Captive Wild Woman (1943) User Reviews

So good they created a sequel...well, perhaps not...but at least they did a sequel!

[planktonrules · 6/10 · 1 April 2018]

I watched the films in the wrong order, though it hardly seemed to matter as the second film, "Jungle Woman" isn't exactly a sequel as so much of the story has been changed. Instead of being the product of a truly evil scientist (John Carradine), the ape is transformed into a hot woman by a nice scientist and there's also no mention of the story in "Captive Wild Woman". Odd...but this sort of thing was not unusual in Universal's horror films of the 1940s...they often contradicted each other.

A lady has a sister with some odd glandular disorder...so she takes him to Dr. Walters (Carradine). Little do they know that the nice scientist is actually completely evil and plans on experimenting on the sick sister. He plans on using her body to help turn an ape he stole become human-looking...all thanks to the miracle of glands. Along the way, his stupid assistant* gets in the way, so he sacrifices her...all in the name of scientist.

The new creation Walter dubs 'Paula Dupree' and she soon becomes the assistant to Fred the lion and tiger tamer. This is because Paula can hypnotize animals to do her bidding just by staring at them...and staring is what Acquanetta was REALLY good at doing throughout this film. Apart from a little tantrum and sequence where she looks a bit like a cheap wolfman, she really isn't given much to do other than stare. And, this staring she-freak is in love with Fred...but without a conscience, there's no telling WHAT she'll do!

This is not a terrible film but is about what you'd expect from a second-tier Universal horror movie. It entertains (particularly because of Carradine's cool performance as the goofy doc!) and is pretty much what fans of the genre will enjoy. It's also just a bit better than its sequel.

By the way, the exotic looking Acquanetta was actually originally Mildred Davenport...from Wyoming! So, despite the press releases from Universal, she was NOT the Venezuelan Volcano!

Better than the material deserves - thanks to Edward Dmytryk - but ends too abruptly

[zetes · 6/10 · 22 October 2007]

Silly, forgotten Universal horror film, now found on DVD in a Best Buy exclusive set. This one concerns a mad scientist with Nazi undertones (John Carradine) who kidnaps a circus gorilla and turns her into a human being (played by Acquanetta). As a human, Acquanetta has an uncanny ability to control lions and tigers, and is thus employed at a local circus (the one whence she, as the gorilla, was kidnapped) to help big cat tamer Milburn Stone. If Milburn Stone looks familiar, it's because he became famous as "Doc" Adams on Gunsmoke. The movie is silly but fun, with Carradine hamming it up like he usually does. And, while Acquanetta does little acting, she has a hypnotic look with those giant eyes. Unfortunately, the film, like many of the Universal Horror movies, ends abruptly, with a weird narration about the Carradine character. The animal work is pretty stunning for the time, and the editing is mostly convincing that Stone and the big cats are in the cage simultaneously. I would credit director Dmytryk, who was far too competent to be directing this kind of crap (the next year he would do the wonderful Murder My Sweet). If you love animals, you might be sickened at what is done to them. Lions and tigers are thrown into a cage and forced to fight each other. The one big fight ends with a fire hose, and the tiger, at least, looked like it was badly injured. The film is completely forgotten nowadays, but it did spawn two sequels.

A rare chance for Milburn Stone to play the lead...

[AlsExGal · 6/10 · 31 December 2022]

...in this ludicrous horror tale from Universal and its unlikely director Edward Dmytryk. Among the animals that trainer Fred Mason (Milburn Stone) returns with from Africa is a gorilla with human traits who is also very affectionate. "Brilliant" scientist Dr. Sigmund Walters (John Carradine) conducts glandular experiments on this gorilla and transforms it into a human woman who he names Paula Dupree (Acquanetta). Paula shows a talent for working with animals, so she gets a job as part of the animal taming act of Fred Mason. However, when Paula becomes jealous of Fred's romance with Beth (Evelyn Ankers), it causes her animal side to reemerge. Complications ensue.

I'd seen this once when I was a kid, but decided to rewatch it, and I didn't remember much from it. Carradine is good as the mad doctor, resisting the urge to play it too big. I hadn't recalled Milburn Stone being the hero in this, but I read that he was cast due to his similar build to noted animal tamer Clyde Beatty, whose earlier film The Big Cage provided much stock footage. This movie spends a bit too much time with the animal circus act, and not nearly enough with Carradine's crazy experiments, or with the transformed Paula.

It's All in the Glands

[BaronBl00d · 30 November 2003]

Scientist and surgeon John Carradine, having worked miracles in the area of glandular research, now wants to change a stolen gorilla into a woman - why? We really never understand his motivation, but what we do get in Captive Wild Woman is a pretty entertaining ride that one can learn to expect from Universal Studios. Ferocious lions and tigers, a fairly good imitation of a gorilla, John Carradine hamming it up, Milburn Stone reminding me of Gunsmoke every minute he is on film, Evelyn Ankers wearing outfits that only Auntie Mame would wear, and the beautiful, silent Acquanetta all make this a very unique and welcomed addition to the Universal pantheon of horror goodies. Though not a great film, this one packs a punch for a 61 minute film. Never a dull lull in the action. Carradine plays a very suave, polished doctor that is utterly crazy, mad, and heartless. It is a pretty good performance from Mr. Carradine. The rest of the cast is very able. Ankers and the silent girl transformed from ape - Acquanetta - are appealing eye candy as well. A couple quick notations. Ms. Ankers is a secretary, yet has a wardrobe of a wealthy socialite. She apparently lives in a boarding house, as in one scene she is in a bed witnessing the ape woman coming into her room by the window - a landlady type comes to the door way across the other side of the room. The landlady yells and runs and the ape woman, rather than killing her intended victim inches away from her - runs way across the other side of the room and down the hallway to kill a woman for no reason. Hmmm. Despite these little observations, a highly recommended film. Hope this one comes out on DVD soon.

Universal programmer proves to be a mixed bag.

[hitchcockthelegend · 5/10 · 11 March 2010]

Dr. Walters (John Carradine) has made great strides in his field of glandular transplants. But as his work progresses, the more unhinged his approach to his science becomes. Stealing a tame gorilla from the local circus, Walters transforms the gorilla into a beautiful woman whom he names Paula Dupree (Acquanetta). Upon taking Paula to the circus it's found that she has hypnotic powers over the lions and tigers and is promptly made part of the taming of the beasts act. But can Paula contain her true animal instincts?.

Sounds bonkers doesn't it? Well it is, but it's not the plot that makes the film so distinctly average. This is after all a low level Universal Pictures movie, we want, in fact demand, bizarre plots and berserker horror episodes. The problems exist with the complete lack of tension in the script, for a film that has a running time of just over an hour, you would think the big "transplant" and creation of "wild woman" would come sooner rather than later. But it doesn't, what we get is 45 minutes of musing about science and continual takes of circus animal training. With the latter containing some truly awful editing. Paula puts in an appearance late in the piece, then bang! it's pretty much the end and one can't help be disappointed after having stayed with it thus far.

Carradine hams it up and enjoys himself one feels, while Evelyn Ankers gives the other performance of note as Beth Colman. The film also serves as an interesting point of reference in the career of director Edward Dmytryk, who in the following few years would deliver some classics in a number of genres. He deserved better material here, hell they all did. But as ever with most of Universal's horror pictures, you end up taking the rough with the smooth and still enjoy yourself. A watchable yet frustrating experience it be. 5/10

Captive Wild Woman (1943) **1/2

[JoeKarlosi · 6/10 · 17 October 2009]

John Carradine's first lead in a horror picture. He's a doctor and authority on glandular diseases who becomes interested in an extra-intelligent gorilla named Cheela. His plan is to use the blood of one of his human female patients to transfuse into the ape and turn her into a beautiful young woman (played by Acquanetta). The typical problem is that the ape tendencies keep on creeping back. This performer Acquanetta made several other films after this one, but she was always a terrible actress whenever she opened her mouth to speak a line. However, she pulls off the role as a human with primitive origins fairly well enough here by keeping mute and using her eyes and limited facial expressions. Sometimes things get a bit bogged down by an over-reliance on animal stock footage from THE BIG CAGE, but the presence of Carradine's mad doctor and a different breed of "girl monster" keep this a serviceable entry in Universal's horror series. **1/2 out of ****

Sickening animal cruelty spoils it

[Stevieboy666 · 2/10 · 16 July 2018]

John Carradine plays an evil, mad scientist who steals a huge ape from a circus and through his experiments turns it into a woman at his sanatorium. Story wise it's silly but amusing, and it is reasonably well made. Much of the film takes place in a circus, however, and this is where lies my problem. Yes, the film is now old and things were different then but sadly this does feature lions and tigers in cramped conditions and being horribly abused, several times a lion and a tiger fight each other. All for our "entertainment". I could find no pleasure in this, only repulsion, hence 2/10.

...The most gorgeous lady that ever came out of the jungles.

[Hey_Sweden · 6/10 · 9 October 2017]

"Captive Wild Woman" is a fun programmer from Universal. It's mostly notable for its exciting animal sequences, supervised by a man named Clyde Beatty (whose name is dropped in the script). John Carradine stars as a surgeon making a name for himself with his supposedly miraculous operations. Circus secretary Beth Colman (Evelyn Ankers) brings her younger sister (Martha Vickers) to Carradines' sanatorium for treatment, not knowing he's actually your typical mad scientist, obsessively transferring glands from one animal to another. He acquires the circus' new ape, Cheela (played by Ray Corrigan), and succeeds at transforming the gorilla into a stunningly sexy young woman (Acquanetta).

A wonderful cast all around also helps make this watchable: Milburn Stone is amiable as trainer Fred Mason, Lloyd Corrigan frets well as circus owner John Whipple, Fay Helm makes the most of her brief screen time as a worried nurse, and Paul Fix is a good drunken slime ball as ousted circus employee Gruen. Carradine refrains from hamming it up too much, delivering an enjoyable villainous performance. As you can see, he has no problem resorting to murder when he has to. Beatty doubles Stone for the long shots. And Turhan Bey recites the ending narration!

Handled in capable fashion by director Edward Dmytryk, this B monster picture is good, straightforward entertainment that leads to a thrilling climax.

Six out of 10.

One of Universal's poorer efforts

[bensonmum2 · 4/10 · 5 October 2007]

Captive Wild Woman is proof that not all of the Universal horror movies of the 30s and 40s should be considered "classics". I've seen worse movies, but this is certainly one of the poorer Universal efforts I've thus far run across. The plot description on IMDb ("A mad scientist transplants human glands into a gorilla, turning the ape into a beautiful young woman (Acquanetta). However, a severe emotional jolt soon reverts her back into her primitive self with disastrous consequences.") only describes about half the movie. Seriously, the story of the gorilla turned to woman and back again doesn't take up half the movie's already short 61 minute runtime. The other half is made up of scene after seemingly endless scene of lion taming. It gets dull pretty quickly and zaps whatever energy the movie might have otherwise had going for it. Ape-turned-woman Acquanetta doesn't do much of anything other than stand mutely outside the cage and stare at the lions. How exciting is that? But if you've seen any of her other movies, having her stand like a statue is probably the extent of her acting ability. Milburn Stone is alright as the lion tamer. He also has the enviable task of man-handling Evelyn Ankers at every opportunity. Speaking of Ankers, she's wasted in a "do nothing" role. Finally, there's John Carradine. While he's actually very good, his screen time is too limited what with all the lion taming going on.

More rampaging gorilla, someone other than Acquanetta playing the gorilla woman, more Carradine, something for Ankers to do, and less lion taming – that's what Captive Wild Woman needed.

Silly but fun

[preppy-3 · 7/10 · 14 November 2010]

Dr. Sigmund Walters (John Carradine) is a mad scientist (of course) who wants to put the glands of a human into a gorilla (for some reason). He has to kill to do it but it works and the gorilla turns into beautiful Paula Dupree (Acquanetta). She falls for lion tamer Fred Mason (Milburn Stone) and gets angry when she realizes he has a girlfriend (Evelyn Ankers). She then begins to revert to her gorilla form...

Even for a horror film this plot is pretty stupid but they pull it off. It moves quick, has good acting and some very exciting lion taming at a circus (even though they reuse the same shots multiple times). Stone is just OK but Carradine hams it up, Ankers looks beautiful and screams nicely and Acquanetta doesn't have a word of dialogue but looks incredible. A silly but very enjoyable Universal horror film. Not one of their classics but lots of fun.

Well-made, but over looked horror classic.

[michaelRokeefe · 5/10 · 28 April 2017]

Universal created a semi-potboiler in this early creature flick starring John Carradine as Dr. Sigmund Walters, whose sanitarium has witnessed many unsettling experiments with nature. This mad scientist turns a gorilla named Cheena (Ray "Crash" Corrigan) into a beautiful woman. The gorilla is stolen from a traveling circus and injected with sex hormones from an ill patient (Martha Vickers). This will be the first featuring the winsome Paula Dupree...the Ape Woman (Acquanetta). Not too many like this filled the theater seats at the time.

Rounding out the cast: Evelyn Ankers, Milburn Stone, Fay Helm, LLoyd Corrigan and Paul Fix

More Universal 40's horror fun

[Woodyanders · 8/10 · 1 October 2009]

Brilliant, but ruthless and unscrupulous scientist Dr. Sigmund Walters (nicely underplayed by John Carradine) turns a huge wild ape into a beautiful, yet still deadly mute woman named Paula Dupree (an impressively expressive pantomime performance by the ravishing Acquanetta). Paula gets a job keeping animals tame in a circus. Complications ensue when Paula falls for rugged and dashing animal trainer Fred Mason (a likable portrayal by Milburn Stone) and reverts back to a hirsute bestial state. Director Edward Dmytryk, working from a compact script by Griffin Jay and Henry Sucher, relates the engrossing plot at a steady pace, maintains a serious mood throughout, and stages the thrilling climax involving a fierce thunderstorm and a hulking rampaging gorilla (veteran simian thespian Ray Corrigan in a nifty suit) with considerable rip-snorting aplomb. This movie further benefits from sound acting by a sturdy cast: Carradine keeps his trademark eye-rolling hammy tendencies on a leash for once, Acquanetta's dark exotic beauty adds credibility to her admittedly far-fetched role, plus there are praiseworthy contributions by the fetching Evelyn Ankers as Mason's concerned girlfriend Beth Colman, Lloyd Corrigan as jolly circus owner John Whipple, and Fay Helm as the reluctant Nurse Strand. The scenes involving savage lions and tigers performing various daring feats in a cage are genuinely gripping and exciting. George Robinson's crisp black and white cinematography makes neat use of fades and dissolves. The spirited film library score likewise does the rousing trick. The terse 61 minute running time ensures that this picture never gets dull or overstays its welcome. A huge enjoyable fright feature potboiler.

Captive Wild Woman

[a_baron · 7/10 · 8 January 2020]

This film sounds like a turkey and has the makings of one: the mad scientist who will stop at nothing to complete his insane experiment for the "benefit" of Mankind, even if he has to commit a murder or two. The plot is actually quite silly but its redemption is its animal act. No, not the gorilla who is of course a dude in a monkey suit, but the fool who locks himself in a cage with not a lion, not a tiger, not a lion and a tiger, but what must be close to a dozen of them. He has a whip, a chair, and a pistol that is little more than a sound effect.

How these big cats were trained is little short of a marvel, but three quarters of a century on and more, marvel tends to give way to revulsion as the use of wild animals in circus acts has drawn contempt from the public and legislation from governments.

Poor Paula!

[AaronCapenBanner · 2/10 · 26 October 2013]

John Carradine plays insane Dr. Walters, who is obsessed with his human gland experiments, where he turns a female ape named Cheela into a beautiful woman he names Paula Dupree(played by Acquanetta)! who joins the circus run by Fred Mason(played by Milburn Stone) whom she is in love with, but is driven to jealous rage when she discovers that he is already involved with Beth Colman(played by Evelyn Ankers). How will this unlikely soap opera turn out?

Utterly preposterous film with absurd science and hokey plot, (not to mention how awful it is to see lions and tigers in captivity fighting and being whipped) Sad to see perennial Universal Studios "scream queen" Evelyn Ankers wasted here, though Acquanetta does have an alluring screen presence that helps to an extent, despite the poor material she has to work with. Amazingly, the first of a trilogy by Universal Studios!

Not a bad programmer but Paula the Ape Woman was only good for one film.

[youroldpaljim · 9 March 2002]

Mad scientist Dr. Walters steals a tame gorilla named Cheela from animal trainer Fred Mason for use in his experiments. Through the use of sex hormones (!) and a brain transplant, Dr Walters turns Cheela into a beautiful woman whom he names Paula Dupree. When Walters brings Paula to the circus where Fred works, it is discovered that Paula has a hypnotic power over animals, and Fred uses her in his animal act. Paula becomes attracted to Fred, but she goes ape (literally) when she discovers Fred is engaged to Beth Coleman.

CAPTIVE WILD WOMAN has an unjustified bad reputation among fans of the classic Universal horror films. Because the film spawned two poor sequels, this pretty good programmer shocker is often unfairly maligned. The film has good performances from Evelyn Ankers, Milburn Stone and especially John Carradine. John Carradine plays the mad scientist Dr. Walters with a cool icy demeanor. Its a surprisingly low key performance from Carradine. Acquanetta is perfect as the beautiful woman whom Dr. Walters creates from an ape. She projects a perfect exotic animal sensuality. Of course her role here is helped by the fact she does not utter a single line of dialog. Acquanetta was a fine looking woman, but she was never much of an actress. Edward Dmytrk handles the director chores well, the film is well paced and moves along at brisk 61 mins. One shudders to think what would the film would have been like if the studio brass handed the directorial chores to one of studio's standard hacks.

One problem with the film is inserting animal training sequences with Clyde Beatty from an old Universal film, THE BIG CAGE. While Stone resembles Beatty, some of these scenes are poorly inserted. In one scene we see Beatty in the cage with the lions and tigers. Then we see Stone enter the cage! The editor should of most certainly have caught this. To make matters worse, the same error turns up again when the studio used the same footage in the films sequel, JUNGLE WOMAN.

While CAPTIVE WILD WOMAN certainly doesn't rank among the classic the Universal horror films, its not a bad little saturday double bill shocker. However, the premise was only good for one film. The films two sequels were not warranted. I can't believe Universal actually thought Paula the Ape Woman was a potential classic monster like Dracula, The Wolfman, The Mummy and the Frankenstein Monster. They should have quit while they were ahead.

CAPTIVE WILD WOMAN (Edward Dmytryk, 1943) **1/2

[Bunuel1976 · 5/10 · 22 March 2009]

To be honest, I had little faith in this one – and, if the "Leonard Maltin Film Guide" is to be trusted, that feeling is certainly true of its two sequels; however, I was pleasantly surprised by it – even if, at the end of the day, the film rests squarely on the (most capable) shoulders of John Carradine and, admittedly, the animal training scenes (actually stock footage from a much earlier title!) probably take up more than half of its running-time (which is barely over an hour to begin with!). Anyway, the plot is basically "The Island Of Dr. Moreau" using more up-to-date technology (glandular transplant) and given an American small-town setting; however, the latter stages – denoting the hybrid creature's murderous jealous fits – are a definite nod to the Val Lewton classic CAT PEOPLE (1942). Having preceded this with a viewing of the superior (and more sci-fi oriented) MAN MADE MONSTER (1941), it was interesting to witness the similarities in the "Mad Doctor" characterization – down to the dialogue, where not only is he willing to commit murder (sacrificing one measly life for the good of Science) but in the way the mind of a brilliant scientist has warped in the pursuit of his own 'immortality'; a Shakespearean actor, Carradine cannot have been pleased to be appearing in this type of fare (and he made scores of them throughout his lengthy career!) but there is no denying the intensity and, thus, conviction of his performance here (amusingly, he plays a Dr. Sigmund[!] Walters) – particularly the calmness with which he tosses circus wrangler Paul Fix into the path of a gorilla which hates his guts or working out in his mind how to use, rather than merely dispose of, people who threaten to disrupt the all-important experiments (such as wavering assistant Fay Helm and, eventually, heroine Evelyn Ankers). The latter (with whom I happen to share my birthday!) graced many a Universal horror movie – as did, incidentally, some of the borrowed music cues! – but here she has to contend with the oddly-named Acquanetta, who looks exotic enough (and certainly fetching in 'jungle' garb) albeit saddled with a speechless role (thus having to act virtually with her eyebrows alone!) and, later, unbecoming ape make-up!!; also appearing briefly as Ankers' younger sister (and Carradine's guinea-pig) is Martha Vickers – billed under her real surname, MacVicar, and who would later be memorably sexy in Howard Hawks' THE BIG SLEEP (1946). Lloyd Corrigan, then, is the flustered circus owner, Vince Barnett the diminutive comic-relief of an absent-minded feeder and, of course, there's rugged Milburn Stone as the would-be animal trainer leading-man: apparently more often seen as a character actor or in bit parts, he makes for one of the dullest heroes in the annals of Universal Horror! Although this film eventually found its way on that exclusive (or is that elusive?) "Universal Classic Horror Archive" 3-Disc Set, I had to regretfully settle for an artifact-riddled DivX copy...

Seen on Pittsburgh's Chiller Theater in 1974

[kevinolzak · 6/10 · 18 January 2014]

1943's "Captive Wild Woman" was a first in many ways- Universal hired Ben Pivar to produce a series with a female monster, and signed veteran character player John Carradine with the intent of making him a 'horror star,' successful on both counts. Acquanetta also was introduced to the movie-going public, after small roles playing native girls in "Arabian Nights" and "Rhythm of the Islands," in the title role of Paula Dupree, the human result of glandular experiments conducted by Dr. Sigmund Walters (Carradine), injecting massive amounts of female sex hormones into a captured ape, plus the necessary brain transplant from the doctor's interfering nurse (Fay Helm). Acquanetta's wide-eyed performance is entirely mute, a wise decision considering the resulting sequel "Jungle Woman," quickly followed by another, "The Jungle Captive," where the character, now played by Vicky Lane, has again been rendered mute. Jack Pierce's makeup design was similar to The Wolf Man, appropriately ferocious but recognizably simian. The only weakness is a heavy reliance on stock animal footage originally filmed for Clyde Beatty's "The Big Cage" (1933), which in all probability was the main reason why this movie was made in the first place (roughly 20 minutes out of 60). John Carradine, in the first of a long line of mad scientists (over 40 years!), is initially quite charming, obviously a dedicated specialist, but once he sets up the theft of the ape, he reverts to type (his next would be Monogram's "Revenge of the Zombies"). Included in the SON OF SHOCK Universal package issued to television in the late 50s, "Captive Wild Woman" aired four times on Pittsburgh's Chiller Theater: July 6 1974 (following 1967's "Mission Stardust"), May 29 1976 (following 1958's "The 39 Steps"), July 9 1977 (following 1967's "Satanik"), and Mar 12 1983 (solo).

The dumbest "Wolf Man" rip-off ever!

[mark.waltz · 2/10 · 14 October 2014]

It shows a lack of confidence by the writers to introduce a character such as this and not give her a line of dialog, and not even indicate that the character is mute. The exotically named Acquanetta is the titled character, a lady ape transfered into a lady human, and the Clyde Beatty like Milburn Stone is the object of her affections. Unfortunately for her (or Evelyn Ankers as Stone's fiancée), he doesn't feel the same way about her, and the actress whose name sounds like a hairspray goes ballistic. You can't blame it on her, though; It's the animal in her, as Ethel Merman would sing. Put the blame on where it belongs, and that is of course (as it is in most Universal horror movies) a mad scientist, in this case, the oh, so dramatic John Carradine.

It isn't just mankind rebelling against the laws of nature which is disturbing, but the ridiculousness of the big cat trainers, made totally evident here. But even though this shows a realistic part of circus life, that isn't the issue of why this film is so bad. It is obvious that the script was rushed together to capitalize on the success of "The Wolf Man". The transformation of the titled character from gorilla to human to half human/half gorilla is done with weak special effects, and the dialog is absolutely absurd. The one real scary moment comes when Acquanetta makes her attempt on scream queen Ankers. The actors are sincere, but even they must have been put off by the "here we go again" syndrome. Certainly watchable if you like "Mystery Science Theater" type cinema without the wisecracks, but you'll probably come up with a few of your own.

Better Than It's Rated

[Rainey-Dawn · 7/10 · 2 March 2016]

Quite an entertaining little film from Universal... it is better than the rating it's given.

John Carradine plays Dr. Sigmund Walters a "mad" scientist that turns Paula Dupree (Acquanetta) into an ape woman. It's true that Dr. Walters actual motivations we not made exactly clear but it is obvious that is it for scientific research.

At any rate, the movie does serve to entertain certain audiences - I was anyway. It is not Universal's best of the time period but it is a good one - worth watching.

If you like films like The Ape (1940), The Ape Man (1943) or Murders in the Rue Morgue (1932) then you might like Captive Wild Woman.

7.5/10

Gorilla Warfare

[jcaraway3 · 5/10 · 19 October 2009]

My first thought after viewing this film was "Wow. Did I really just watch a film about a mad scientist who turns a gorilla into a beautiful woman, or did someone slip an LSD tab into my drink?" This film which features an exploitation movie title, awful gorilla suit, and a goofy plot, is actually not as bad as it sounds. It takes its wildly far-fetched plot and turns it into a fairly believable little horror film. Unfortunately, its flaws outweigh its few good points. Ex: I think they were really cruel to the circus animals in the film. (Just watch it and you'll know what I mean.)I guess that just goes with the time. Also, for a one hour movie, it sure wastes a lot of time showing us pointless lion and tiger taming scenes. And what's with the random narrator at the end who says one thing to end the movie? I really wouldn't recommend this movie to younger audiences. They'd find it boring. Even I kinda did. However, if you want to see it anyway, you really gotta suspend your disbelief. Oh, and it helps if you either love or tolerate lengthy lion/tiger taming scenes.

A Remake with Added Horror Element

[Reviews_of_the_Dead · 7/10 · 10 August 2023]

This is a movie that I discovered when searching for horror from 1943. What surprised me was seeing that this was from Universal. It isn't one that is talked about much. I couldn't find this streaming, but it was on Blu-ray set that I picked up to check it out. What I did know coming in was that this had Evelyn Ankers. Queuing it up surprised me to see top billing to John Carradine. He's an actor I know from his later cameos.

Synopsis: a mad scientist doing experimentation in glandular research becomes obsessed with transforming a female gorilla into a human... even though it costs human life.

We start this at the docks. A large sea vessel is unloading. It is bringing back the haul that Fred Mason (Milburn Stone) has collected. There are a bunch of lions, tigers and other animals. Fred was sent by his boss, John Whipple (Lloyd Corrigan), who runs a local circus. Fred did better than expected. He's excited as well to show something else he captured; a female gorilla named Cheela (Ray Corrigan).

Also meeting him at the dock is Beth Colman (Ankers). She is seeing Fred while also working for John. There is a scary moment where the cage of a tiger isn't secured properly and it crashes down, breaking in the process. We see how good Fred is with animals as he captures it in a ticket booth.

The goal here is to incorporate all these new animals into an act. John tries to hire Clyde Beatty to lead the act, but he can't get him to come down. Fred wants to take a try at it. This is dangerous and John is worried about his well-being, he does agree to let him try at the least.

While he is gone, Beth has been seeing Dr. Sigmund Walters (Carradine). They met when trying to help her sister, Dorothy (Martha Vickers). She has an act in the circus, but unable to perform to an unknown ailment. She is sent to Dr. Walters to see if his treatments can help her. He believes that he can and she stays there.

Dr. Walters is hiding his true work. He has a Nurse Strand (Fay Helm) helping him. Dr. Walters has been using glandular material from one animal and trying to use it on others. So far, it hasn't been a success for long. Dr. Walters meets Beth at work and in turn, gets introduced to Fred. The doctor is taken on a tour where he sees how smart Cheela is. He also sees Gruen (Paul Fix) get fired for drinking on the job.

This gives our mad doctor an idea. He hires Gruen to steal Cheela. He doesn't hold up his end of the bargain though. Dr. Walters performs surgery, uses the abnormal glands from Dorothy and grafting them into this gorilla. It causes a change that he was hoping for. Cheela changes into a beautiful, unique woman he names Paula Dupree (Acquanetta). This upsets Strand, who is attacked by the doctor. Paula still has the nature of an ape and cares about Fred. She joins his act and gets jealous of Beth. This has effects that Dr. Walters wasn't expecting.

That is where I'll leave my recap and introduction to the characters. Where I want to start is that this feels like it is borrowing elements of The Strange Island of Dr. Moreau by H. G. Wells. We have a mad scientist who is doing experiments. Dr. Walters hasn't done it on the scale from the novel, but we see his first time combining a human with a gorilla and it works. Instead of using an island, it is brought to the United States. We are also incorporating in the circus as well.

Now that I've given that overview there, let me delve more into the elements. I think I'll get back to my original point of our mad scientist in Dr. Walters. First it would be that Carradine does a great job as this villainous character. I love this facade that he's a good guy. He charms Dorothy, Beth, John and even Fred. None of them know what he is doing or what he is capable of. Nurse Strand first experiences this when she defies him. Dorothy then does over time when she isn't getting better. Despite this not being a new idea, I thought it worked well in the framework of the story.

Another aspect to the story is this being an 'ape' movie that was popular in this era. There are shades of King Kong with Cheela being brought to the US. Now this gorilla is at least normal to its size. Ray Corrigan does a good job in the ape costume and it looks real enough so credit to that. There is a racist vibe to this movie that I picked up on. Acquanetta is a beautiful woman. She has an exotic look that works here. What I'm getting at this is that the ape is changed into Paula. This gave her an acting credit so there is that. I like how she plays this role. She doesn't speak, which is fitting since she was never taught. I don't mind this take for an ape film.

Something that is a negative is that the pacing is off. I personally found this boring. The reason is that this focuses so much on the training of the animals and then putting on the show. I get why it is used. It is filler. When we see this from afar, Beatty is Fred. It is archived footage. I give credit to Universal for doing what they did here as it only required them to film a bit. I didn't care for it though.

I'll then take this to the acting. I've already said that Carradine and Acquanetta were good. I'd say the former was the best performance in the movie. Ankers though is also solid as was Stone. The problem I have with the latter is that he cares only for his time training the animals, which I found boring. Lloyd Corrigan was good as his boss. Helm, Vickers, Fix and Ray Corrigan along with the rest of the cast rounded this out for what was needed.

All that is left this is filmmaking. I've already partially went into this. The cinematography here is fine. They don't do much with it, but we are still early in cinema. I liked the circus as the setting here. That is one that isn't used enough. The effects were practical. We get good time lapse to change Cheela into Paula and then back. Ray Corrigan in the ape suit was fine. There are also splicing footage to make the animals and actors are together. It also has archived footage for that as well. Other than that, the soundtrack and design of this was fine without necessarily standing out.

I also gave this a rewatch with the audio commentary on as well. This was done by writer/film historian Tom Weaver. He gave interesting insight into the actors like Carradine's issue with hemorrhoids in another movie. There is information done through interviews with Acquanetta that is also referenced. The most interesting explains my issues with this movie. This is spliced with an earlier movie from 1933 called The Big Cage. This plot and the dialogue when it comes to the training of animals was taken from this prior movie. That makes this a semi-remake as well. There are creative aspects there that I did appreciate.

In conclusion, I thought that was blending different types of movies in a way that was interesting. We get elements of the mad scientist/sci-fi with an ape movie and even taking place at the circus. The acting was good. The bright spots there being Carradine, Ankers and Acquanetta. I'd also say that the effects were solid. This is made well-enough. My biggest issue is that it focuses too much on training the animals and I didn't find that as interesting. This is still a solid watch if you enjoy movies of the era, especially the classic Universal run.

My Rating: 6.5 out of 10.

The beginning of the Trilogy that you never heard of

[JoeB131 · 4/10 · 3 August 2016]

this is the first of three movies about Paula the Ape Woman, who probably barely merited one.

This one stars John Carradine, as a mad scientist who uses glands to change a gorilla into a human woman.

The movie also contains a lot of footage of big cat acts from the 1940's that would never be allowed today because of the abuse to the animals involved. Animals were definitely harmed in the making of this film.

When the Mad Scientist kills more people than the Monster, then you probably have a weak monster. Carradine has some great scenery chewing moments, but Aquanetta is just scenery... no dialog and no depth to her character.

Great fun!

[crmfghtr · 10/10 · 31 May 2013]

This film gets an unfair bad rap sometimes, mainly because of the inferior sequels. In reality it is a great change of pace from other Universal Horror films. Yes it did utilize some animal footage from another film, but it had plenty of its own new shot sequences with the lions/tigers.

Hats off to John Carradine for turning in one of his best, if not THE best horror film role he did. Evelyn Ankers is in fine form as usual. The ape womans transition is nicely done and the character was unique in the Universal Horror series. This along with Man Made Monster deserve better praise and discussion since many of the other films have been discussed endlessly in books and magazines.

10/10!

Featuring Acquanetta, real name Mildred Davenport.

[BA_Harrison · 7/10 · 23 September 2022]

One of the more entertaining gorilla-themed horror movies of the era, Captive Wild Woman stars John Carradine as mad scientist Dr. Sigmund Walters, who grafts glands from his patient, Dorothy Colman (Martha Vickers), into Cheela the gorilla (Ray Corrigan, of course), and transplants his nurse's brain into the ape for good measure. This procedure transforms the gorilla into a beautiful young woman (played by sultry stunner Acquanetta) who the doctor names Paula. When Paula is taken to Whipple's circus, she has a calming effect over the big cats and becomes assistant to lion tamer Fred Mason (Milburn Stone). However, Paula becomes jealous of Fred's fiancé Beth (Evelyn Ankers) and regresses, becoming a savage ape-woman with hairy face and hands, manky teeth and monkey feet.

There's a tad too much circus footage in this film to make it a true Universal classic, and the lion taming, whilst impressive (you couldn't get me to stand in cage full of big cats for all the money in the world), is not exactly humane, the animals given the high pressure hose treatment when they start to viciously maul each other. What really makes this film fun is the total lunacy of Walters work (what exactly is the purpose of his experiment?) and the hilarity that ensues when strong emotions trigger Paula's regression.

In the action-packed finalé, an electrical storm causes the big cats to escape at the circus; meanwhile, Walters attempts to turn Cheela back into Paula, this time intending to use Beth's brain in the operation. Beth foils Walters' plans by releasing Cheela, who kills the scientist and then hotfoots it to the circus to rescue Fred from a lion. Cheela is then shot by a trigger-happy guard. However, this didn't prevent Acquanetta (make mine a mint choc-chip) from returning as Paula in the sequel Jungle Woman (1944) and the character being revived one last time for Jungle Captive (1945), Vicky Lane taking on the role.

6.5/10, rounded up to 7 for IMDb.

See It For Carradine

[utgard14 · 5/10 · 16 February 2014]

Lesser Universal horror film that has a few things going for it despite its faults. John Carradine plays a mad scientist working on glandular research who comes up with the brilliant idea of transforming a female gorilla into a human. The result is Paula Dupree (Acquanetta), who gets a job with lion tamer Fred Mason (Milburn Stone) because the animals seem afraid of her. Paula develops feelings for Fred and when she sees him embrace his girlfriend Beth (Evelyn Ankers), she "hulks out" and returns to ape form.

Exotic-looking Acquanetta found herself cast in several roles like this. Not surprisingly, her career was very brief. She looks cute but doesn't say a line in the entire movie and is ultimately forgettable. Evelyn Ankers appears in one of her many girlfriend roles she did at the time. At least here she gets to be heroic and save her sister from becoming another ape woman. That's famous animal trainer Clyde Beatty in all of the lion taming stock footage. Amusingly, Milburn Stone was given this role because he resembled Beatty enough from behind to fit the stock footage. He's fine though he never was leading man material. That brings us to the real star of the movie, the great John Carradine. He's the best part as the nefarious Dr. Sigmund Walters, one of those wicked old horror movie scientists who dismisses pesky notions of morality and silly things like law to perform experiments on people in the pursuit of the great god Science. Carradine was no Karloff, Zucco, or Atwill but he could play roles like this in his sleep and quite well.

As I said, this is one of the lesser Universal horrors and perhaps the first clunker of their second horror cycle. The plot could have been made to work with more focus on the villainous Carradine and maybe more screen time for the ape woman. But unfortunately someone had a jones on for Clyde Beatty and all that circus stuff so that goes on forever. Still, it's a short B mad scientist movie with someone in a gorilla suit and lots of stock footage of lions and tigers. I seriously doubt it will kill you to spend an hour on it.