| The Ape/British Intelligence |
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| Okay I know there is no way in the world I should like THE APE. But I do. It was
the last of the Monograms Boris Karloff starred in back in 1940. There are plot holes
and inconsistencies and illogic that usually drive me screaming off into
the night. However I went so far as to actually pick up the Roan dvd
after watching this flick on an Alpha & another PD dvd. Is that dedication or is it masochism? Boris plays a small town doctor who lost his wife and child to polio.In spite of his best efforts several folks in the small town hate him and this is never fully explained why. Then again it is a Monogram and logic wasn't their strong suit. He is hated so much that little kids throw rocks at his house. The doctor wants only to cure a young neighbor who is the age his daughter would have been if she had survived. Well the circus comes to town. The ape breaks loose and terrorizes the countryside, breaking the back of its cruel trainer. When the man is taken to the doctor the doc gets an idea. He takes the spinal fluid from this jerk (the trainer then says "Ack!" and dies) and uses it on his patient and sees positive results. In a coincidence later the ape breaks into the docs house and the doctor kills it in the struggle. Then he gets the idea to skin the ape (yuck). Then he puts on the ape skin (which has got to smell really freaking bad)and goes out killing assorted bad guys around town and draining them of their spinal fluid. The ape gets the blame for the killings and the doctor's patient is on the road to recovery.The town also gets rid of a few prominent yet nasty citizens. However things go wrong and there is a climactic showdown between the ape/doctor and the hunters. Will the doc's patient ever walk again? Will the orphanage be foreclosed on? Will the buxom young school marm get poked in the...Oh sorry wrong movie. Again this is a low budget no brainer that is saved by Karloff and Maris Wixon as his patient. Everybody else gets low marks.The film was written by Curt Siodmak who later went on to write The Wolf Man and many other horrors for Universal.A guilty pleasure. |
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| British Intelligence is really not a horror movie although it does
sport a fine performance from Boris Karloff. The film is set in WW I.
The British are being stymied in their war effort by the master German
spy Strendler.
The Germans further complicate things by sending to Britain Helene VonLorbeer. She is to infiltrate the household of a British Cabinet member. Her contact is Valdar (Karloff) who is a butler in the household. Though he seems to be a German spy he is also an agent for the British.While Valdar attempts to help capture Strendler Helene tries to arrange a meeting with the master spy. The British Cabinet is set up to meet a horrible fate as a bomb is planted to go off at one of their meetings. Nobody and I mean nobody is who they seem to be in this film which is half of the fun. We're also treated to seem outstanding miniature work as munitions factories and railroads are bombed with the help of Strendler. Karloff turns in a grand performance as the saber scarred double or triple agent. The director later helmed Fog Island and the american version of Godzilla starring Raymond Burr.The pacing is fast and furious and is very much an allegory for what was to happen in WWII. I went into this knowing nothing about it and expecting even less. Ol 'skip really got a kick out of this one! |
| British Intelligence |