Lack of good storyline.

if their story seems completely bonkers, almost like a feverish work of fiction, you ain't heard nothing yet.

A movie that not only functions as a solid scarefest but a razor-sharp satire.

There are moments that feel comical, some horrific, and some downright inspiring but the tonal shifts hardly matter as the end results come to a film that's perfect for this time.

Horror icon Boris Karloff heads this picture, the last in a six picture contract with the bargain basement company Monogram. He plays one of those standard-issue well-intentioned mad scientist parts that he often played during this period. Bernard Adrian is absolutely hellbent on helping the lovely young Frances Clifford (the appealing Maris Wrixon) to walk again; for ten years she's been confined to a wheelchair. His experimental process involves healthy doses of human spinal fluid. Since there's only one way for him to get it, he goes out and does it, using the aspect of an escaped circus ape as his cover.There are some well defined characters in this routine, preposterous tale, from our bent antagonist who believes that the ends will justify his means, to Frances' jealous boyfriend Danny (Gene O'Donnell), to local rotter Henry Mason (Philo McCullough), to a weary sheriff (Henry Hall) who has just enough brains to connect the dots in the puzzle lying before him. Mason in particular is just loathsome, saying to his pathetic wife (Mary Field) that "there's always the river" when she asks him where else she could possibly go. Ray Corrigan plays the ape; I. Stanford Jolley plays his despicable trainer. The acting in this sort of low, low budget genre fare may never win awards, but it's serviceable enough. Karloff, as could be expected, stands tall above everybody else, giving an A+ plus performance in a B movie.As for overall presentation, the movie runs through its paces adequately, complete with okay direction by William Nigh and a respectable amount of humour as citizens needle each other. To a modern audience, it wouldn't be scary at all, and in fact would be pretty damn laughable, but it entertains capably. A fair amount of the credit would have to go to adapter / co-scripter Curt Siodmak, who hit pay dirt the following year with the legendary "The Wolf Man".Six out of 10.

Somewhat silly but played with a straight-face nonetheless, 1940's "The Ape" was a contract fulfillment for Boris Karloff, toiling away at the time under employment by Monogram Pictures. Boasting an oddball concept and the rock solid capabilities of Karloff, this little cinematic side-bar is, at its best, serviceable. At its worst, it can be a bit of a slog, even at a swift 62 minutes long.Karloff plays the calmest mad scientist you've ever met, Dr. Bernard Adrian. Dr. Adrian spends his days working on a miracle serum that he hopes will cure paralysis. Trouble is, this serum comes from tapping the spine of human patients, and willing participants are rather hard to come by. He grows close enough to his human guinea pig, the wheelchair-bound and charming (if a bit aloof) Frances Clifford (Maris Wrixon), that when a circus ape makes its way onto his property, he kills it and then uses its skin (?!) to roam the night for more victims to tap. If it sounds nutty, then that's because it is. The ignorant townsfolk spend most of the movie's run-time trying to stop science in its tracks, never once realizing that what they're up against is a guy in a surprisingly well-tailored ape costume. Karloff rises about as far as the material asks of him, while his co-stars just kind of stand there, rarely sticking out (save for Wrixon). Movies like this were never meant to be more than double-feature, b-flick filler and "The Ape" fills that niche quite nicely. File under: late Saturday afternoon, time to lie on the couch.

During the brief 1937-1938 lull in horror film product, Boris Karloff worked for the cheap Monogram Studios, making a series of rather lackluster Mr. Wong detective pictures. When scary movies became in vogue again after the smash hit of SON OF FRANKENSTEIN in 1939, Monogram decided to make Karloff's last contracted movie a horror one.In THE APE, Boris falls into his comfortable niche of portraying a well-meaning and kindly old doctor. As Dr. Adrian, he is devoting all his time and effort into curing a beautiful wheelchair bound girl of her inability to walk. He has had some success with spinal fluid injections taken from recently deceased people, but finds he requires more and more of the serum to perfect a more permanent cure to end the girl's paralysis. At the same time, a savage gorilla has escaped from a local circus and is wreaking havoc right near the dedicated scientist's laboratory.Without revealing more details, the plot that is hatched from here on is potentially absurd and unbelievable. Yet, owing largely to Karloff's professional attitude and straight-forward performance, he helps the story rise above its silly premise. Boris is just perfect in his part, neither overacting nor just phoning it in. And this is what makes all the difference.**1/2 out of ****

The Ape (1940) ** (out of 4)Boris Karloff plays a kind-hearted doctor trying to cure a woman who is paralyzed from her waist down. When a giant ape escapes from a local circus the doctor sees a woman to continue his experiments but this leads to murder. THE APE comes from Monogram and I think it's the perfect example to use if one wanted to compare the "straight" Boris Karloff to the more "over-the-top" Bela Lugosi. Lugosi would appear in Monogram's THE APE MAN, which is a very silly film that has several silly moments but it's actually entertaining thanks to the campy stuff. This film here is just incredibly stiff, lacks any real entertainment and really comes across as boring. The film seems constantly worried that they're going to hurt Karloff's good guy image and no matter what happens through his character, the screenplay is always quick to give some sort of excuse to make him look good. The character is basically a murderer but instead of just being a bad guy, the screenplay is constantly making him look better and all the excuses just leads to a rather boring story. Karloff offers up a good performance but it's certainly not enough to liven up the film or make it more interesting. The supporting cast is mostly forgettable but I'm sure some of this is due to the screenplay simply not giving them much to work with. THE APE has a pretty forgettable story and there's just no life, energy or passion to be seen anywhere. The film is certainly better made than most Monogram movies but that doesn't lead to any sort of entertainment value.