rodrig58 Ewald André Dupont, an absolutely unknown name in the film business. However, Dupont was a very prolific filmmaker, working in Germany, United Kingdom, Hollywood. As a director, Ewald André Dupont worked also with big names like Charles Laughton, Ronald Reagan, etc. Here are some unknown but very good, very convincing actors. The story is ridiculous, but the quality of the direction and the actors make the movie worthy of being seen. Beverly Garland and Richard Crane they worked together in a much better Horror, Sci-Fi, "The Alligator People" (1959).

poe-48833 THE NEANDERTHAL MAN is about as Formula as they come- which isn't necessarily a BAD thing: there are times when Familiarity is perfectly acceptable, when the Tropes of the genre(s) are to be respected (see MARK OF THE VAMPIRE for perhaps the Last Word on Tropes). The Mad Scientist (Professor Groves) berates his thick-headed but thin-skinned fellow (Mad?) scientists in THE NEANDERTHAL MAN: "Stupidity's contagious!" Like TEENAGE MONSTER, THE NEANDERTHAL MAN takes place in a rustic setting, where most of the players are dressed more or less like cowboys and sporting cowboy hats (in TEENAGE MONSTER, the setting is actually The Old West); a number of these type of movies take place or end up in rustic environs (despite its title, MONSTER ON THE CAMPUS also ends in the mountains, and THE MAD MONSTER is set in a backward community in a swamp), all the way up to (DOWN to...?) TROG (which ends in an underground cave). Beautiful Beverly Garland is menaced by THE NEANDERTHAL MAN, as well, although the first 40 minutes or so of the movie are kinda sorta wasted hunting saber-toothed tigers ("kinda, sorta," because all things balance out in the end). With all due respect to Lon Chaney, Jr., and Jack Pierce, I'D like to see some of these unheralded Creatures made available in model kits (or, better yet, action figures like the Universal Monsters series). Start with MONSTER ON THE CAMPUS, TEENAGE MONSTER, THE MAD MONSTER, THE NEANDERTHAL MAN and TROG. Not a bad starting lineup, eh...?

MARIO GAUCI A haughty Professor becomes intent on proving that mankind's gradual evolution did not necessarily affect his quotient of intelligence. Despite the distinguished directorial credit, this is a thoroughly routine horror programmer of the 'mad scientist' variety, with more than its fair share of unintended hilarity amid the general tackiness. In fact, I would go so far as to say that, as played by Robert Shayne, the doctor here is the rudest in film history and watching him let rip with insults at his staid, disapproving colleagues was a hoot! Typically for this sort of fare, the all-important serum is first tested on animals or 'lesser' humans – in this case, a perennially terrified domestic cat is turned into a saber-toothed tiger and a mute servant girl into a bushy-eyebrowed ape woman (albeit, apparently, just long enough for her to sit for some photographic evidence of the veracity of his claims) – before applying it to himself. The proverbial redneck hostility to a marauding tiger preying on their livestock and later a simian kidnapper of women is present and accounted for; what is more surprising is that the middle-aged professor has a good-looking and much younger fiancée who still relishes hopes of dragging him from his laboratory off to a church altar and, naturally, once the young urban expert hero comes along, he falls for the charms of the professor's clueless daughter. The TNT-culled print I watched left an awful lot to desire so, in spite of my reservations, I acquired a superior copy of the film the minute it was over!

JoeKarlosi An ultra-cheesy '50s monster flick in which we get to see Robert Shayne (Inspector Henderson from TV's ''Adventures of Superman'') shamelessly recite hilarious dialogue and feverishly overact, as a dedicated mad scientist who's found a way to reverse the evolutionary process! It's the treat of the film to watch him rant and rave about his idiotic theories without applying the brakes. First he turns a common house cat into a fierce saber-toothed tiger, accomplished by the effects team utilizing close-ups of a fake model; later, he jabs himself with a serum that transforms him into the title character. You've got to get a load of this ape-man's face; it's one of the most ridiculous-looking of all film monsters, obviously an over-the-head mask you'd buy in any Halloween shop, and completely expressionless with a rubber muzzle and painted set eyes that don't move. For his creature, the filmmaker should have chosen to stay with the crude third or fourth stage appliances during the chintzy transformation sequence. A real hoot, and a good deal of fun if you go for these types of silly yet entertaining creature features. We also get to see a young Beverly Garland in the cast, although a double for her is blatantly used in a sequence where she dons a bathing suit and models for a photographer. **1/2 out of ****