Watch The Monster Maker For Free

Good movie but grossly overrated

The film makes a home in your brain and the only cure is to see it again.

In other words,this film is a surreal ride.

By the time the dramatic fireworks start popping off, each one feels earned.

Director: SAM NEWFIELD. Screenplay: Martin Mooney, Pierre Gendron. Story: Lawrence Williams. Photography: Robert Cline. Film editor: Holbrook N. Todd. Art director: Paul Palmentola. Set decorator: Harry Reif. Make-up: Maurice Seiderman. Music: Albert Glasser. Music supervisor: David Chudnow. Production manager: Bert Sternbach. Assistant director: Mel DeLay. Sound recording: Ferrol Redd. Producer: Sigmund Neufeld. Copyright 15 April 1944 by PRC Pictures, Inc. No recorded New York opening. U.S. release: 15 April 1944. Never theatrically released in Australia. 7 reels. 62 minutes. SYNOPSIS: Evil scientist discovers a cure for a rare disease but wants victim's daughter in exchange.COMMENT: The unbilled actor in the gorilla suit is one of the better players in this cheapjack picture which has little else to recommend it other than Misses Tala Birell and Wanda McKay. Mr Naish is a boring actor at the best of times. In the lead part, he is super-boring. Only Ralph Morgan can match him for dullness, but his part here is smaller so he has to be content with second place. And in third place, we have Terry Frost. What a trio! Mr Newfield is one of those directors who can shoot a complete movie in two days or less-which is not too bad a drawback when dealing with a reasonably entertaining or exciting script. Unfortunately the screenplay which Messrs Mooney and Gendron have fashioned is one of those talk-talk-talk fiestas in which the characters do plenty of empty posturing but very little-aside from a brief spurt from the gorilla (and even that is disappointingly cut short)-actually happens.

Poverty Row production by PRC and directed by journeyman director Sam Newfield, The Monster Maker is very good when one considers what the director, actors, and crew had to deal with with regard to budget, etc... The major premise here is that a doctor/scientist goes to a concert to see a great pianist and instead falls in love with the maestro's daughter because she resembles his former wife. He leers at her throughout the concert and gives an introduction to meet the pianist later. Now, we then get this scientist not taking NO for an answer - so what does he do when Dad goes to tell him to leave his daughter alone...why he injects him with a serum that gives him acromegaly(this is what actor Rondo Hatton had). This disease quickly transforms the urbane feature of Ralph Morgan into a shuttered "monster" with a face full of giant bumps and lesions and growths. For it seems that Dr. Igor Markoff has a specialty in this field and knows that he will be the only person Morgan can go to for help...then he will ask for his daughter for the price of that help. The script, despite this film being roughly an hour, is amazingly crisp and interesting. The acting by J. Carrol Naish and Ralph Morgan is good as well. Naish plays one of the sickest, depraved mad scientists in this era. He even is made to look like the devil with his pointed beard! I thought his twisted Dr. Markoff was very enjoyable a performance to watch. The rest of the cast - Tala Birell as Dr. Markoff's assistant and idolizer is particularly good as is Wanda McKay the pretty blonde daughter and Terry Frost as her boyfriend. Glenn Strange is a servant for Naish and we do get Ray Corrigan dressed in a gorilla outfit and Ace - the Wonder Dog. The scene with the gorilla and dog was one of my favorites. But it really is Naish and Morgan doing the heavy lifting here. They both were good and Morgan's make-up was very credible. Though this is a low-budget film, it is definitely worth a look.

J Carrol Naish stars as a scientist, Dr. Igor Markoff, obsessed with the daughter of a skilled professional concert pianist, Anthony Lawrence(Ralph Morgan) and will do whatever it takes to have her..including injecting him with acromegaley(..a glandular condition which causes physical distortions of the face, hands, and feet)in a diabolical scheme to force a marriage. His object of desire, Patricia(Wanda McKay), is in love with pop's business manager, Bob Blake(Terry Frost). Working as his assistant is Maxine(Tala Birell), who understands his intentions and longs to have his love towards her. But, Maxine's devotion to Markoff and love go unrequited and she is growing tired and worried regarding his behavior, voicing her concerns, threatening to leave and report his devious actions(..regarding his purposely infecting an innocent man of a rare disease for the sole reason of gaining his daughter in return), with her life in danger as a result..Markoff attempts to murder her by releasing a caged gorilla, and often hypnotizes her when she threatens to expose him. Meanwhile, Pat watches her beloved father fall prey to the acromegaley, at first restless and energetic, suddenly a hideous human monster in an accelerated amount of time. In an ultimate confrontation, Igor will meet his created abomination with Pat following soon after in the hopes that her father will be saved not yet knowing the warped scientist's plan to have her as his own.Cheap, low budget production with Naish is great form as the disturbed Markoff, willing to go to any lengths necessary to claim a woman who reminds him of his late wife. The whole movie is macabre, particularly the back story and what Markoff does to Anthony..Naish's character was an assistant to the real Markoff, killing him in retaliation for adultery with his wife, Fiona, and assuming his identity, taking his work to the United States, along with Maxine, and continuing the acromegaley experiments, perfecting a serum which can regress the disease while also holding a dangerous weapon in liquid form that can also cause it(...Markoff admits to Maxine that he purposely infected Fiona with acromegaley so that no one would want her, the result being that she committed suicide).Naish has really never been recognized as the star that he was, and little modest B-pictures like THE MONSTER MAKER are examples at how commanding he could be. A real talent he had at portraying a number of characters, from a man evolved from an ape in DR RENAULT'S SECRET to a dogged inspector in THE BEAST WITH WITH FIVE FINGERS to a rejected, mistreated hunchback assistant in HOUSE OF FRANKENSTEIN. I sadly believe the man perhaps left this mortal coil thinking that he had not left an indelible mark in the genre he starred in for so long..but when those of us discover his work in a film as minor as this, an admiration for him grows exponentially. He absolutely embodies this madman, perfecting the balance between brilliance and madness, all low-key and subtle, never over the top, with a calm voice and unshaken disposition which makes him all the more menacing. The rest of the cast, except for Morgan, soon hardly recognizable under ghastly make-up, are merely adequate..Naish practically carries the movie on his shoulders. I'd recommend this to classic horror buffs who wish to see Naish in his element, while also getting a glimpse at a towering Glenn Strange as a hulking henchman, Steve, who works as Markoff's enforcer.

Acromegaly (a syndrome where the pituitary gland produces excess growth hormone resulting in giantism and then disfigurement), was all the rage in horror movies between 1944 and 1946, thanks primarily to actor Rondo Hatton, a real-life sufferer. Hatton's large size and dis-proportioned features led to a memorable, though short-lived, stint as a horror star at Universal beginning with his role as "The Creeper" in 1944's THE PEARL OF DEATH. The reporter-turned-actor would go on to take half-a-dozen more roles before his death in early 1946. PRC, who were considered the lowest of the low as far as low-rent movie companies of its day went, were also ready to cash in on the sudden interest in the disease. Though this one doesn't actually star Hatton, it's likely that it was made because of his success at Universal. Ironically, after Hatton died, Universal felt so embarrassed about "exploiting" their ill-fated new horror star that they sold the rights to Hatton's final film THE BRUTE MAN to another company. Guess who? Why PRC, of course!Back to THE MONSTER MAKER. It's really not a bad low-budget B effort at all. The science is erroneous at times and there aren't too many creative flourishes, but it's an entertaining way to spend an hour. The always-great J. Carrol Naish, complete with Eastern European accent, headlines as Dr. Igor Markoff. What a perfect mad scientist name that is, huh? While attending a concert with his enamored female assistant Maxine (Tala Birell), Markoff spots the lovely Patricia (Wanda McKay) in the audience and can't help staring. After all, she's a dead ringer for his long-dead wife. Quickly becoming obsessed, Dr. Markoff starts sending flowers to Patricia three times a day, nevermind the face she's already keeping company with Bob Blake (Terry Frost). Annoyed, Patricia sends her father, pianist Anthony Lawrence (Ralph Morgan), to Dr. Markoff's clinic to tell him she's not interested and to leave her alone. Markoff quickly bonks Anthony over the head with a candlestick and shoots him up with an extremely potent shot of the acromegaly. Pretty soon, poor Anthony becomes restless, has sudden bursts of energy, a stronger-than-usual appetite and finally transforms into a deformed, unrecognizable shadow of his former self. Since Dr. Markoff is the only one with an antidote, he demands Patricia's hand in marriage or else he'll let the condition worsen until her father passes away. The plot also makes room for a large caged gorilla and even features an appearance from "Ace the Wonder Dog." How can you not love this stuff?I liked the majority of the cast in this one. Naish and Morgan both get to have a lot of fun and even though I don't see many people mentioning Birell in their reviews, I thought she was excellent as the assistant who's been in love with the mad doctor for a very love time but is now at her breaking point. The two "romantic leads" were alright but, as usual, they take back seat to the three aforementioned performers, who have the showier roles. Glenn Strange (who would go on to replace Boris Karloff as The Frankenstein Monster the very next year) has a small supporting role as Markoff's brutish butler Steve. The film itself is well done inside its budget; efficiently put together and very well paced, too. The acromegaly make-up is surprisingly good as well and actually reminded me of the same design later used in Lynch's THE ELEPHANT MAN!