Directed by: Robert Flory
Written by: E. A. Poe, Robert Flory, Tom Reed
Starring. Bela Lugosi, Sidney Fox, Leon Ames
61 minutes
Takes place in 1845 in France, at a circus. Dancing girls, American Indians (Redskins!), and, of course, Erik the gorilla, presented by Dr. Mirakle. None of the audience has ever seen a gorilla. He claims that he can speak to the ape, and he (sort of) explains Evolution to the audience. The audience doesn’t approve of the idea, but Mirakle insists that he will prove the theory. Erik will mix his blood with a human woman.
Dr. Mirakle injects young women with ape blood. He follows Camille and Dupin home, but kidnaps a woman off the street instead. She dies as a result.
Medical student Dupin arrives at the morgue to investigate the now-three deaths. They all have the same needle marks. He obtains a blood sample, and they all died from the same foreign substance being injected into their bodies. Even to ally, Mirakle kidnaps Camille, and Dupin leads to police right to him. Before they can break in, Erik the gorilla kills Mirakle for no particular reason.
Then, Erik carries Camille up onto the roof. Dupin follows Erik and shoots him; Erik falls to his death.
Lugosi looks interesting and very different with curly hair and a unibrow. He has a lot more to do here than in Dracula. He still sounds exactly like Dracula. The filming of the ape alternates between a real chimpanzee and a man in a monkey suit, which looks very cheesy. Mirakle has quite a nice workshop, and it has a great dead-body disposal.
The film was filmed to be 80+ minutes, but so many violent scenes were cut out that the runtime was only 61 minutes. This movie is much more well- preserved than the previous Universal films; it’s clear, sharp, and sounds great. On the other hand, the plot is pretty weak, it’s very short, and isn’t at all related to the original Poe story. Although there is a drawn-out scene involving the police questioning people, it’s all done for comic relief, and the police are largely incompetent.
Note: Darwin wrote “Origin of the species” in 1859, this takes place in 1845. On a related note, King Kong was released the following year.
