THE MONSTER AND THE APE

The robot "monster"

THE MONSTER AND THE APE (15 chapter Columbia serial/1945. Director: Howard Bretherton. Colorized.

Professor Arnold (Ralph Morgan) has invented a robot which he calls the Metalogen Man after a material used in its construction. A colleague, Professor Ernst (George Macready of Steve Canyon), covets the robot for himself and uses his trained gorilla, Thor (Ray Corrigan), to get it, and thus begins a battle of wills and counter-strategies between opposing factions to get the robot back,  keep it out of Ernst's hands, and stay away from the paws of the mighty Thor and Ernst's nasty henchmen. Working on the side of justice along with Prof. Arnold are Ken Morgan (Robert Lowery of Sensation Hunters), Arnold's daughter, Babs (Carole Mathews of Assignment Redhead), and the lovably bumbling assistant Flash (Willie Best).  

George Macready consults with gunsels 

The Monster and the Ape is a fair-to-middling Columbia serial with a few interesting elements, such as the fact that the bad guys have an extra entrance to Ernst's HQ via a tunnel in the back of Thor's cage in the Municipal Zoo (yes, when he's not out killing people Thor stays in the zoo!). There are some more than decent cliffhangers, such as the bit with a conveyer belt that leads into an incinerator, and an even better sequence with walls closing in on our hero. Although he's as professional in this claptrap as he is in almost everything, Macready is an odd choice for this material, certainly not a career highpoint such as Paths of Glory. It's amusing that when Ernest disguises himself he doesn't disguise his voice -- surely even ten-year-olds would have wondered about that! Willie Best is forced to play the cowardly fool, as usual, but he is quite adept as Flash. 

Verdict: If you can't get enough apes and robots! **1/4. 

THE HIDDEN HAND

Milton Parsons

THE HIDDEN HAND (1942). Director: Benjamin Stoloff. 

Insane murderer John Channing (Milton Parsons) escapes from an institution by hiding in the back of a police car! He arrives at the mansion owned by his sister, Lorinda (Cecil Cunningham), who wants his help in carrying out a sinister scheme. Convinced that her relatives are only out for her money, she invites them all to her house, fakes her death, and hopes they will all kill each other off -- or become victims of John, who is pretending to be a new butler. Lorinda's secretary, Mary (Elisabeth Fraser) is said to be her main heir, so she becomes a target almost immediately. 

Craig Stevens and Cecil Cunningham

Half an hour into the film's brief running time, the star Craig Stevens, playing lawyer Peter Thorne, who is engaged to Mary, shows up to intercede in events. There are more murders and a bit of skulduggery as well, including sequences with secret panels and trapdoors that overhang deep drops into the ocean. The male relatives are played by Roland Drew, Tom Stevenson, and Frank Wilcox, while the ladies are portrayed by Julie Bishop and Ruth Ford, with Inez Gay cast as the unfortunate maid, Hattie, and Marian Hall as the sinister nurse, Eleanor. Kam Tong is the Chinest servant Mallo, who is one of several people who come to a bad end. 

"I don't like that pigeon." Willie Best

The most likable player is Willie Best, who plays Eustis, the chauffeur. Approaching an agitated raven in his mistress' bedroom, he says, "I don't like that pigeon and he doesn't like me, either." The Hidden Hand is too loopy to work as a serious mystery film, and it isn't funny enough to work as a black comedy, so what we've got is a fairly foolish melodrama with mostly insufficient acting. Even Cecil Cunningham isn't very good, and Stevens [Peter Gunn] has little to do but look pretty. Willie Best does his usual shtick, but he steals the move doing it. Elisabeth Fraser makes little impression as Mary, but Parsons is typically effective as one of his gallery of creeps. 

Verdict: An instantly forgettable so-called comedy melodrama.  **.