User Reviews

The set-up of this movie is very simple--a bunch of people in a house, trying to be scary. Add an ape to good effect. Here's the idea: a woman and her fiancé return to her childhood home after the death of her father, who was a scientist. Her uncle, his wife, and their son reside there as tenants and housekeepers, and they all want the money the young woman inherited. Thus, they do the usual thing a mismatched group of spurned relatives do in this situation: plan to kill her, framing the dead scientist's angry ape as the murderer. Of course, they're really bad at it, so it doesn't really work out very well.

Even though this movie was very low budget and the plot was slim, it still could have been a lot better. The direction jumps from exposition to action with very little consideration for timing, which means both fall flat and ultimately the whole set-up is given away too early, ruining any chance of suspense or horror. It's also not worth it to expect good acting from these kind of productions from this era, but on the other hand, only the black man and the messed-up son seemed to have any character. Also, is it a little wrong to ask that the movie have something to do with the title?

But worst (or perhaps best) of all, this movie does feature one very memorable scene: the worst attempt at murder EVER. Tell me, how does chaining a woman to a pole and whipping a monkey cage work to off the woman, especially when one is on a time limit? Wonderful b-movie absurdity leads to situations like that, which are very fascinating not only because they're poorly done, but you have to wonder who thought up the scene in the first place! --PolarisDiB

In the early 1930's, they had a series of these "Old Dark House" pictures, usually involving a bunch of people brought together in an old mansion as an unseen killer begins picking them off. This probably had a lot to do with the fact that early talkies were produced by people who had a lot of experience on stage, as many of the silent era directors and actors found themselves out of their depth with the introduction of sound.

The film's opening graphic has a picture of half-naked woman being carried off by a ape. Of course, you see nothing like this in the film, as the primary actress never gets very naked or gets touched by an ape.

The plot is simple enough. A rich man dies, leaving his entire fortune to his daughter, but her uncle is the next in line to get it if she dies. And the late millionaire had a pet ape he kept in the basement. Did the ape get out and start strangling people? Well, I'll leave you in suspense... of course not. It was old man Krug, he was the ape all along, and he'd have gotten away with it too, if it weren't for you meddling kids.

(Actually, I think this is the second movie I've reviewed with someone in an ape suit killing people, which i guess was a pretty standard fare on Poverty Row in the 30's and 40's.)

The final point is the actor credited as "Eat N Sleep", better known as Willie Best. He was typical of the way African-Americans were portrayed in this era, superstitious, subservient, and scared. You can't watch these kinds of scenes today without cringing.

This is a misinterpreted film, with reviewers (on another site) believing the opposite of how I understood it; another of those situations when we are likely reviewing different movies, so dissimilar are the ideas, anyway to me Mischa Auer but also Sidney Bracey are the best from the cast, each of the others being also strongly effective and acting professionally, even Lease.

A horror movie with a good cast: Sheldon Lewis as the surviving brother, Sidney Bracey as Wilkes (a reliable old-school role), Mischa Auer (who not only got a good role, but also knew how to play it), Martha Mattox as his mother, W. Best (sadly reduced to a coward manservant, like in a later movie); perhaps not so good were the two leads, either bland (him), or less likable, her (which in fact means good casting, she's the offshoot of a doomed family, and she has to look spooked, but also spooky herself). But even she, is understandably scared, and shaken, and asks to leave twice, the 1st time they make her change her mind and the housekeeper keeps her company, the 2nd time she's handed over to Hanns; she doesn't ask to leave the house more than twice, and each time her request is answered: calming her, and then entrusting her to the cousin she doesn't yet know she has. The plot is mysterious and unnerving, the dialogs well written, and the casting, flawless (quite the opposite of what some reviewers affect to think). The visual style proves intelligent, unlike that of other '30s movies that look like footage for a radio play. Lease, the physician, was somewhat bland, but not unlikable, and certainly not obnoxious.

Hanns is an Expressionist character, something Strayer was fond of, and the player, a '30s character actor, was highly effective as someone who's not at all a simpleton, and his bond with the elder guy is suggested by the impatient way he handles him in a scene; the plot also may remind of that feel, with its suggestions of beastliness, monstrosity, the 'Universal' horrors took over something from the European style. But the horror attempted here is different, starker; it's not an Expressionist horror, Hanns alone reminds of this style, otherwise here the terror is starker, more visceral, punching. A moving frame on the wall, hands seen in the funeral chamber, a clutching hand, a player's silhouette …. Then the pulse count reveals half the solution.

Strayer in the early '30s: he was a dependable director. In this tale of a doomed family, where one brother preferred his ape to his daughter, and the other one fathered a gloomy man, the doubles are significant: the caged ape is the daughter's double, but also her cousin's double.

Vera R. has been chosen precisely because she looked spooky herself. In Strayer's movies, the murders are sometimes shown, in this one as well.

I liked the dreary house, the sets, starkly unnerving, I enjoyed the feel, and the dialog, with some likable people, like the physician and the lawyer, behaving as they do, the lawyer made a nice gentleman, and chivalrous, so I approve of the way the characters have been thought out and played; both families, owners and servants, are German, Hanns looks and behaves the way he does, because he is the sickly brother's child, his cousin asks only twice to leave, and it's explained why she remains (as also the ape's presence in the house is amply explained; less obvious is why would Hanns use the unholy glove for his hand, but the ape is his double), and when she was going to leave, she's kidnapped. There are only few funny moments, all by W. Best.

The last joke, the likeness with the ape, seems added for the half-wits, and comes after an hour with two strange German families.

This is an absolutely terrible Horror/Mystery, that's painfully dull, with laughable dialog, and wooden performances. All the characters are boring, and the story is not very interesting, plus the only time the Ape really gets into act is in the final five minutes!. The script is also terrible, and there is absolutely no suspense or chills what so ever, and even at 63 minutes it's hard to get through. There is also no characters to root for, and before things start to heat up, you will most likely be asleep, or too bored out of your skull to care, plus the killer is pretty easy to figure out. I got this in a DVD set called Back From The Grave along with a bunch of other Horror films and I must say this deserves it's very low 3.8 rating, plus Vera Reynolds(Ruth) laughably overacts and is a terribly non convincing lead, along with Rex Lease (Dr. Ted Clayton). It's also extremely cheap, and very very low budget, and I say this should be a contender for IMDb's bottom 100, plus The Ape is terribly non scary. This is an absolutely terrible Horror/Mystery, that's painfully dull, with laughable dialog, and wooden performances, Avoid it at all costs!. The Direction is god awful. Frank R. Strayer does a god awful job here with inept camera work, and keeping the film painfully dull throughout. The Acting is laughably bad. Rex Lease is actually not all that bad as the Doc, but that isn't saying much, as his terrible dialog certainly Doesen't help matters any, and his chemistry with Vera Reynolds is non existent, still he managed to come out of this crap looking somewhat adequate. Vera Reynolds is pretty bad here, she laughably overacts, and had to spurt out terrible dialog throughout, not to mention her character irritated me. Sheldon Lewis is OK here, and plays the old/crazy man part adequately. Mischa Auer is also bad here, were supposed to find his character eerie, but instead it's boring and non scary. Rest of the cast are equally as bad. Overall avoid at all costs!. * out of 5 and that's being generous.

WoooOOOoooOOO... In the mood for a cheap, substandard rehash of the 1927 silent horror classic THE CAT AND THE CANARY? It's a dark and stormy night at an old, creepy mansion. The home's wealthy owner, a follower of the theories of Darwin for what it's worth, has just recently bought the farm. Assorted family members and the hired help all gather together to find out what kind of goodies the deceased has left them. Friend and attorney Herbert Wilkes (Sidney Bracey) presides over the reading of the will. Present and accounted for are the wimpy, overly emotional daughter Ruth (Vera Reynolds), her doctor boyfriend Ted (Rex Lease), wheelchair bound Uncle Robert (Sheldon Lewis), fraidy cat black chauffeur Exodus (Willie Best aka Sleep 'n' Eat), elderly maid Emma (Martha Mattox) and her very tall and menacing half wit son Hans (Mischa Auer), who... speaks... very... very... slowly... Even though the deceased made sure everyone basically got what they deserved, he left the majority of his cash (50,000 bucks) and his home to his daughter. One, or perhaps several, of the others decide they want poor Ruth dead so they can get her share of the inheritance. Did I forget to mention there's also a hyperactive "ape" (chimp) named Yogi locked up in the cellar? Everyone shudders in fear about the dreaded evil monkey being in the same home as them even though it never once leaves its cage. It basically just lets out the occasional shriek, bounces up and down, grabs the cage bars and shakes it all around, and later becomes an easy scapegoat when one of the characters ends up dead with hand prints around their throat. Exodus says "I had a grand pappy who looked somethin' like him!" Groan.

Fans of cheap old horror flix will be all-too-familiar with this film's set-up, plot and roster of stock characters. The whole thing is dull, lifeless, excessively talky, set-bound and hopelessly clichéd, and that's even when you put in context of the time it was made. The one pseudo scary moment, as a hairy arm reaches through the back of a bed toward the sleeping leading lady, is lifted directly from the aforementioned CAT/CANARY, the supposed comic relief isn't the least bit amusing, the revelation of the killer(s) is predictable and the acting is horribly stiff from nearly everyone concerned, with Bracey and Mattox being the least offensive of the bunch. The sound quality is also bad and the sets are so flimsy that when someone knocks on a door the whole wall shakes like it's about to fall over. It's only worth checking out for a couple of unintended laughs or for monkey movie fetishists.

***SPOILERS*** It's when the master of the house Mr.Earlton passed away that all his relatives as well as servants were gathered to hear his will read with his daughter Ruth Earlton,Vera Reynolds, getting the lion share of his holding including the house itself. That's when things started getting a bit weird with the pet monkey Yogi that her father kept locked up in the basement getting very excited and unnerve by just seeing or even picking up Ruth's scent. It's Ruth's late father a follower of the Darwinist theory of the Evolution of man descending from apes or monkeys was using Yogi in his experiments. It was Yogi who developed a strong dislike of Ruth when she, in being afraid he'd grab her arm, didn't hand him over a banana as a treat.

It's soon become apparent that Yogi is on the loose in strange things happening at the house that's connected to him. Even though he never once left his cage when these things were happening. Even when Ruth as well as her uncle the wheelchairs bound Robert Earlton, Sheldon Lewis, were almost strangled by what looked like a hairy and monkey-like hand while asleep in their bedrooms. With all the attention on the maligned monkey Yogi it turned out that the butler or monkey's attendant Hanns Krug, Mischa Auer, and his mom the house maid Mrs. Krug, Martha Mattox, were behind all this monkey business to ice out or do in Ruth from getting her share of her father's money and property.

****SPOILERS**** It's soon found out that Hanns is actually Ruth's step brother or first cousin, it's not quite sure which one he is,who together with his mom Mrs. Krug feel that they were left out in the cold by the old man leaving them almost nothing, but $50.00 a month for life, in his will. Hanns in trying to murder Ruth and make it look like Yogi did it, by using a Halloween gorilla hand or paw,in trying to murder her strangled his mom, who was sleeping under the covers, by mistake. That has a very unstable Hanns go completely banana's and attempt to do the same to his what turned out to be father the crippled Robert Earlton without much success. In the end completely out of his skull Hanns drags Ruth down to the basement and tries to get Yogi to do her in who turns out to be a lot smarter then he or anyone else thought he was. And instead Yogi put the squeeze or end on Hanns' insanity by, in what he attempted for Yogi to do to Ruth, ringing his rotten neck.

This film is very very bad. Not that I really expected much from a film called The Monster Walks. Most of the film is just people sitting around and talking about a will. THEY'RE TALKING ABOUT A WILL! Real exciting, right! Right!! In fact the "monster" doesn't even show up until the half way point. And then you would finally expect something to happen. But no, they just sit around talk about what could of happened. But you know what the thing is that really irks me about this film? There's no monster. There's a Chimpanzee they keep locked in the basement but there isn't a monster. The only reason this gets a 3/10 is because of the twist that it was the old guy using the butler to get all the money from the family. And then it turns out that the butler is actually his son but the son accidentally killed his mother so then he kills the old guy. That's the only part I kinda liked. Everything else just sucked.

Hollywood was still enamoured with the German cinema - even in this little Action Pictures thriller from 1932. An eerie corpse lies in a candlelit room, outside a storm rages and all is presided over by movie's most sinister housekeeper - Martha Mattox. Meanwhile whisperings are going on between wheelchair bound Robert Earlton (Sheldon Lewis) and his menacing hireling Hanns (Mischa Auer).

Ruth (Vera Reynolds) has arrived from Europe to learn her father is dead. She is due to inherit the estate, that is, if she lives - if not, it will all come to her Uncle Robert. From the interesting beginning, quite clearly derived from "The Cat and the Canary", the film suffers from massive doses of over acting, Lewis pointedly exclaiming "If only I were not so HELPLESS" and "If only I could WALK" with plenty of shots of Hann's rolling eyes and Ruth saying every ten minutes "Oh Ted, take me away from here"!! Through it all is the maddening screams of Yogi, the ape, caged in the cellar, which is a bit of a problem as it is supposed to possess superhuman strength and be bitterly unforgiving of those that have taunted it but when you finally see it, it is only a chimpanzee and because of all the jungle films around at the time in which chimps were cute and funny, Yogi just doesn't convince.

There is also a family secret which Hanns is forever on the point of revealing, especially when he realises that he and his mother, Mrs. Krug, were not that well provided for in the will. Ruth's fiancée, Dr. Clayton (handsome Rex Lease) is also staying there and he is convinced Ruth's hysterics are real and the whole mystery has something to do with the myriad of secret tunnels in the house that Ruth says confused her as a child. Unfortunately another red herring as the viewers see none of the subterranean passages. When Mrs. Krug is murdered it is obvious Ruth was the intended victim and Clayton is determined to get to the bottom of Robert's affliction. I just love the way, in these old chillers, two o'clock in the morning is no deterrent to performing an examination to see if Robert really is wheelchair bound or only "putting it on"!!!

There is some awful racist humour involving Exodus (Sleep 'N Eat, which is the name Willie Best originally went by), including a joke about being descended from apes!!! Also Vera Reynolds, a former Cecil B. DeMille star who had seen better days, to me seemed a bit too matronly to be the innocent and easily excitable heroine.

This venerable 1932 production looks prehistoric with its Poverty Row value and run-of-the-mill scripting. Basically, what we have here is another "Old Dark House" knock-off with a group of characters convening a meeting at night during a storm to hear the reading of a dead man's will. The chief problem with "The Monster Walks" is that there are not enough suspects and some characters may be ruled out in advance when the murders begin. Naturally, we aren't privy to some important information that might help us identify the killer. Moreover, the filmmakers have gone out of their way to complicate matters, especially after you learn about the outcome. Frank Strayer directs without urgency and drags out some red herrings to throw us off the scent. The use of an ape caged in the basement to generate suspense works initially until it is clear that the ape cannot escape his enclosure. The acting consists of a mixed bag, while the production designs look okay. If you're going to watch this to catch a glimpse of the eponymous Monster as it walks, you're in for a dire letdown. The monster never appears in full shot.