Dr. Bernard Adrian is a kindly scientist who seeks to cure a young woman's polio. He needs human spinal fluid to complete the formula for his experimental serum. Meanwhile, a vicious circus ape has broken out of its cage, and is terrorizing the townspeople. Can there be a connection?
Acting
Karloff elevates absolute gibberish to genuine pathos.
Practical Effects
The ape suit: simultaneously embarrassing and charming.
Director
William Nigh
Boris Karloff
Dr. Bernard Adrian
Maris Wrixon
Frances Clifford
Gene O'Donnell
Danny Foster
Dorothy Vaughan
Mother Clifford
Henry Hall
Sheriff Jeff Halliday
Selmer Jackson
Dr. McNulty
Gertrude Hoffmann
Jane the Housekeeper
Jessie Arnold
Mrs. Brill
Billy Bletcher
Short Mustached Posse Man
Harry C. Bradley
Quinn
George Cleveland
Mr. Howley
Ray Corrigan
Nabu
Gibson Gowland
Posse Member
Trivia, insights & behind the scenes
The 'ape' was actually played by stuntman Emery Chagrin in a refurbished suit from the 1933 King Kong serial.
Released during the final polio epidemics before the 1955 vaccine, making Adrian's desperate 'cure' strangely topical exploitation.
US
