A brilliant film that helped define a genre

I wanted to like it more than I actually did... But much of the humor totally escaped me and I walked out only mildly impressed.

Blending excellent reporting and strong storytelling, this is a disturbing film truly stranger than fiction

I didn’t really have many expectations going into the movie (good or bad), but I actually really enjoyed it. I really liked the characters and the banter between them.

When this film was released, the Production Code of 1934 forbade any direct criticism of any nonbelligerent nation. Nonetheless, the philosophy expressed by Dr Riga's regarding the worth of human life together with his views on racial superiority would have struck contemporary viewers as totally in line with Nuremberg. What I have always found interesting is that once the USA was at war with Nazi Germany, there was was no attempt to combine Horror with propaganda. Indeed, the only attempt by Universal seems to have been INVISIBLE AGENT.

Chaney's first horror film with Universal Pictures. I heard this was described as a test vehicle, to see if young Chaney Jr. had the chops to fill the shoes not only of his legendary father, but to see if he could become the studio's new horror man after Karloff and Lugosi.He must have passed the test because it was not long after this that Universal put him in a little picture titled "The Wolf Man" where Chaney cemented his legacy as one of the all-time horror greats.Getting back to "Man Made Monster", it's a pleasant B-Movie programmer, speeding along at barely over an hour & featuring a suitably sinister "mad doctor" performance from the always capable Lionel Atwill. And Chaney is excellent as the ill-fated & tragic Dynamo Dan, a type of character that he would portray again as Larry Talbot. Hopefully one day, this Universal feature will get a standalone DVD release (fingers crossed).

That's what reporter Frank Albertson says to ingenue Anne Nagel when she makes suspicious comments about her scientist Uncle's partner Lionel Atwill. Taking over where the kindly Samuel S. Hinds started, Atwill is experimenting on electricity with car accident victim Lon Chaney Jr., who was the only one of five not to be killed when the car he was in came into contact with live wires. Atwill has issues with man's mediocrity, and believes his experiments are a way to improve mankind. In short, a mad scientist of the largest order, and danger to Chaney, the romantic leads, and Nagel's kindly uncle (Samuel S. Hinds), who happens to be his partner. Chaney soon has more electricity running through his body than Southern California Edison, and becomes a walking death ray.This is a strange little "B" science fiction film, from Universal's second string of horror movies, not nearly as good as the first string ("Dracula", "Frankenstein", "The Mummy", etc.). Atwill is a modern day Shakespearean villain, seemingly well intended, but filled with evil. There are many moments of melodramatic silliness, but it's basically very entertaining overall. Chaney is one of the most one dimensional of all horror actors. Every hint of vulnerability out of him (overdone in the screenplay) seems forced. He even lacks the camp quality in the serious portrayals by the masters of early talkie movie horror-Karloff, Lugosi, and England's Tod Slaughter.

Plot— to control his mind, a mad scientist (is there any other kind) sends a big current of electricity through a carnival guy making him glow like a neon sign. Trouble ensues.Anyone familiar with horror pictures of the 30's and 40's knows that under no circumstance do you let Karloff, Zucco, or Atwill strap you down, especially in a laboratory. Pity poor Chaney Jr. He's really a nice guy, but after one horizontal session with Atwill, he lights up like Main St. on a Saturday night. But then he should have seen it coming— after all, Atwill's laboratory has more bells and whistles than Cape Canaveral. Chaney'll never get his old life back now that he's turned into a walking light bulb.Worse, after Atwill has fried Chaney's brain, the big guy has all the personality of a zombie. So, what does the trial court's head doctor say is wrong with him after he's murdered a guy —why, acute melancholia, of course. Sounds to me like the screenwriter has something against head doctors. But then, he doesn't much care for district attorneys either. Because a woman drops dead of fright right after the righteous DA says the public has nothing to fear. Hope the guy has a back-up job.Good slick production from a practiced Universal crew. I especially like Corky the dog, a fine canine actor, along with ingénue Anne Nagel who certainly lit up my corner of the room. All in all, I guess we have electricity to thank for these pre-war laboratory monsters and then nuclear radiation for the post-war mutant monsters. One way or the other, they're still a lot of fun, like this one.