"A human form with animal instincts!"
Universal Studios. Those two words bring to mind very many things. The amusement parks with the neat rides that put you right in the movie. The 1930s movies that defined the horror film for the very first time. Or, if I may go off on a tangent, the company that produced a string of highly inventive but all-soon-cancelled in the 1970s and 1980s. But, for today's review, let us concentrate on the second of that list, or rather, the downfall of that era.
Flashback to 1943. As Bela Lugosi was going through the downfall of his career, Boris Karloff was still going upwards at a very shallow angle. Lon Chaney, Jr's career had taken off two years previous thanks to "The Wolf Man" and John Carradine was still a good fifteen years away from his Al Adamson/Ted V. Mikels' performances. In the midst of all the Dracula/Frankenstein sequels, Captive Wild Woman was made, probably right before John Carradine starred as Dracula in "House of Frankenstein" and "House of Dracula," ending the Golden Age of Universal Horror Films.
Captive Wild Woman, at first glance, looks promising. An ape is taken from the wildernesses of Africa to participate in a circus, only to be kidnapped by mad doctor John Carradine who replaces the glands in it's body, reverting the intelligent gorilla into a woman. The woman then takes a liking to the Hero (played by some man with a square head; were they're anyone else like that in the Forties?), then sees him giving affection to his girlfriend, then goes after her in her gorilla form. But, unfortunately, the gorilla lady is interrupted right before the would-be massacre by the poor Mexican maid who dies off-screen. This scene, ladies and gentlemen, has to be seen to be believed. I mean, it's COMICAL. The maid screams, then runs off and is mauled. It's not shown, but the sheer comic timing of it is just ridiculous.
Anyway, after the doctor introduces the ape woman as 'Paula Dupree,' who has a magic touch with creatures. This allows the Hero to fight with these animals while she's around. Thus, the 'suspense' is introduced, where the ape woman can have her revenge by NOT showing up so the Hero can get nearly mauled. But, true love intercedes and Paula reverts back to her ape form to save the Hero, only to be repaid with a bullet in the back. The End.
I wish I could go into exact detail with this movie, but I can't. You see, aside from a lot of stock footage from a circus movie the sleeve summary says is "The Big Cage" (1933), there isn't much of a plot. John Carradine does his scientist shtick, and lives at the end even through he kills his first lab assistant to get her glands for the initial experiment. Usually, in films of this era, such a crime as murder would at least get him wasted by Paula the Ape Woman. But no, sadly, he lives to fight another day (maybe in the sequel, "Jungle Woman.")
But, I get the feeling that this film was just made to introduce the world to the lovely Acquanetta, who portrays Paula. I say "portray" because, despite the Ape Woman's special way with animals, she never speaks a word. Which, is quite sad, really....that would have added another dimension to Paula's already one-dimensional character and probably made the movie a bit more dramatic. Instead, it plays as it was probably intended for: a neat premise inside the second half of a matinee. But, fear not! Acquanetta would play Paula two more times and make appearances on various Universal productions such as "Inner Sanctum" alongside with fellow Universal Player Lon Chaney, Jr. before she faded into obscurity.
RATING: Acquanetta is the main feature of this movie, and despite having no lines she does make you believe that you are truly watching an ape in a human body...in that the ape is bored senseless by all this human activity she cannot understand and just escapes into her mind to relieve that boredom. But, what the hell, it doesn't suffer through the Universal Curse of Boredom and Padding that others cannot escape. At an hour and a minute, it's a nice piece of fluff to enjoy if you don't pay much attention to it. Two stars out of four.
