El caimán humano

Joyce Webster (Beverly Garland) is a nurse who has repressed memories that come forth under the influence of sodium pentathol. The resident doctor, who has heard this tale before, attaches Joyce to a polygraph so he can know if she believes she is telling the truth.

Joyce tells a tale of horror that begins on the train after her marriage to Paul Webster. Paul gets a telegram, looks crestfallen, gives no explanation to Joyce, and gets off at the next stop, never to return. Joyce then pores through Paul's things looking for some clue as to where he was originally from. She finally finds an old address in a swampy part of Louisiana and goes there.

Why does Paul's own wife not know where he is from? The pair met in Europe where Paul was a soldier, so they had not had a chance to meet each other's family yet. The other odd thing is - Joyce came back to America before Paul was discharged, and at one point she was told by doctors who said they were treating Paul that he had been mangled horribly in an accident and was not expected to live. Yet months later he appears in great health, rather evading Joyce about the whole accident issue. When Joyce arrives at the "old dark house" that was supposed to be Paul's childhood home, she is obviously not wanted, and the woman who owns the house claims no knowledge of any Paul Webster but locks Joyce in her room for the night as though she had something to hide. What goes on here? Watch and find out.

This horror film has it all - old dark house, a damsel in distress, a mentally unstable hired hand who desires said damsel, a doctor who is more sad than mad, the mystery of a person who disappeared in thin air, and last but not least costumes that are so bad they are good. For the thinking person there are a few things to chew on. Why would anybody build a big expensive home in a swamp? Do doctors in 1959 not know that a polygraph is not actually a lie detector? And then there is the debate brought up in so many 50s horror/scifi films about science going too far, reflecting on the horror of the nuclear age. I'd recommend it, but do understand that the trick to enjoying these 50s horror films is to not think too hard about plot holes and inconsistencies. The cheese is part of the charm.

You have to like a movie that offers the heroine (Beverly Garland in this case) running through a swamp during a rainstorm wearing high heels. Okay, to be fair watch this scene carefully and you will notice her heels change into sneakers in the long shots. Anyway, this very unusual plot offers a scientist (George Macready who was the villain in the 1945 Columbia serial THE MONSTER AND THE APE) who believes he can help crippled people to grow new limbs by injecting them with serum from alligator glands. Guess what happens. Richard Crane (from TV's "Rocky Jones, Space Ranger")is a war hero who was literally blown apart but who healed overnight thanks to the serum but something goes wrong and he start mutating into a . . .but then you saw the title of the movie didn't you? His new bride (Beverly) follows him to the forboding bayou mansion where his mother lives (Freida Inescourt from RETURN OF THE VAMPIRE, 1944) and soon uncovers the truth about the bizarre experiments. She tries to tell hubby that she will stand by him no matter what but that's kinda hard when every day he looks more and more like a 'gator. Also around to complicate things is Lon Chaney Jr as Mannon, a drunken Cajun (without a French accent) who hates alligators. Lon wears a hook on his left hand that he is constantly adjusting on camera. he also shoots at some (real) alligators from all of 10 feet away and misses! Sure the premise is silly, but if injecting a person with alligator glands can turn them into a gator remember that George Zucco created a werewolf by injecting a man with wolf blood in THE MAD MONSTER (1944). If THE ALLIGATOR PEOPLE had been made 15 years earlier I'll bet it would have come out of Monogram or PRC. Give it a try, you just might find yourself having fun.

This 1959 Fox picture was actually filmed in Cinemascope; I've never seen it that way. The television and video version are severely cropped from aspect ratio 2.35:1 to 1.33:1 - you're missing almost half the picture. I'm sure they will correct this if it ever comes to DVD. We need see the expansive mansion and exotic swampland locales in their entirety, as well as the giddy climax of the alligator man's LONG, horizontal snout. Top-billed Beverly Garland (here a brunette) is very good as a woman seeking her missing fiance, now holed up in a mansion with a doctor (George MacCready) who's trying to cure him (he was in an accident) with reptilian serum. The man's domineering mother (Frieda Inescort) also resides, protecting and hiding her son from all, including Garland. Lon Chaney is superb as a drunken, one-handed hunter who detests alligators. The music is also eerie and effective. However, the film's plotline begins to fizzle out, with the fiance escaping from the laboratory and not doing much and the film sinks, like quicksand.

I heartily agree with the comments provided by reptilicus from Vancouver, Canada (and I appreciate the "high heels" heads-up, and the various actors' cross-refs).

I recommend this movie for its creative application of pre-60s sci-fi/horror canon: eerie melodrama, sympathetic characters, strictly implied gore, rough & toothless scientific explanation, and absolutely no pretensions to credibility, 'cause we're all just here to have fun anyway. Great use of bookends, and of ominous bayou atmosphere.

Note that the synopsis on the DVD case (20th Century Fox, released September 7, 2004) incorrectly lists "Lon Chaney" as our heroine's husband. Mr. Chaney actually plays the drunken Cajun, and Richard Crane plays the husband.

A honeymoon is cut short when a maimed war hero(Richard Crane) seeks healing. The newlywed bride(Beverly Garland)tracks her husband down in a Louisiana bayou getting injections of a serum from alligator glands. A mad scientist tries to heal cripples with his bizarre experiments. After awhile the injected mutate into...well you can guess by the movie's title. Veteran actor Lon Chaney Jr plays a crazed Cajun with a left hook(pun) and a strong aversion to 'gators'.

Great scenery and background score. Special effects are pretty neat. Garland is beautiful and flawless in this Sci-Fi thriller. Notable support from George Macready, Bruce Bennett and Frieda Inescort. This is an attention grabber and well worth your while.