This film is very much like an earlier Monogram Pictures effort, THE MAN WITH NINE LIVES. That's because both starred Boris Karloff as a well-intentioned doctor who is trying to help mankind but ultimately becomes a "mad" scientist. Here Karloff is trying to find a cure for spinal paralysis and he uses the spinal fluid of a man injured by an escaped ape to help cure a lady who is bound to a wheelchair. The problem is, although there is improvement, Karloff needs more and more fluid in order to effect a cure. The rest, though predictable, is pretty entertaining for a low-budget horror flick. The conclusion is particularly good--giving a nice twist that's not expected.

And speaking of "low-budget", this film is very, very cheaply made--with occasionally bad acting and an annoyingly repetitive musical score. Despite the film's many short-cuts and all, it's STILL very watchable and worth a look--particularly for fans of Karloff.

In between episodes of the Mr. Wong detective series, Monogram Pictures found some time to cast Boris Karloff in his traditional role as a scientist experimenting in things unknown. The Ape has him in a more traditional Karloff type role.

Boris is a doctor who has settled in a small community and is not well liked by the inhabitants of this place. Rumors abound of his experiments on animals. What he's doing in fact is exploring a cure for infantile paralysis.

It's hard to understand these days, but that was a dreaded thing back in the day, the President of the United States had that disease, but Karloff isn't worried about curing FDR, it's pretty Maris Wrixon, that's got his attention who's confined to a wheelchair like the president.

At the same time a circus ape that's been abused by his trainer gets loose and sets fire to the big top. What The Ape getting loose has to do with Karloff and his experiments is for you to see.

Let's just say that Jonas Salk was not pursuing the same line of research as Boris Karloff was.

If it weren't for the presence of Boris Karloff, this would be pretty bad. Apparently there has been a bout with polio in the community (paralysis) and there is a pretty young victim who the doctor fancies as looking like his late daughter. He makes it his life work to cure her. Unfortunately, he needs the bodily fluids of others to bring about that cure. Of course, he chooses the base, the outcast, for his work because the young pretty girl has more worth in the society than these others. He chooses his victims by judging this worth. He kills them by dressing in the skin of an ape that he killed and skinned. If this sounds silly, it's hard to defend. There's also a subplot of the jealousy of a young man who loves the young woman but may feel if she recovers she will reject him. Karloff's doctor is the constant victim of the community. They don't know what he's doing in that house and so he is victimized by the local kids (your garden variety brats),and looked on with suspicion. He is such a kindly man, it seems odd that there is such venom when it comes to him. Anyway, it's a small town and people do need their preoccupations. It just seems that a doctor with this much imagination could be a little more creative in his methods than the one he chooses. Imagine how lacking in dexterity if you were about 60 years old, running around in an ape pelt. It's rather forgettable and predictable, but it's fun to see Karloff's character.