Moviecut—Captive Wild Woman

source: Captive Wild Woman

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.

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.

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.

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.

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 ****

This is probably the only movie on record with more whip-cracks than dialog, so you may need earplugs. Actually I kept waiting for the Wild Woman to, you know, like get wild— like tear up the scenery or at least a bunch of hot-blooded men. But no. All this wild woman does is stand stock-still and plant a big-eyed stare on the big cats who really are wild. And for some strange reason only mad scientist (is there any other kind) Carradine knows, this scares the heck out of the big cats. She's definitely not a woman to monkey with. But then, Carradine goes and monkeys around with gorilla glands so that the Wild Woman turns into a perfect mate for the Wolf Man. Which, of course, allows the studio to re-use all that left-over Lon Chaney makeup. Forget this plot, which is too goofy and poorly blended in, anyway. The real attraction are the big cats and trainer Clyde Beatty (look-alike Stone in close-ups). Those lion vs. tiger tussles are real grabbers and about the only reason to tune in. Can't help noting another weirdness. Namely, that blacklisted director Ed Dmytryk helmed this decidedly a-political effort. Talk about a fish out of water. Also, look for a real wild woman in person of Martha Vickers (Dorothy, the sister) who later heats up the screen in Bogart's The Big Sleep (1946). Too bad she didn't get her chance here. Anyway, a more accurate title would be A Day at the Circus, but then, Hollywood never did believe in Truth in Advertising.

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.

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!