Back in its salad days Paramount was a studio that did not go in much for the horror genre. So this film The Monster And The Girl is something of an anomaly for them. I'm sure Cecil B. DeMille, Preston Sturges, or Mitchell Leisen never had this script on their desks.

Philip Terry gets framed by Paul Lukas and his mob for murder and despite the earnest pleas of girl friend Ellen Drew gets sentenced to die. Dr. George Zucco in one of his patented mad scientist roles asks Terry for the use of his brain after he's deceased and Terry agrees to it.

After Dr. Zucco transplants Terry's brain, strange things are happening. Like the gorilla with the Terry brain inside and that brain has some scores to settle. Settle them the Terry gorilla does and in a most gruesome manner.

Perhaps had Universal done this one it might rate as a classic as they knew how to serve these up. Still despite some mediocre production values The Monster And The Girl should satisfy the die-hard fans of the horror genre.

Philip Terry is about to be hanged for murder, so mad scientist George Zucco asks him if he can have his brain after he's no longer using it for a project that will benefit humanity. It turns out to be to transplant into a gorilla (played by Charles Gemora),who goes around killing the people who did wrong by him and his sister, prostitute Ellen Drew.

It's a crazy, well-produced Paramount B movie, which also includes comedy cops, actors who specialized in gangsters playing scientists, a faithful dog and noir photography by Victor Milner. With a huge cast of skilled minor players -- Marc Lawrence gets a substantial role -- it looks like a movie that was written seriatim by fourteen or fifteen writers, with enough silly plot points to fill up 150 minutes, let alone a tight, 65 minute under the direction of Stuart Heisler. Credit B movie writer Stuart Anthony, who died 14 months later and who apparently felt a need to cram as many different movies into this one as possible.

This complex B drama has elements of so many film categories in it that it is very difficult to just pinpoint down to one. The film opens with a darkly photographed Ellen Drew speaking directly to the camera in haunting, poetic terms, as if she was some sort of tortured, gothic heroine like Joan Fontaine in "Rebecca". The next thing you know she's standing up in court to defend her brother (Philip Terry) of the charge of murder, something he claims emphatically that he's innocent of. But that's not enough to convince a jury, and he's sentenced to death. While waiting his fate, Terry is visited by scientist George Zucco wanting his brain after he dies. As soon as that happens, the body count rises, creating panic among the mob leaders (lead by Paul Lukas),and the local law are completely baffled.

Pretty daring for a little B crime film, especially by the obvious way it presents troubled heroine Drew, obviously a lady of the streets and as much of a victim of the mob as her brother was. It takes typical elements of mad doctor films (although Zucco is a minor character) and mixes them with the themes of noir and general crime dramas, reminding me of several Boris Karloff films that had been made a few years before this where he somehow came back from the dead after being executed. Robert Paige, Joseph Calleia, Onslow Stevens and Cliff Edwards are featured, but the film is stolen by a cute Asta like dog and some really good shadowy photography.