RELEASE DATE: 1940
RATED: Approved In The USA
REVIEWED BY: The DarkSider
The film begins with the Greatest Show On Earth coming to town. No, not the Broadway version of Xanadu but rather the circus. People everywhere are excited about the show and a group of kids talk about it outside a local store. I'll refer to these kids as the Little Rascals due to the fact they pretty much resemble them and are annoyingly unfunny as the famous group too. Sorry folks, I'm a Three Stooges guy.
Anyhow the Little Rascals go off to chuck rocks at the local doctor's house. Dr. Adrian arrives to catch the Spanky of the group and gives him a good talking to. The boys run off and this cuts to the local hot spot where everyone is hanging out bashing the doctor. Let me say that the town seems to be loaded with pricks. They have one doctor, who honestly doesn't seem all that bad minus a few aspect of his personality, and all they do is bitch about him all day.
Leading the anti-doctor charge is king of the pricks, Mr. Mason. He claims the doctor has been doing evil experiments and he urges the Sheriff in town to give him the boot. On cue, the doctor walks in to pick up a prescription. After this he goes to visit his favorite patient Francis Clifford. Frances lives with her mother and spends her spare time with her �way too in love to believe as real� boyfriend Danny. Frances is paralyzed from the waist down and Dr. Adrian intends to help her.
In the meantime, we need to find a reason for the title character to be involved with the film. Cue the circus which everyone in town attends including Frances. After the standard acts wrap up for the evening, a brutal ape trainer gets taken out by a gigantic ape. This causes the trainer to drop a cigar he was smoking on to some hay which causes the circus to burn down. The ape somehow escapes and heads off to wherever an loose ape would go.
Seeing we have to connect the circus, the ape and Dr. Adrian; the trainer gets brought to the doctor who injects him with a spinal solution. Ok so maybe these three things still don�t connect but the plot begs you to buy it. Meanwhile, the townsfolk led by the Sheriff head off into the wilderness to find the ape. Amazingly enough, the Sheriff is able to muster more than 3 people which is surprise in B-Movies.
While the ape hunt goes on, Dr. Adrian continues his work on Frances by giving her spinal injections. Miraculously, Frances starts to gain feeling in her legs but its mostly pain. The doctor is actually pleased with this and goes home to work at night. The doctor brags to his maid Jane of how awesome he is and before you can say �Murphy�s Law�, the vial containing the next spinal injection falls and breaks on the floor. Also, the ape arrives at Dr. Adrian�s house but the doctor takes him out with some acid to the face and a knife in the back. Who would have know he was such a dirty fighter.
The next day, Danny laments over France�s painful treatment and confronts the good doctor quite effeminately. I swear this guy was the first emo fan with the way he whined throughout the film. Dr. Adrian proves that he isn�t a quack when Frances is actually able to move her leg. Everyone rejoices and the doctor heads back home.
Dr. Adrian is greeted at his practice by a Dr. McNulty. This fellow smells Dr. Adrian�s scheme and confronts him on it. Dr. Adrian admits to experimenting but vows to prove his point to Dr. McNulty by showing him Frances. Frances is unable to move her foot but McNulty still notes a reaction.
A few hours later, the ape heads out again accept this time he is shot at by the Little Rascals. One of the kids pegs him with a .22 bullet and the ape goes home. Meanwhile, a bunch of annoying mothers chastise the Sheriff about their missing Little Rascals devil spawn. The Little Rascals arrive on cue bragging about how they shot they ape. The sheriff decides to check out the situation.
1.) The Sheriff questioning Dr. Adrian more.
2.) The Sheriff having a lengthy discussion with the circus trainer about why the doctor smells like ape.
3.) Dr. Adrian telling Frances to walk yet again.
Ok, pointless stuff out of the way, lets wrap this up. One evening, the Sheriff heads out with his posse. I�m assuming by this point in the film that no other crimes ever exist in the town. Anyhow, the ape attacks one of his men but gets wounded in the process. The ape limps up to Dr. Adrian�s house and is shot dead.
Frances sees all this go down and the ape is revealed to be�gasp�Dr. Adrian himself. I won�t bother how or why he was able to make a monkey suit in such a short amount of time. However, Frances�gasp�stands up thus bringing the doctor�s good work to a full circle. The doctor dies and Frances is left with her whiny boyfriend Danny at the end.
Ape severely suffers from an antagonistic angle. At no time is there ever a sense of a menacing figure in the movie. Dr. Adrian is actually a formidable guy who only wants to help his patients. No A-Hole there folks.
Another thing Ape lacks is any real feel of connection between the movie�s events. So what if an ape escapes a circus. How or why should that be related to a doctor�s plight for curing the handicapped?
So in a sense, ape truly makes a monkey of itself in the long run. I�ve been waiting to use that lousy joke since the beginning of this review by the way.
Sadly, no Dr. Zaius-like activity going on here folks�
1.) Mason - A selfish banker who the ladies seem to flock to in the film. From the looks of him, I�m assuming the numbers in his bank account are bigger than the ones in his sperm account.
