The Ape

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The Ape

1940,

1h 2m,

Horror

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Watchlist

43%

7 Reviews

Tomatometer

12%

500+ Ratings

Popcornmeter

43%

Tomatometer

7 Reviews

12%

Popcornmeter

500+ Ratings

Dr. Bernard Adrian (Boris Karloff) is researching a way to help a wheelchair-bound patient, Frances (Maris Wrixon), use her legs again. The only way he can achieve this is by procuring spinal fluid from a human. When an ape escapes from a circus, Dr. Adrian kills it in a confrontation and successfully uses its spinal fluid on Frances -- but he needs more. Using the ape's body as a suit, he kills townspeople in a crazed attempt to complete his plan.

David Mermelstein

Wall Street Journal

Oct 29, 2020

Boris Karloff is the prime draw in The Ape, even if this 62-minute effort, co-written by horrormeister Curt Siodmak, is largely unworthy of its star.

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Kathy Fennessy

Seattle Film Blog

Apr 15, 2022

2.5/4

The underdeveloped scenario makes it feel as if the ink wasn't quite dry on Richard Carroll's pages before William Nigh began to shoot.

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Jeffrey M. Anderson

Combustible Celluloid

Oct 25, 2020

3/4

This thoroughly silly movie is worth seeing mainly for a delightfully touching, hammy performance by Boris Karloff in the lead role.

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Matt Brunson

Film Frenzy

Oct 24, 2020

2/4

A lesser effort in Karloff's doctor cycle.

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Dennis Schwartz

Dennis Schwartz Movie Reviews

Nov 3, 2009

B-

Silly as all the other Boris Karloff mad scientist pics, but just as entertaining.

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Emanuel Levy

EmanuelLevy.Com

Jul 21, 2005

2/5

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Theodore R

Mar 30, 2018

What should be a boring sleeper is raised slightly be the interactions between Karloff & Wrixon. I suspect the version i saw had been slashed/edited down for early TV, as there was no explanation for why Dr. Adrian wanted to use local fear of the ape to his advantage.

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Anakin W

Jul 6, 2017

Corny but fun low budget horror film about small town mad scientist Boris Karloff trying to cure a girl of polio, while at the same time a circus ape has escaped and is terrorizing the locals. When the ape breaks into Karloff's laboratory and destroys the spinal fluids he needs to cure the girl, he concocts a scheme to skin the ape and then wear it's flesh as a disguise to kill the townsfolk in order to harvest their spinal fluid and let the ape take the blame. The film was written by Curt Siodmak, who wrote "The Wolf Man," but who also wrote a lot of nonsense along the lines of "Bride of the Gorilla" and "Tarzan's Magic Fountain," but I did find the overall story of Karloff disgusting himself as an ape to steal spinal fluid a campy good time. Fun, but nothing brilliant.

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William Nigh

Director

Boris Karloff

Dr. Bernard Adrian

Maris Wrixon

Miss Frances Clifford

Gertrude Hoffman

Jane

Dorothy Vaughan

Mother Clifford

Henry Hall

Sheriff Jeff Halliday

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Synopsis

Dr. Bernard Adrian (Boris Karloff) is researching a way to help a wheelchair-bound patient, Frances (Maris Wrixon), use her legs again. The only way he can achieve this is by procuring spinal fluid from a human. When an ape escapes from a circus, Dr. Adrian kills it in a confrontation and successfully uses its spinal fluid on Frances -- but he needs more. Using the ape's body as a suit, he kills townspeople in a crazed attempt to complete his plan.

Director: William Nigh
Screenwriter: Curt Siodmak
Production Co: Monogram Pictures Corporation
Genre: Horror
Original Language: English
Release Date (Theaters): Sep 30, 1940, Limited
Release Date (Streaming): Aug 7, 2015
Runtime: 1h 2m

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