In 19th century Paris, a maniac abducts young women and injects them with ape blood in an attempt to prove ape-human kinship but constantly meets failure as the abducted women die.
Sidney Fox
Mlle. Camille L'Espanaye
Bela Lugosi
Dr. Mirakle
Leon Ames
Pierre Dupin
Bert Roach
Paul
Betty Ross Clarke
Mme. L'Espanaye
Brandon Hurst
Prefect of Police
D'Arcy Corrigan
Morgue Keeper
Noble Johnson
Janos The Black One
Arlene Francis
Woman of the Streets
Ted Billings
Sideshow Spectator (uncredited)
Herman Bing
Franz Odenheimer (uncredited)
Joe Bonomo
Gorilla (uncredited)
Agostino Borgato
Alberto Montani (uncredited)
Iron Eyes Cody
Indian at Sideshow (uncredited)
Christian J. Frank
Gendarme Using Snuff (uncredited)
Charles Gemora
Erik, the Gorilla (uncredited)
Harrison Greene
Sideshow Barker (uncredited)
Charlotte Henry
Blonde Girl in Sideshow Audience (uncredited)
Harry Holman
Victor Albert Adolph Jules Hugo Louis Dupont (uncredited)
Edna Marion
Mignette (uncredited)
Torben Meyer
The Dane (uncredited)
Charles Millsfield
Bearded Man at Sideshow (uncredited)
Monte Montague
Workman / Gendarme (uncredited)
John T. Murray
Gendarme (uncredited)
Tempe Pigott
Crone (uncredited)
Dorothy Vernon
Tenant (uncredited)
Michael Visaroff
Mirakle's Sideshow Barker (uncredited)
Polly Ann Young
Girl (uncredited)
Director, Adaptation
Robert Florey
Scenario Writer
Richard Schayer
Screenplay
Dale Van Every
Screenplay
Tom Reed
Short Story
Edgar Allan Poe
Writer
Ethel M. Kelly
December 28, 2024
7
Bela Lugosi is at his most rigid best in this eerily spooky adaptation of Edgar Allan Poe's story. It's 1800s Paris and amidst the fog and the cobblestones streets, young women are being kidnapped and disappearing without trace. What's this to do with "Mirakle" (Lugosi)? Well we quite quickly discover that he is working on a Darwin-esque plan to prove the relationship between human beings and apes. To prove his theories, he is using the blood from his more hirsute helpers to contaminate his guinea pigs, but as yet to no avail. When he alights on the young "Camille" (Sidney Fox) her boyfriend, medical student "Dupin" (Leon Ames) starts to piece things together but how on earth is he going to convince the gendarmerie? I really quite enjoyed this hour of megalomanic science, peppered with some acceptable co-starring and a reasonably tight script as the tension of the adventure is managed quite effectively by Robert Florey towards a denouement that has a soupçon more jeopardy than you might expect. Of course, the role given to Fox is little better than that of one tied to a rail track, but she still manages to exude just enough of a sense of panic to keep things interesting and it's a decent example of an early, at times even scary, talkie.
Status:
Released
Original Language:
English
Budget:
$0.00
Revenue:
$0.00