'Return of the Ape Man' teams up two horror stars to appear in a mess that hardly merits their efforts; in fact they don't seem to be making very great efforts. The remaining cast is so saddled with unworkable dialogue and directions that they barely give an impression on the screen. The acting is necessarily awful.
The story starts quite marvellously, and for the first quarter hour it's crash bang wallop; jumping from scene to scene and madcap ideas to bonkers situations.
Also Lugosi and Carradine have the most screen time together in this first part of the film, with very few other speaking parts to share with, so the actors portrayals are most clear whilst the plot is at it's most hyperactive.
By the midway point the characters blur out and the narrative loses pace, the plot becomes a back and forth and the tone becomes actually comedic.
To compound this by the latter stages of 'Return of the Ape Man' both Lugosi and Carradine have 'exited stage left' and George Zucco never gets past the opening credits so there is no further interest in what is being put up on screen.
The main laboratory set appears to be a redress of that from 'The Ape Man' which is probably appropriate considering.
Apart from a mad first 15 minutes and a couple of joke throw away lines for Lugosi there is little other interest.
I rate 3.5/10 and, frankly, if poverty row b-movie Bela is what a viewer fancies try 'Voodoo Man' from the same year; or 'Invisible Ghost' or the utterly screwy 'The Devil Bat' from a couple of years earlier.
The story starts quite marvellously, and for the first quarter hour it's crash bang wallop; jumping from scene to scene and madcap ideas to bonkers situations.
Also Lugosi and Carradine have the most screen time together in this first part of the film, with very few other speaking parts to share with, so the actors portrayals are most clear whilst the plot is at it's most hyperactive.
By the midway point the characters blur out and the narrative loses pace, the plot becomes a back and forth and the tone becomes actually comedic.
To compound this by the latter stages of 'Return of the Ape Man' both Lugosi and Carradine have 'exited stage left' and George Zucco never gets past the opening credits so there is no further interest in what is being put up on screen.
The main laboratory set appears to be a redress of that from 'The Ape Man' which is probably appropriate considering.
Apart from a mad first 15 minutes and a couple of joke throw away lines for Lugosi there is little other interest.
I rate 3.5/10 and, frankly, if poverty row b-movie Bela is what a viewer fancies try 'Voodoo Man' from the same year; or 'Invisible Ghost' or the utterly screwy 'The Devil Bat' from a couple of years earlier.