values, bad acting, hopeless script. Its only redeeming value is Carol Thurston (1923-1969; not the writer of the same name), who plays some kind of "native" princess. She's a babe. Wearing a skin-tight sarong, she looks more like she belongs in a Crosby/Hope "Road" movie than a "Jungle Jim" flick, but anyone who suffers through this turkey ain't likely to complain. She's good-looking, has a great body, and moves likes she's fully aware of all of the above. When you watch the silly film, you'll probably find yourself expecting J. Jim (Johnny Weismuller) to ask, "What's a classy babe like you doing in a jungle like this?" (You can answer that by checking her film credits on IMDb--all turkeys.)

The film's plot--so far as I could make it out--has several storylines. First, there's a giant "man ape" that is killing everything that enters his valley. Next, there's a group of unprincipled scientists who are collecting animal specimens as part of an evil plan to control the world with a serum they have discovered. Next, there is a "tribe" of ethnically mixed people (Arabs? Persians? Africans? Tahitians?) who are unwittingly helping the evil scientists by selling animals to them. Into this mix is thrown Jungle Jim, the world's first eco-tourist, who does his best to save the fight the bad guys, help the natives, and save the animals. (Unfortunately, he has a thing for the man ape and does his best to kill the poor beast. Never mind that the man ape might have some rights, too. Did he invite anyone into his valley?)

What I most enjoy about this silly symphony is its rhythms and patterns of movement. At any given moment, it seems like at least one character is being held captive by another character. As a result, there are escapes galore, and much of the time half the characters are fleeing, while the other half are chasing. What makes all this fun, is that it's absolutely unclear where the heck anyone is going. Characters seem to criss-cross the jungle in random directions with the inevitable result that they are constantly running into each other (and that includes the man ape, who usually grabs anyone who comes near him).

An interesting motif is hiding, or taking cover. J. Jim spends a lot of his time ducking behind jungle ferns, rocks, or passages in the cave that serves as one of the film's main sets. Although characters are hiding much of the time, no one chasing them ever thinks to look behind a rock or fern, so the hiders' presence goes undetected until they pop out into the open--which they always do. I'd like to see someone set this film to music.

If anyone ever writes a treatise on caves in films, they shouldn't overlook this film. Its cave is something special--the sort of place for which the word "cavernous" was coined--like the one in the old "Star Trek" episode about the Horta, or whatever it was called. Actually, this cave may have been used as a set for the "Dr. Who" TV series, though I don't recall spotting any Dalleks lurking anywhere.

Things to watch out for if you see this film:

* In the climactic fight between J. Jim and the man ape, see if you can tell if there is anything in any of the cardboard boxes they throw at each other (they all looked empty to me)

* when the wizard character shows Thurston the "baby dinosaur" in a cigar box, notice that it's a California alligator lizard

* in fact, see if you spot anything in the film--except for stock footage--that wasn't shot in Southern California

* keep an eye on the knife J. Jim drops when the man ape knocks him down; does it land at an angle that would pose a threat to anyone who accidentally falls on it?

* notice how J. Jim holds his chimp's hand every time they go somewhere together; why does he need to hold the hand of a chimp smart enough to understand him when he says, "Run back to the camp and get me knife"? Is it possible that the real chimp wouldn't follow Weismuller if he weren't holding onto him?

Good but nothing more

[searchanddestroy-1 · 19 December 2023]

For me the mad scientists scheme was unavoidable for the screen writers of JUNGLE JIM, after or before the ivory smugglers, savage animals hunters, Communist agents...This one directed by Spencer Gordon Bennett, the former Republic and Columbia serials maker, is rather acceptable but not the best of the whole series. Sam Katzman production obviously prevents it to be even slightly better. For me it was too fastly made, with the tiniest budget possible and the result is on screen, or may I say IS NOT ON SCREEN.....However Jungle Jim fans will be satisfied by this one. I only expected a good evil villain, for instance a famous actor most known for good heroes roles instead of evil ones: Buster Crabbe, Rod Cameron, Allan Rocky Lane...The only unusual element here is that you have two "levels" of villains, the White men and the Killer Ape; both fight against each other and Jungle Jim fight also against each of those enemies villains. Interesting.