I can't bring myself to call this a bad film. Going by the title of course, I was expecting a huge helping of cheese to go with the story, but there was something intriguing to this tale of black magic and mystical animals. You'll have to get past the casting of Raymond Burr as a Spanish plantation worker, but that's really no worse than Warner Oland or Boris Karloff playing Chinese detectives. Lon Chaney, who's had his share of physical transformations is on hand as Police Commissioner Taro, investigating the death of the plantation owner, Klaas Van Gelder (Paul Cavanagh). Brought down by the timely coincidence of Barney Chavez' infatuation with Dina Van Gelder (Barbara Payton) and the appearance of a poisonous snake, Taro believes there's more here than meets the eye.
The Van Gelder's servant Al-long (Gisela Werbisek) doesn't go for Barney's indiscretions, and puts her mystical talents to work casting a spell on him. Now here's what makes the film interesting for me. Instead of turning Barney into an ape, her voodoo curse makes him think he's turning into one. That psychological angle is played out throughout the film. As Barney begins to find himself at home in the jungle, his perceptions become ever sharper as he finds other jungle inhabitants afraid of him. The other workers on the Van Gelder plantation fear a "succarat", a legendary demon at work.
The one time the film breaks continuity comes near the end when Barney is shown picking up the body of the fainted Dina. It's done in full ape guise, whereas most other scenes referencing his gorilla delusion show him seeing himself as an ape or turning into one. Interestingly, no other person ever saw Barney as a monkey man.
Barney manages to leave two damsels in distress by the end of the story. Right up until he marries Dina, he's been having a fling with Mrs. Van Gelder's personal servant Larina (Carol Varga); this guy gets around. I was waiting for Larina to follow up her little temper tantrum when Dina was getting ready to leave the plantation, but nothing ever came of that. For her part, Barbara Payton's talents were accentuated with very close fitting blouses and numerous shots in profile.
If you take a minute to watch the opening scene again after viewing the movie, you'll wonder why it was handled that way. With the voice over narration of Lon Chaney, the screen scans the remains of the Van Gelder home in utter destruction, as if it was hit by a bomb. There's really no reason why the demise of Chavez would have resulted in that chaos, especially since the Van Gelder home had a willing buyer when the newlyweds first decided to head to Paris. Perhaps it was the jungle's way of bringing Barney Chavez to justice.
The Van Gelder's servant Al-long (Gisela Werbisek) doesn't go for Barney's indiscretions, and puts her mystical talents to work casting a spell on him. Now here's what makes the film interesting for me. Instead of turning Barney into an ape, her voodoo curse makes him think he's turning into one. That psychological angle is played out throughout the film. As Barney begins to find himself at home in the jungle, his perceptions become ever sharper as he finds other jungle inhabitants afraid of him. The other workers on the Van Gelder plantation fear a "succarat", a legendary demon at work.
The one time the film breaks continuity comes near the end when Barney is shown picking up the body of the fainted Dina. It's done in full ape guise, whereas most other scenes referencing his gorilla delusion show him seeing himself as an ape or turning into one. Interestingly, no other person ever saw Barney as a monkey man.
Barney manages to leave two damsels in distress by the end of the story. Right up until he marries Dina, he's been having a fling with Mrs. Van Gelder's personal servant Larina (Carol Varga); this guy gets around. I was waiting for Larina to follow up her little temper tantrum when Dina was getting ready to leave the plantation, but nothing ever came of that. For her part, Barbara Payton's talents were accentuated with very close fitting blouses and numerous shots in profile.
If you take a minute to watch the opening scene again after viewing the movie, you'll wonder why it was handled that way. With the voice over narration of Lon Chaney, the screen scans the remains of the Van Gelder home in utter destruction, as if it was hit by a bomb. There's really no reason why the demise of Chavez would have resulted in that chaos, especially since the Van Gelder home had a willing buyer when the newlyweds first decided to head to Paris. Perhaps it was the jungle's way of bringing Barney Chavez to justice.