One of the more entertaining gorilla-themed horror movies of the era, Captive Wild Woman stars John Carradine as mad scientist Dr. Sigmund Walters, who grafts glands from his patient, Dorothy Colman (Martha Vickers), into Cheela the gorilla (Ray Corrigan, of course), and transplants his nurse's brain into the ape for good measure. This procedure transforms the gorilla into a beautiful young woman (played by sultry stunner Acquanetta) who the doctor names Paula. When Paula is taken to Whipple's circus, she has a calming effect over the big cats and becomes assistant to lion tamer Fred Mason (Milburn Stone). However, Paula becomes jealous of Fred's fiancé Beth (Evelyn Ankers) and regresses, becoming a savage ape-woman with hairy face and hands, manky teeth and monkey feet.
There's a tad too much circus footage in this film to make it a true Universal classic, and the lion taming, whilst impressive (you couldn't get me to stand in cage full of big cats for all the money in the world), is not exactly humane, the animals given the high pressure hose treatment when they start to viciously maul each other. What really makes this film fun is the total lunacy of Walters work (what exactly is the purpose of his experiment?) and the hilarity that ensues when strong emotions trigger Paula's regression.
In the action-packed finalé, an electrical storm causes the big cats to escape at the circus; meanwhile, Walters attempts to turn Cheela back into Paula, this time intending to use Beth's brain in the operation. Beth foils Walters' plans by releasing Cheela, who kills the scientist and then hotfoots it to the circus to rescue Fred from a lion. Cheela is then shot by a trigger-happy guard. However, this didn't prevent Acquanetta (make mine a mint choc-chip) from returning as Paula in the sequel Jungle Woman (1944) and the character being revived one last time for Jungle Captive (1945), Vicky Lane taking on the role.
6.5/10, rounded up to 7 for IMDb.
There's a tad too much circus footage in this film to make it a true Universal classic, and the lion taming, whilst impressive (you couldn't get me to stand in cage full of big cats for all the money in the world), is not exactly humane, the animals given the high pressure hose treatment when they start to viciously maul each other. What really makes this film fun is the total lunacy of Walters work (what exactly is the purpose of his experiment?) and the hilarity that ensues when strong emotions trigger Paula's regression.
In the action-packed finalé, an electrical storm causes the big cats to escape at the circus; meanwhile, Walters attempts to turn Cheela back into Paula, this time intending to use Beth's brain in the operation. Beth foils Walters' plans by releasing Cheela, who kills the scientist and then hotfoots it to the circus to rescue Fred from a lion. Cheela is then shot by a trigger-happy guard. However, this didn't prevent Acquanetta (make mine a mint choc-chip) from returning as Paula in the sequel Jungle Woman (1944) and the character being revived one last time for Jungle Captive (1945), Vicky Lane taking on the role.
6.5/10, rounded up to 7 for IMDb.