Captive Wild Woman (1943)

Synopsis: Animal trainer Fred Mason (Milburn Stone) returns to the States after a lengthy trip to Africa, bringing back caged jungle cats for his circus act, along with one highly intelligent female gorilla. Meanwhile, his fiancée, Beth (Evelyn Ankers), has been dallying with suave glandular... Animal trainer Fred Mason (Milburn Stone) returns to the States after a lengthy trip to Africa, bringing back caged jungle cats for his circus act, along with one highly intelligent female gorilla. Meanwhile, his fiancée, Beth (Evelyn Ankers), has been dallying with suave glandular specialist Dr. Walters (John Carradine), who is working on a cure for her afflicted sister, Dorothy (Martha Vickers). The zany Dr. Walters kidnaps the gorilla and turns her into a beautiful woman (Acquanetta) via injections of Dorothy's glandular extracts. When the inexperienced ape-girl later develops a crush on Mason, she lets jealousy revert her to a sort of were-ape state and tries to kill rival Beth. Walters later berates his creation for letting feminine instinct undo his great scientific achievement. Meanwhile, there's lots of authentic lion-and-tiger-taming sequences, with the legendary Clyde Beatty doubling for Stone via footage recycled from 1932's THE BIG CAGE. It's fast-paced fun from Universal's 1940s horror heyday and was successful enough to spawn two sequels: JUNGLE WOMAN and JUNGLE CAPTIVE. The director, Edward Dmytryk, would later go on to direct such films as THE CAINE MUTINY and THE YOUNG LIONS. [More]