El caimán humano

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.