The Ape - 1940

Well, we had a brief break from the 40's horror movies, and we're back! This one features The Grinch (Boris Karloff) as a doctor trying to cure a paralyzed young woman.

We start at the circus, where nothing seems related to the plot. Eventually, a trainer pokes the ape, who attacks the trainer and escapes. But he also sets the circus on fire. The Grinch treats the trainer, but the man dies, and the blood-soaked coat leads the ape to The Grinch's house. He may look old, but The Grinch has some serious self-defense skills and kills the ape. Then The Grinch walks around town in the pelt and murders people for their spinal fluid.

He's using the spinal fluid to treat the young lady he sees as his daughter. Apparently, a "paralyzing sickness" swept through the town a while back and took his wife and daughter. The Grinch also has amazing scent masking skills because he can fool scent dogs and never has any ape guts on him when he's confronted by the sheriff shortly after he's been out murdering.

What he doesn't have is cat-like reflexes. He gets shot and stabbed a couple times and eventually dies on his front porch. It's at that point, the young woman finds the strength to walk. I mean, she skipped a few steps, because up to that point, she could barely move her foot but whatever. The Grinch is magically taken out of his suit (I really wanted to see that, because I had no idea how he was wearing that) just in time to see her walk before he croaks. Then the young lady gets her happily ever after with her beanpole.

This movie was so weird. And we had so many questions. Like what did The Grinch do with the ape guts? The scent dogs kept going to the doctor's house, so he had to have them somewhere! Also, wouldn't it smell? Wouldn't he smell? The one time, he'd just taken the suit off before talking with the sheriff. He HAD to smell! We also couldn't figure out the suit. It looked like you could take the head off. Was there a zipper? Inquiring minds wanted to know! 

It was hilarious to watch pelted Grinch walk around the town at "night." If that was nighttime, the moon was way too close to the earth. The two amazing things were that I never found out what he did with the dogs, and the ape didn't kill George. I mean, they left the guy with the twisted neck just laying out on the ground, but George (we called him Button Vest Man) was safe. We assumed if George was attacked, he would pop the button off his vest in defense.

The movie was an hour, and it gave me plenty of laughs. I wouldn't watch it alone, but it might be fun with a friend. With the amount of laughs you can get out of it, I think a certain crowd would have a blast. I'm giving it a Good Movie! review. I can't try and explain the plot without laughing, and I think that's the measure of a good time. Laughter is the best medicine after all!