Experiments in the bayous go afoul as patients begin to turn into...duh, duh, duh(drum roll please)..ALLIGATOR PEOPLE. This is your fairly predictable, poorly scripted, fun science fiction/horror movie from the 50's. Beverly Garland, the Scream Queen herself, marries Richard Crane, gets on a train on their honeymoon, and he abruptly gets off...no trace left. Through some tough investigative work, Garland finds him and his secret in Louisiana. There she meets some strange characters. A woman that treats her like she is a child invading her privacy. A servant girl that speaks about her mistress as being evil. And who could forget Manon...a gamekeeper(something like that) who lives in a shack down the road. Manon is played by a heavy, inebriated-looking Lon Chaney Jr. Lon has little to work with here in an almost thankless role, but make no mistakes - he is the best thing about this picture. Watching him utter ridiculous lines like, "I'll kill you Alligator Man, just like I kill 4-legged gators" has to be a definite highlight. This film has little in the way of special effects. The alligator people look like guys that haven't slept in decades. George Macready plays the doctor in charge of the experiments. Though Lon wildly over-plays his part, Beverly Garland is almost subdued for her. She gives a decent performance working with less than stellar material. The framing story is interesting if unnecessary. All in all not a terribly bad picture but not good science fiction either. It's primary saving grace is its humour - both the minor intentional kind and the numerous unintentional kind. Cracky, it's a real hoot!
Review of The Alligator People
