Return Of The Ape Man!

When is an "ape man" not an "ape man"? When that "ape man" appears in the 1944 flicker Return of the Ape Man. This is one of those delightfully awful movies from the poverty row side of Hollywood and it stars Bela Lugosi, John Carrdine and George Zucco (almost). The final name appears only momentarily in the movie, but was taken ill and replaced by a bloke named Frank Moran.

Moran plays the title role, but alas is only an ancient caveman and not anything really much like an ape. From some of the dialogue and even the movie's title card one gets the sense a different creature was intended. Moran is mildly menacing at times, but hardly an "ape man".

He was defrosted from some Arctic ice by scientists Lugosi and Carradine who went looking specifically for a cave man in ice. Now it's worth pointing out that this movie has no apparent connection to the earlier Lugosi effort titled The Ape Man.

Lugosi's scientist is properly mad and murderous and ends up dissolving his partnership with the much more easygoing Carradine in the most macabre manner. There are some younger folks to fill in as hero and heroine, but the story is hapless from the get-go with plot holes easily fixed which were not. The scenes are all on stages aside from some images of glaciers falling apart and the scenes are just dumb. Almost as dumb as the police, who will shoot at nearly anything at anytime. You'd almost think Ed Wood had something to do with this mess.

But that said, I found a few things here and there to hang some fun on. If you can see this one for free, it's worth a fan's time, but don't pay much for it unless you're obsessive like I am.

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Fog Island!

I really appreciate the work of George Zucco and Lionel Atwill. Both of these vintage character actors had vivid careers, and appeared in some of my favorite movies. So when I chanced upon the movie called Fog Island which pits these two classic Professor Moriartys against each other, I knew I wanted to see it.

The movie is based on a play and it shows with the heavy reliance on dialogue to move the story and the structure of the tale itself. It's set in an old pirate hideout on an isolated island which as the title suggests is often encased in a deep layer of fog. The fog almost serves as a metaphor for the cloudy personalities who inhabit the story, a gang of misfits and criminals called together for retribution.

Essentially the story sets up Zucco as a man fresh from prison, sent there by his business associates. His wife has died and his daughter has become cold and isolated from her former life. He uses the many hidden doors and chambers of an old pirate hideout beneath his house to set up a scheme to wreak vengeance on those who did him wrong.

Atwill is very quiet in the first stages of the movie, but due to circumstances comes to dominate the last portion. Zucco rules the beginning of the movie. So both men get their share. Throw in classic actresses like Veda Ann Borg and you have a movie brimming with interesting faces and voices.

I can't say much about the mystery without ruining the movie, but it's safe to say that murder is afoot. I was struck in this film by the way the violence is almost shown, but not quite. The horror of the difference circumstances must be interpreted by the audience through the faces of those witnessing it.

That's the key distinction between old movies and modern ones. Old movies because of censorship or whatever had to rely on the imagination to generate horror while modern flicks all too often confuse disgust with fright. It's an old complaint I know, but it's why I love discovering these vintage movie gems.

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