I like the storyline of this show,it attract me so much

Highly Overrated But Still Good

Good story, Not enough for a whole film

It's a good bad... and worth a popcorn matinée. While it's easy to lament what could have been...

While it's understandable that Bela Lugosi may have become disenchanted with the roles he was offered following the success of Dracula, even his staunchest critics would have to agree that he nonetheless managed to turn in some outstanding performances- like that in THE APE MAN. His character is actually sympathetic early on, when his predicament is clearly causing him great anguish, though he's less so when he begins to degenerate into a "monster" out for Vengeance. The makeup doesn't obscure his distinctive features, though it would've been interesting to see him perform with an appliance. (Imagine someone like Lugosi playing Dr. Zaius in PLANET OF THE APES...)

I suppose that one could see this film as a brilliant metaphor for drug addiction. Being a drug addict was called in slang "having a monkey on your back" in the 1940's. Here Bela Lugosi has a real monkey on his back, face, neck, and ass. We can see his fights with the monkey as metaphorical fights with his addiction. This way of looking at the film doesn't make it any better, but it does pass the time.According to the trivia section, the director, one-shot William Beaudine, took 19 days to shoot this. One must imagine that he took a two week vacation during the shoot or Bela Lugosi needed two days rest for each scene in which he tries to imitate a gorilla. It is painful to watch poor Bela at age 60 and in bad health, trying to play a gorilla. Very possibly, he had to take drugs to accomplish it.Is there really any redeeming feature for this movie? I think the mysterious character who appears to be watching from outside Lugosi's window and helps to prevent one woman from being murdered adds something to the film. It seems to be a failed attempt at adding humor, but it does add a touch of creepiness which relieves the dreary mad scientist tedium.

"The Ape Man" (1943), directed by legendary hack William Beaudine (the man who gave us "Jesse James Meets Frankenstein's Daughter" [1966] and "Billy the Kid versus Dracula" [1966]), this b-movie gives us a deliciously hammy, over-the-top performance from Bela Lugosi, who had gone down a long way since his myth-making role in Tod Browning's "Dracula" (1931). The plot is the usual hokum: a crazed scientist, Dr. James Brewster (Bela Lugosi), with help from his more sane counterpart, Dr. George Randall (Henry hall), injects himself with spinal fluid that turns him into an ape man. But at sixty-nine minutes, the film moves so fast that plot logic is never anything you spare a great deal of thought on. Wallace Ford (who apart from having minor roles in a few Hitchcock movies and featuring in lots of TV shows, is most famous for starring in the brilliant "Freaks" [1932]), Ralph Littlefield and Louise Currie are decent and the whole movie on the technical side, is quite competent. A fun film for people who enjoy the works of Edward D. Wood Jr.

THE APE MAN (Monogram, 1943), directed by William Beaudine, with original story by Karl Brown, is a fine example of a bad movie becoming a "camp" classic. Not exactly in the class of Universal's finer products as THE INVISIBLE MAN (1933) or THE WOLF MAN (1941), for example, THE APE MAN was to be one of many in a series of horror films from Monogram capitalizing on the past success of Universal's chill package resulting to pale imitations with low budget results. Acquiring Universal's very own Bela Lugosi, whose name alone was the selling point of films such as this, THE APE MAN, coming twelve years after his breakthrough performance as "Dracula" (1931), is simply a comedown from his wide range of films, with some of the worst yet to come. The story opens on the pier where a group of reporters, headed by Jeff Carter (Wallace Ford) of the Globe Tribune, awaiting for the arrival of spiritualist Agatha Brewster (Minerva Urecal), sister of the famous Dr. James Brewster (Bela Lugosi). Also on the pier is a mystery man (Ralph Littlefield) seen reading a front page story about the disappearance of Doctor Brewster, whose to do some coming in and out throughout the narrative himself. Shortly after-wards, Agatha, greeted by Brewster's friend, Dr. George Randall (Henry Hall), informs her that Jim never really disappeared, but due to his discovery of a substance that has changed him into an animal similar in power and danger to an anthropoid ape, he's now hiding in an old mansion in Springdale. Taken to the mansion, Agatha witnesses the experimental results of her brother, locked inside a cage with an ape (Emil Van Horn), dressed in black, walking in hunchback position and sporting facial hair. Aside from controlling the ape with a whip, Brewster even howls like one. In order to return to human form, Brewster will need spinal fluid from a living person, resulting for Randall committing murder to get it. When Randall refuses, Brewster goes on the murderous rampage with his ape, leading Carter and his assistant, Billie Mason (Louise Currie), to enter the scene and get the scoop for the next edition.Others members of the cast include Wheelar Oakman, Jack Mulhall and Charles Jordan. Ever reliable J. Farrell MacDonald appears as the typical Irish police captain, and "Sunshine Sammy" Morrison, Scruno in the "East Side Kids" film series (1940-1943), doing cameo duty as the copy boy. Regardless of its "mad scientist" theme hinted during its opening credits with overflowing test tubes and the head of an ape seen behind the titles, THE APE MAN is one not to be taken seriously in spite of serious overtones and acting from the principle players. Lugosi's make-up, basically long hair and beard pre-dating that of a hippie of the 1960s, lacks the reality of his ape-like appearance from ISLAND OF LOST SOULS (Paramount, 1933) that starred Charles Laughton. Minerva Urecal is properly cast as Lugosi's sister, looking both sinister and mysterious as Lugosi himself, especially during her talks about communicating with the dead during her interview with the reporters (Ford and Currie). In the "mad scientist" tradition, however, THE APE MAN contains secret doors and panels; a televisor where scientist can get a glimpse of visitors at the front door, in this case, nosy reporters. In true Monogram tradition aside than cheap sets, bad dialog and repetitive underscoring, there's also a running gag involving a mysterious rube-type character mentioned earlier coming in and out of the story for no apparent reason, finally revealing himself after being spotted by Carter sitting in the front seat of his car. Wait till you hear who he is! This gimmick would be repeated again in VOODOO MAN (Monogram, 1944) featuring "Ape Man" co-stars of Lugosi, Louise Currie and Henry Hall.During the wake of home video in the 1980s, THE APE MAN was one of many public domain titles to either be distributed through various companies on VHS (and DVD two decades later) or be broadcast or "Star Club" from Channel America prior to 1992. Because of its availability and overplay of THE APE MAN, it's rarely mentioned that Lugosi also appeared in a non-sequel titled THE RETURN OF THE APE MAN (1944). Though not essentially scary or high art cinema, THE APE MAN is worth while mainly for watching Bela Lugosi going bananas once in a while. (*1/2)