The Ape (1940 film)
| The Ape | |
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Theatrical release poster
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| Directed by | William Nigh |
| Produced by |
William Nigh associate William Lackey executive Scott K. Dunlap |
| Written by |
Kurt Siodmak Richard Carroll adaptation Kurt Siodmak |
| Based on | "suggested by" the play by Adam Hull Shirk |
| Starring |
Boris Karloff Maris Wrixon Gene O'Donnell |
| Music by | Edward J. Kay |
| Cinematography | Harry Neumann |
| Edited by | Russell F. Schoengarth |
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Production
company |
Monogram Pictures
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| Distributed by |
Monogram Pictures Corporation (US) Monarch Film Corporation |
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Release date
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Running time
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62 minutes |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
The Ape is a 1940 American horror film made for Monogram Pictures, co-written by Curt Siodmak and starring Boris Karloff.
It was the last film in Karloff's nine-picture contract with Monogram.
Dr. Bernard Adrian is a kindly scientist who seeks to cure a young woman's polio. All he needs is 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 the townspeople.
The Ape eventually breaks into Dr. Adrian's lab. The Doctor manages to kill it before any harm can come to himself. However, the spinal fluids he requires to perform his experiments have all been destroyed during the struggle between him and the Ape.
Doctor Adrian then concocts an idea: he will tear off the ape's flesh and use its skin to disguise himself as the escaped circus animal and murder townspeople in order to extract their spinal fluid. Thus the murders will be blamed on the Ape and he, himself, will manage to avoid any suspicion.
However, one of his attacks towards the film's end is unsuccessful; he is fatally knifed and the Ape's "true identity" is revealed.
The film was based on a play by Adam Hull Shirk. It made its debut in 1924 by the Paul Gershon drama school in Hollywood. The Los Angeles Times praised a 1926 production saying "it has thrills galore and rather more of a plot than average." Critics claimed it was in the same genre as the plays The Cat and the Canary and The Bat, noting its similarities to The Gorilla and the Kipling short story The Mark of the Beast.
The play had a prologue set in India, where an Englishman has killed a sacred ape and a Hindu priest puts a curse on him. Thirty years later the Englishman has become a nervous wreck and sent to Los Angeles to be looked after by his family.
Film rights were bought by Monogram Pictures who filmed it as The House of Mystery (1934).
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Wikipedia