Plantiana Yawn. Poorly Filmed Snooze Fest.

ThiefHott Too much of everything

Vashirdfel Simply A Masterpiece

Kaelan Mccaffrey Like the great film, it's made with a great deal of visible affection both in front of and behind the camera.

Rainey Dawn Quite an entertaining little film from Universal... it is better than the rating it's given.John Carradine plays Dr. Sigmund Walters a "mad" scientist that turns Paula Dupree (Acquanetta) into an ape woman. It's true that Dr. Walters actual motivations we not made exactly clear but it is obvious that is it for scientific research.At any rate, the movie does serve to entertain certain audiences - I was anyway. It is not Universal's best of the time period but it is a good one - worth watching.If you like films like The Ape (1940), The Ape Man (1943) or Murders in the Rue Morgue (1932) then you might like Captive Wild Woman.7.5/10

bkoganbing The only reason that Captive Wild Woman is remembered today is for being one of the training films of Edward Dmytryk. We all have to start somewhere and stuff like this is where Dmytryk learned his craft. The following year he entered A list directors with Murder My Sweet so it might have been worth it.As a film subject for one of Svengoolie's horror fests it's perfect. For fans of camp horror films what's better than John Carradine trying to make himself a woman out of a gorilla. The mild mannered Carradine as director of an insane asylum has the perfect cover for his ghoulish experiments where an ordinary ape by planting a few human glands from a female turns into the sultry Acquanetta. Now imagine if Carradine was gay, he'd get a male gorilla and try for Tyrone Power.Milburn Stone is in the cast as a Clyde Beatty like lion tamer and that's Beatty in long and rear projection shots. Now having seen Beatty in films all I can say is that he was a great lion tamer as an actor. Acquanetta soothes even the savagest beast around him, but she gets jealous when Stone pays more attention to Evelyn Ankers and those gorilla instincts return.This one is so bad it's one of the biggest hoots out there. My only question is how did Bela Lugosi miss being the mad scientist?

kevin olzak 1943's "Captive Wild Woman" was a first in many ways- Universal hired Ben Pivar to produce a series with a female monster, and signed veteran character player John Carradine with the intent of making him a 'horror star,' successful on both counts. Acquanetta also was introduced to the movie-going public, after small roles playing native girls in "Arabian Nights" and "Rhythm of the Islands," in the title role of Paula Dupree, the human result of glandular experiments conducted by Dr. Sigmund Walters (Carradine), injecting massive amounts of female sex hormones into a captured ape, plus the necessary brain transplant from the doctor's interfering nurse (Fay Helm). Acquanetta's wide-eyed performance is entirely mute, a wise decision considering the resulting sequel "Jungle Woman," quickly followed by another, "The Jungle Captive," where the character, now played by Vicky Lane, has again been rendered mute. Jack Pierce's makeup design was similar to The Wolf Man, appropriately ferocious but recognizably simian. The only weakness is a heavy reliance on stock animal footage originally filmed for Clyde Beatty's "The Big Cage" (1933), which in all probability was the main reason why this movie was made in the first place (roughly 20 minutes out of 60). John Carradine, in the first of a long line of mad scientists (over 40 years!), is initially quite charming, obviously a dedicated specialist, but once he sets up the theft of the ape, he reverts to type (his next would be Monogram's "Revenge of the Zombies"). Included in the SON OF SHOCK Universal package issued to television in the late 50s, "Captive Wild Woman" aired four times on Pittsburgh's Chiller Theater: July 6 1974 (following 1967's "Mission Stardust"), May 29 1976 (following 1958's "The 39 Steps"), July 9 1977 (following 1967's "Satanik"), and Mar 12 1983 (solo).

Spikeopath Dr. Walters {John Carradine} has made great strides in his field of glandular transplants. But as his work progresses, the more unhinged his approach to his science becomes. Stealing a tame gorilla from the local circus, Walters transforms the gorilla into a beautiful woman whom he names Paula Dupree {Acquanetta}. Upon taking Paula to the circus it's found that she has hypnotic powers over the lions and tigers and is promptly made part of the taming of the beasts act. But can Paula contain her true animal instincts?Sounds bonkers doesn't it? Well it is, but it's not the plot that makes the film so distinctly average. This is after all a low level Universal Pictures movie, we want, in fact demand, bizarre plots and berserker horror episodes. The problems exist with the complete lack of tension in the script, for a film that has a running time of just over an hour, you would think the big "transplant" and creation of "wild woman" would come sooner rather than later. But it doesn't, what we get is 45 minutes of musing about science and continual takes of circus animal training. With the latter containing some truly awful editing. Paula puts in an appearance late in the piece, then bang! it's pretty much the end and one can't help be disappointed after having stayed with it thus far. Carradine hams it up and enjoys himself one feels, while Evelyn Ankers gives the other performance of note as Beth Colman. The film also serves as an interesting point of reference in the career of director Edward Dmytryk, who in the following few years would deliver some classics in a number of genres. He deserved better material here, hell they all did. But as ever with most of Universal's horror pictures, you end up taking the rough with the smooth and still enjoy yourself. A watchable yet frustrating experience it be. 5/10