 | | | | The Ape Man |  | Director: William Beaudine
Actors: Bela Lugosi, Louise Currie, Wallace Ford, Henry Hall, Minerva Urecal
Category: DVD
Buy New: $5.99
Avg. Customer Rating:  (12 reviews)
Sales Rank: 211765
Format: Pal
Languages: English (Unknown), English (Original Language)
Media: DVD
Discs: 1
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.2
Dimensions (in): 7.1 x 5.4 x 0.6
EAN: 4006408822509
ASIN: B00005YVXA
Theatrical Release Date: March 5, 1943
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
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| Customer Reviews: Read 7 more reviews...
 Bela goes bananas!!! July 17, 2008
I'm a sucker for cheap Poverty Row horror movies from the late 30s/early 40's, and this is a gem of the genre. These movies exist in a weird internal logic all their own, where it makes perfect sense for scientists to turn themselves into an ape, find out they really don't like being an ape, and then go on a reverse-serum-searching snipe hunt/murder spree, with another ape in tow. You can really see the influence these movies had on Ed Wood.
All the other fixtures of the format are here: spooky old house, wise-cracking reporter, lady sidekick who winds up falling in love with him, police commissioner who's blowing his stack because his men can't find a rampaging killer ape, even the canned music that also turns up in the East Side Kids movies.
One complaint: the print used for this DVD is pretty bad, with a muffled soundtrack that had me straining to understand the dialogue. On the other hand, this isn't a Criterion special edition of "The Magnificent Ambersons", it's THE APE MAN, for cryin' out loud!
BTW: I watched this on a double-bill with the T-REX concert movie BORN TO BOOGIE..."Bela's alright/Bela's alright/a natural born apeman/he's just outa sight!"
 "15 Frightful Horror Films ... Bela Lugosi ... Passport Video" October 15, 2006
Passport Video presents "The Bela Lugosi Box - 15 Frightful Films" (1942) --- (Dolby digitally remastered) --- Bela Lugosi was the stage name of actor Bela Ferenc Dezs Blasko (October 20, 1882 - August 16, 1956) --- Lugosi was born in Lugos, Hungary, at the time part of Austria-Hungary (now Lugoj, Romania), the youngest of four children of a baker --- best known for his portrayal of "Dracula" in the American Broadway stage production, and subsequent film, of Bram Stoker's classic vampire story.
Late in his life, he again received star billing in movies when filmmaker Edward D. Wood, Jr., a fan of Lugosi, found him living in obscurity and near-poverty and offered him roles in his films, such as "GLEN OR GLENDA?" (1953) (in which his role made no more sense than the rest of the movie) and as a Dr. Frankenstein-like mad scientist in "BRIDE OF THE MONSTER" (1955), during post-production of the latter, Lugosi entered treatment for his addiction, and the premier of the film was ostensibly intended to help pay for his treatment expenses. The extras on an early DVD release of "PLAN 9 FROM OUTER SPACE" (1959) include an impromptu interview with Lugosi upon his exit from the treatment center, which provide some rare personal insights into the man --- this was one of Lugosi's most infamous roles was released after he was dead. Ed Wood (Director) features footage of Lugosi interspersed with a double --- Wood had taken a few minutes of silent footage of Lugosi, in his Dracula cape, for a planned vampire picture but was unable to find financing for the project --- Wood later conceived of Plan 9, Wood wrote the script to incorporate the Lugosi footage and hired his wife's chiropractor to double for Lugosi in additional shots --- notice however the "double" is thinner than Lugosi, and covers the lower half of his face with his cape in every shot --- Leonard Maltin (Famous Film Critic) was quoted - "Lugosi died during production, and it shows."
Lugosi died of a heart attack on August 16, 1956 while lying in bed in his Los Angeles home. He was 73 --- Bela Lugosi was buried wearing one of the many capes from the Dracula stageplay, as per the request of his son and fifth wife, in the Holy Cross Cemetery in Culver City, California --- Contrary to popular belief, Lugosi never requested to be buried in his famous cloak; Bela Lugosi, Jr. has confirmed on numerous occasions that he and his mother, Lillian, arrived at their decision independently.
BIOS:
1. Bela Lugosi (aka: Bela Ferenc Dezso Blasko)
Date of birth: 20 October 1882 - Lugos, Austria-Hungary. [now Lugoj, Romania]
Date of death: 16 August 1956 - Los Angeles, California
2. Edward D. Wood Jr. (Director, Writer and Producer)
Date of birth: 10 October 1924 - Poughkeepsie, New York
Date of death: 10 December 1978 - North Hollywood, California
This collection of "The Bela Lugosi Box - 15 Frightful Films" (1942) --- still has the magic that we remember from those bygone years --- but as long as we have the labels and networks who play and show these wonderful films of yesteryear, they will never be forgotten ... Plus the half-hour tribute "100 Years of Horror: Bela Lugosi", hosted by Christopher Lee --- and a great job by Passport Video for this release --- looking forward to more of the same from the '20s and '50s vintage...order your copy now from Amazon or Passport Video, stay tuned once again for more remarkable films from the vaults of classic television and Hollywood during the Golden Era of Entertaiment.
Total Time: 1034 mins on DVD ~ Passport Video #5260 ~ (9/05/2006)
Poor Bela... August 16, 2006
Quick word association. What spings to mind when you hear "The Ape Man"? Didja think Bigfoot? The neanderthal from the Geico commercials? How about the fallen stars of Bela Lugosi and Wallace Ford on full display, preserved for posterity? Because that is exactly what the appeal of this film boils down to. See the great Count reduced to knuckledragging around in furry makeup. Squirm uncomfortably as he digs the needle into his vein. Bela has such an irrepressible *presence* that even his lesser works are worth at least a look. And a depressed sigh. The print used seems to have been run over by a cement truck. And possibly drug behind it. The sound is so lousy that about half the dialogue is unintelligable. Perhaps, dear readers, that's for the best...just mute the television and imagine your own story to go along with the images. Chances are, you'll do a better job.
 Pardon Me, May I Borrow A Cup Of Spinal Fluid?... July 4, 2006
Yes, the "ape" make-up is utterly ridiculous. The whole getup makes poor Bela look like an amish Elvis-impersonator w/ a bad back! Still, the movie is watchable and short enough to remain fun. Dr. Brewster (Bela) has gone and turned himself into an ape-man, complete w/ savage grunts and go-rilla walk. He doesn't like what he's become, and decides to change himself back to normal. Uh-oh, it seems that in order to do this, Brewster needs injections of human spinal fluid! Of course, this forces him (and his shabby go-rilla companion) to go on a nightly killing spree. This movie is almost a good parody of Lugosi's classic, MURDERS IN THE RUE MORGUE. Directed by William Beaudine, there wasn't much hope from the start, but APE-MAN is goofy enough to see at least once...
You won't go ape for it, but the film really isn't that bad June 11, 2006
2 out of 2 found this review helpful
"Screwy idea, wasn't it?" These, the final lines heard in the film, basically sum up The Ape Man for many viewers. Clearly, this wasn't Bela Lugosi's finest hour - playing an ape man for director William "One Shot" Beaudine and - shudder - Monogram. Critics hated the movie, and many fans point to this as the nadir of Bela Lugosi's career. I, on the other hand, have to disagree. The Ape Man really isn't that bad of a movie - and it's worlds better than, say, Scared to Death, The Gorilla, or anything Ed Wood-related. Bela at least has a starring role in this film, which I find exceedingly average rather than bad. My main criticism of The Ape Man is that the hair and make-up robbed Bela of his greatest strength: his incredible range of facial expressions (well, that and one of the dumbest plot devices in the history of motion pictures, which is revealed at the very end).
I'm not exactly sure what benefit there is to turning a man into an ape man, but we are told this was a scientific discovery of immense proportions. Dr. Brewster (Bela Lugosi), being the committed scientist that he is, used himself as a guinea pig, and now he is badly in need of a shave and haircut (that, plus a stoop in his walk and a tendency to let his arms dangle a bit, are the only simian things about him). Unfortunately, he and his partner Dr. Randall (Henry Hall) forgot to come up with a way to reverse the process. Now, the Ape Man is stuck in his secret lab, experimenting with a cure in between naps alongside his pet gorilla, while the rest of the world thinks the esteemed Dr. Brewster has gone missing. Randall's no help to him at all - he even refuses to get his partner the batch of human spinal fluid Brewster strongly believes will help him - just because you can't take a man's spinal fluid without killing him in the process. Hmmph. Luckily, Brewster's newly arrived spiritualist sister (Minerva Urecal) is a little more helpful, helping to cover for her brother as he and his gorilla go out looking for involuntary human donors on their own. The police are clueless about the Ape Man killer haunting the city, but - wouldn't you know it - a nosy reporter and his new female photographer have to get involved and ruin everything.
The film definitely has some problems - for example, the aforementioned plot device that gets dumber every time I think of it, a late-stage animal mood swing that doesn't add up, and the fact that Dr. Randall is supposedly the only person qualified to fill a shot with spinal fluid and jab it in Brewster's arm. Bela, for his part, is consigned to his pre-Planet of the Apes get-up throughout, which rules out a single classic Bela close-up. Obviously, it's not fun watching the great Bela Lugosi run around like an ape for an hour, but, no matter how bad things were in his personal life or how demeaning a role he had little choice but to accept, Lugosi always gave his all as an actor. He alone makes The Ape Man more interesting and entertaining than it has any right to be.
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