Truly Dreadful Film

Please don't spend money on this.

Brilliant and touching

It's easily one of the freshest, sharpest and most enjoyable films of this year.

"Jungle Woman" is a B-movie from Universal. And, with so many of Universal's monster films, this one often completely contradicts the previous film, "Captive Wild Woman"...so much so that it's hard to say that "Jungle Woman" is a sequel exactly...though the half-ape woman, Paula Dupree (Acquanetta) is in each. But instead of being the product of the evil Dr. Walters (John Carradine), she's the result of more benign experiments by Dr. Fletcher (J. Carrol Naish).The film begins with Dr. Fletcher killing Paula in silhouette (a cheap technique in order to not have to use make-up to make Acquanetta look like an ape). At the inquest, he's hesitant to explain why he did this but eventually he tells...and you see a lengthy flashback which last the rest of the film.Dr. Fletcher rescued a dying ape...healing it and somehow using glands to make the ape look like a hot woman with an inexplicable accent*. She is beautiful and intelligent but one thing she still lacks is a conscience. Because of this, when she inexplicably falls for Paul, she's determined to kill his girlfriend. And, she also kills the hospital's attendant, Willie, because he was so annoying! Then, she kills chickens and a German Shepherd...but in all these cases you see none of this...again all apparently to save money or, perhaps, because Acquanetta wasn't exactly a great thespian and she was used very sparingly throughout the movie.So is this any good? Well, the mood is good but the film really could have used some ape/human make-up...something other the tiny scene at the end where she appears to be sporting wolfman make-up! I think they were trying for the Val Lewton experience where you never see the creature...but it just didn't work as well here. Not a terrible film, however, just one that could have been a lot better. For fans of B-horror films, it's worth seeing...most others will find it all a bit silly.A sad portion appeared to have been taken from "Captive Wild Woman" that bothered me. You see a tiger and lion fighting each other...ostensible for the audience's amusement. Pretty sick and cruel stuff.*Despite her exotic name and Universal marketing her as 'The Venezuelan Volcano', Acquanetta was from Wyoming....and her exotic accent a phony.

***SPOILERS*** Second of the Paula the "Jungle or Ape Women" trio has Paula ,Acquanetta, fall in love with wild animal trainer the handsome Fred Mason,Milburn Stone, who's life she saved when the lions and tigers he was handling under the big top turned on him almost mauling Fred to death. That's when Paula was in her other incarnation as Cheela the friendly lady gorilla sprung to his rescue. After Cheela's death Dr. Carl Fletcher, J. Carroll Nash,who witness this amazing event had the lady ape's body brought back to life in human form christening her Paula Dupree. As we all saw at the beginning of the flick Dr. Fletcher killed in self defense Paula when she attacked him trying to prevent him form putting her to sleep with a strong animal sedative.Now on trial for murder Dr. Fletcher is to tell the court the reason for his actions that in fact had to do with a love triangle between Paula the ape woman and her former trainer Mason as well as his wife Beth, Evelyn Anker, that a love sick Pula had it in for and tried to murder. There's also Paula secret lover the mentally challenged sanitarium orderly Willie,Eddie Hyans, who tried to make it with her by giving her extra ham and cheese sandwiches, that he stole from the commissary, who ended up getting his neck broken by Paula's super human gorilla strength.***SPOILERS*** Second of the three "Paula the Lady Gorilla or Ape Woman" movies that has Paula killed in the end where she's discovered after death to be an ape not human being! Thus exonerating the guilt ridden Dr. Fletcher of murdering her or it. But in it also being just too good of a thing-A sexy lady ape-to let go. Paula was to be reincarnated and return for a third time at bat in 1945's "Jungle Captive" with Vicky Lane not the exotic and sexy looking Acquanetta in the leading role.

Sequel to Captive Wild Woman that is often cited among fans as one of the worst, if not THE worst, of Universal's classic horror films. I can't find much good to say about this to argue against that opinion. Frankly, this stinks. I wasn't much of a fan of Captive Wild Woman in the first place so I am a little perplexed as to why it needed a sequel, let alone two (there's another film following this one!). Once they decided to make a sequel, one would hope they would try to improve on the first movie in some way. Instead we get this thing, told through flashback, that utilizes way too many clips of the first movie. If you have to pad the runtime of a movie that's barely an hour, maybe you just shouldn't make that movie.Evelyn Ankers, Milburn Stone, and Acquanetta all return from Captive Wild Woman. It helps that this movie has the great J. Carrol Naish in it, as well as solid actors like Douglas Dumbrille and Samuel Hinds. Eddie Hyans plays a simple-minded lab assistant named Willie who provides some unintended laughs for his "Which way did he go, George" method of acting. But this is a snoozer for anyone who's seen Captive Wild Woman or anyone who comes into this expecting some kind of cheesy "beast-woman" fun. The lack of any attempt at making this a real monster movie and the constant clips test your patience. It's a very cheap and ho-hum movie that I wouldn't recommend to anyone but those looking to see every film in Universal's classic horror catalog, regardless of quality.

1944's "Jungle Woman" was the first of two sequels to "Captive Wild Woman," to be quickly followed by a second, "The Jungle Captive," which ended the trilogy (producer Ben Pivar went on to do The Creeper series with Rondo Hatton). Unlike the other two, this title was never included in the SON OF SHOCK television package, receiving relatively little airplay over the years (Pittsburgh's Chiller Theater showed it only once, following 1952's "Mesa of Lost Women" on Sept 24 1977). Acquanetta may be back, but saddled with dialogue this time, gives a lackluster performance not helped by her risible lines (nowhere near as good as Kathleen Burke's Panther Woman from "Island of Lost Souls"). The entire film consists of wall to wall talk, awkwardly structured as a courtroom drama featuring a pointless love triangle and a couple murders. The opening 20 minutes (out of 60) are just a recap of "Captive Wild Woman," made up of footage shot for three different films; by the time the story proper begins, we're saddled with a simpleton character (Edward M. Hyans Jr.) who doesn't get bumped off soon enough (expediency appears to have been the studio's only motivation). The few attack scenes take place off screen, and Paula Dupree's fate is depicted in shadows. J. Carrol Naish, between Oscar-nominated roles in 1943's "Sahara" and 1945's "A Medal for Benny," is clearly marking time, following a similar turn in PRC's "The Monster Maker" ("House of Frankenstein" was just around the corner). "The Jungle Captive" could only have been better, even without Acquanetta, whose career quickly petered out after leaving Universal (following "Dead Man's Eyes").