The Ape Man

Awesomely ridiculous Lugosi Monogram flick. Scenes of poor Bela sleeping in a gorilla cage or fretting over his preposterous situation are more sad than funny though, as ever, Lugosi manages to add his distinctive touch to even drek like this. The surprise ending, appropriately enough, makes a joke of the entire film.

Not as good as Bela Lugosi Meets a Brooklyn Gorilla...

Good stuff. That man in the ape suit looks more like an ape in a man suit. True fact: The dictionary definition for "ape" is: "A mammal with a bad back and a big beard." Yep. Look it up. Bela Lugosi really stayed true to that definition in his most humiliating performance yet. Very enjoyable.

Bela Lugosi has mood swings, hair where there wasn't any hair before and is unable to stand up straight. I'm sure this film must have been the inspiration for Harry Enfield's "Kevin the teenager" character. It's pretty bad, though. Preposterous plot, bad acting, sets that look like they were made out of polystyrene, and even though it's only 64 minutes long there are sections where it really drags. The ending summed the whole thing up for me - if it was a joke, I'm not sure I got it.

Bela delivers some creative line readings. Better than Karloff's simian stint _The Ape_.

Once delivered one of the most iconic and elegant horror performances in cinema history.... here is Bela Lugosi's goofiest roles! The Ape Man (1943) is worth watching just for that! Hilarious to watch in a 'so bad it's good' way!

There is an argument for the uniqueness of Monogram when compared directly to their Hollywood and B film contemporaries, and there is undoubtedly a goofy charm to the way this absurd scenario is played out that makes it watchable. Even the bad acting isn't a problem because it at least has personality. Where it stumbles is that it runs out of ideas quickly, and watching Lugosi reduce himself to low rent crap like this is only morbidly fascinating, it not outright sad.

Bela Legosi does his best with what he's been given but it wasn't much. I'm not sure how I feel about the final wink at the audience there at the end.

Lugosi made a lot of poverty row junk, and until recently, I'd have championed this Monogram outing as the worst film he's in. My opinion has mellowed on this viewing. This certainly isn't good. Most of the interesting plot related stuff happens before the movie begins, and despite being only an hour and 4 minutes long, it's insanely dull and repetitive.