"The Jungle Captive" is the third and last movie in the series of "ape woman" programmers made by Universal in the 1940s. This time, the ape woman (who actually looks more like The Wolf Man, but I digress) is played not by Acquanetta, but by Vicky Lane. Her dead body is stolen from the morgue by a towering brute (who else but the iconic Rondo Hatton) who we can correctly guess is working for somebody else: mad scientist Dr. Stendahl (Otto Kruger), who wants to prove his crazy theories about rejuvenation of life. Caught up in the mess are Stendahls' perky and attractive young assistants: Don Young (Phil Brown) and Ann Forrester (Amelita Ward).
Dr. Stendahl (referred to by other actors during the movie as "Mr." Stendahl) is given fairly even-handed treatment by the capable Kruger; the actor avoids chewing on the scenery as much as possible. But the whole cast is engaging, even though lovely ladies Lane and Ward end up with little to do. Co-starring is the great character actor Jerome Cowan, playing a police detective who's smarter and savvier than many of the cops you see in this type of thing. Credit is also due to "The Jungle Captive" for giving Hatton quite a hefty role, especially as his character, Moloch, falls in love with the imperiled Ann.
All in all, this is good fun, with assured direction by Harold Young and the kind of efficient pacing one can often expect in B genre pictures of this period: "The Jungle Captive" clocks in at a mere 64 minutes. It has humor, tension, action (there's one great scene of a vehicle going off a cliff and exploding), and excellent makeup by Jack Pierce, that old pro from the glory days of Universal horror.
Indeed, it's FAR from being the "Citizen Kane" of its genre, but we all know that that isn't exactly its aim. As a routine little shocker, it does its job well.
Six out of 10.
Dr. Stendahl (referred to by other actors during the movie as "Mr." Stendahl) is given fairly even-handed treatment by the capable Kruger; the actor avoids chewing on the scenery as much as possible. But the whole cast is engaging, even though lovely ladies Lane and Ward end up with little to do. Co-starring is the great character actor Jerome Cowan, playing a police detective who's smarter and savvier than many of the cops you see in this type of thing. Credit is also due to "The Jungle Captive" for giving Hatton quite a hefty role, especially as his character, Moloch, falls in love with the imperiled Ann.
All in all, this is good fun, with assured direction by Harold Young and the kind of efficient pacing one can often expect in B genre pictures of this period: "The Jungle Captive" clocks in at a mere 64 minutes. It has humor, tension, action (there's one great scene of a vehicle going off a cliff and exploding), and excellent makeup by Jack Pierce, that old pro from the glory days of Universal horror.
Indeed, it's FAR from being the "Citizen Kane" of its genre, but we all know that that isn't exactly its aim. As a routine little shocker, it does its job well.
Six out of 10.