The Ape

Rating:
Summary: From the Ridiculous to the Sublime
Review: Boris Karloff has always been one of my favorite actors and a double feature DVD is always welcome news. This DVD in particular contains one of Karloff's forgotten gems and possibly the silliest film he ever made.

"The Ape" (1940), made for Monogram, represents the nadir of Karloff's career. In the film he portrays a kindly doctor who seeks to cure ingénue Maris Wrixon of polio through injections of human spinal fluid. Of course, spinal fluid is difficult to obtain, particularly as the victim must be alive. Enter the solution to Karloff's problem. A circus ape escapes and breaks in to Karloff's home. Karloff kills the ape with a knife and skins it, sewing the skin into a costume. Since no one but Boris knows the ape is dead, Karloff dons its costume and goes out to kill townspeople for their precious spinal fluid. (Wouldn't it have been simpler just to buy a costume?) There is a hilarious scene with Boris running for home after one murder wearing the costume by carrying the headpiece. Simply precious. Directed by William Nigh, who directed Karloff in his "Mr. Wong" series, also for Monogram. To quote film critic Michael Weldon, "And you thought only Bela Lugosi made films this bad."

"British Intelligence," made the same year for Warner Bros., is a taut, nifty spy thriller set in World War 1. A master German spy has been operating one step ahead of the British and the causalities are mounting. As his mission is extremely important to the German war effort, the Germans dispatch Margaret Lindsay (operating as a nurse at a British field hospital) to England as an assistant. It is there in the home of one of the British bigwigs that she meets Karloff, who works as the butler. Is Karloff the dreaded spy? Or is he a red herring to throw us off the track? Could it be someone else? The film will keep the viewer guessing until the last tem minutes. Directed by Terry Morse, who also directed Raymond Burr's scenes in "Godzilla, King of the Monsters" (1955).