Okay little sci-fi horror effort about Dr. Thorkel(Albert Dekker), a scientist who has discovered the way to break apart the molecular structure of humans shrinking them to diminutive size. Dr. Rupert Bulfinch(Charles Halton)wishes to know what a once prominent professor is doing in the Amazon and asks Dr. Mary Robinson and Bill Stockton(Janice Logan and Thomas Coley)to come along to find out what Thorkel is up to. Through the assistance of Steve Baker(Victor Kilian), an owner of mules who only lets them use the animals if he can tag along, they soon find out the disturbing details of what Thorkel has been experimenting on. He had a pupil who called on him to assist when he had discovered a certain ore which might be the major biological link to changing molecular structure. As Thorkel began his experiments, he developed a "god-complex" which motivated him because with the power to shrink humans he could rule over them with a mighty hand. This group find out what Thorkel was up to, and along with his servant aid Pedro(Frank Yaconelli), they are tricked into his "shrink tank". How will they survive at such a small stature as even roosters and cats are much greater size than they are. They will have to climb chairs they normally sit in and even the smallest books are of such a heavy weight. They will all have to even brave the wild at one point in the movie or find themselves due to be exterminated when Thorkel finds that they are only small for a short time and will revert back to their normal size in time. If they are to remain alive would be detrimental to the threat of others finding out what Thorkel has been dabbling with.
The film starts out kind of slow, but the visual effects are quite impressive if you consider the time they were utilized(1940). We watch as they scale books to open a latch on a locked door, climb chairs to steal Thorkel's glasses(his Achilles' heel is that he can not see regularly without his glasses and also that he is also quite sleep deprived due to overwork), and fend for themselves against animal attack.
Dekker plays Thorkel as a quietly mad intellectual, understanding what he is doing is evil, but quite unapologetic about what he wishes to do to keep his experiments from discovery.
The film starts out kind of slow, but the visual effects are quite impressive if you consider the time they were utilized(1940). We watch as they scale books to open a latch on a locked door, climb chairs to steal Thorkel's glasses(his Achilles' heel is that he can not see regularly without his glasses and also that he is also quite sleep deprived due to overwork), and fend for themselves against animal attack.
Dekker plays Thorkel as a quietly mad intellectual, understanding what he is doing is evil, but quite unapologetic about what he wishes to do to keep his experiments from discovery.