The Jungle Captive (1945)

Paula Dupree, (Vicky Lane), known as the Ape-Woman , has already been killed twice with overdose of tranquilizers. In the middle of the night, a huge, strikingly ugly man named Moloch the Brute (Rondo Hatton) is sent to collect the Ape-Woman's body for the local university; after a failed kidnapping, Paula's body is taken to a secluded mansion, where a mad scientist Dr. Stendahl (Otto Kruger), is working on a major research project of restoring life to dead bodies by blood transfusions and direct electric stimulation of the heart.This film is directed by Harold Young and you immediately know you are watching low budget horror. Not the greatest, but very comfortable to watch due to so many familiar faces.Rounding out the cast: Amelita Ward, Phil Brown, Jerome Cowan, Jack Overman and Ernie Adams.

"We're scientists, not sentimentalists". So says Otto Kruger, joining Karloff, Lugosi, Zucco, Atwill and many others playing God in the form of a mad scientist. Assisting him in his experiments and nefarious schemes is the deformed Rondo Hatton whose enlarged facial features made him the perfect movie monster, and one you truly felt sorry for, especially when Kruger mocks him for his ugliness. After "Captive Wild Woman" and "Jungle Woman" came this third entry in the short lived series surrounding human experiments gone wrong. It's a typical Universal B movie, exciting in parts and ridiculous in others. Following Acqunetta in the part of the snorting creature is Vicky Lane, pretty much doing nothing but modeling a fur mask and gloves as she goes on the attack until made to look like a real woman. Amelita Ward plays Kruger's lab assistant, giving her blood to the inhuman creature who seems incapable of female emotions. Jerome Cowan plays an investigator obviously suspicious of Kruger and company, while Phil Brown plays Ward's fiancée, another scientist who suspects nothing of the supposedly noble Kruger. Speeding by in the predictable hour long B running time, this is a fine time filler, with more of the same of most of the 1940's horror films yet giving Rondo Hatton a real diverse character to play that makes him more noble than the "normal" looking Kruger.

The third in Universal's dismal Ape Woman series. Perhaps it is a step up from the awful second movie, Jungle Woman, but it's nothing to write home about on its own. This one has mad scientist Otto Kruger trying to bring the Ape Woman back to life, even at the expense of his pretty female lab assistant. Excitement most definitely does not follow.Kruger's always fun to watch but he gets little help here. The Ape Woman is now played by Vicky Lane, replacing the attractive but talentless Acquanetta. Ms. Lane spends about half of the movie comatose. When she does wake up, there's only one brief scene with the monster makeup on. Undoubtedly most monster fans will be disappointed at how little "ape" there is in an Ape Woman movie. The makeup used is pretty cool, however. It looks similar to the later makeup used on Michael J. Fox in Teen Wolf. Rondo Hatton gets one of his better roles here as Kruger's henchman Moloch. He's still a terrible actor but the part is less exploitative than some of his other roles. Jerome Cowan plays the police inspector investigating it all and has a couple of amusing moments. The tacked-on romance between Don Young and Amelita Ward (the future Mrs. Leo Gorcey) is nauseating but thankfully they're separated for most of the film.Despite the short runtime, the movie is padded with pointless little scenes that appear to be designed solely to fill five minutes here and there. It's one of those movies that probably should have been over in twenty or thirty minutes. If you're a Universal completist, give it a look. For everyone else, it depends on how valuable your time is. I doubt this is going to become anyone's favorite.

***S{POILERS*** Ape woman Paula Dupree, Vicky Lane, is back for the third time in "Jungle Captive" this time as a dead body that mad scientist Mr. Stendahl, Otto Kruger, plans to bring back to life. That with the help of blood and brain matter of his unsuspecting assistant Ann Forester, Amelita Ward, who foolishly worships the very ground that the "Great Man' walks on. It's with the help of his brutish like accomplish Moloch, Rondo Hatton, Stendahl plans to use Ann without her knowledge for his insane experiment but Moloch who took a shine to her is dead set against it. Strange Beauty and the Beast like movie with Moloch changing sides in mid stream and becoming the knight in shining armor in preventing the crazed Stendahl from doing his thing in resurrecting the dead ape woman Paula Dupree at Ann's expense.There's also Ann's boyfriend Don Young, Phil Brown,who soon finds out what Stendahl is really up to and tries to get the police in the person of Insp. H.L Harrigan, Jerome Cowan, to stop him who's attempts comes up short in his by the book approach to the case. As for "Ape Woman" Paula Depree she's brought back to life as a normal human being but totally confused-and unable to talk- in what's going on around her. This leads to her checking out in the woods with Moloch running or driving all over town trying to retrieve her.Predictable ending with Mr. Stendahl getting everything that he has coming to him with the hulking but sensitive Moloch saving the day as well as Anna's life at the expense of his own.With both Ann and Don Young, who can't afford to buy her an engagements ring, getting married by being stopped by a traffic cop who presented them with a $5.00 free of charge wedding certificate from city hall. Break out movie for Rondo Hatton who finally was given a chance to act as well as a few decent lines in the movie but his fame didn't last that long. Hatton suffered a fatal heart attack while taking a shower in his bathroom and died less then a year, in March 1946, after the films release.