Jungle Woman

I think I enjoyed Captive Wild Woman (1943) more than most, but I have to admit that this sequel is an inexcusably bad film -- extremely cheap, poorly written, and lacking the schlocky B-movie charm of its predecessor. The first fifteen minutes or so is a lazy recap of the end of the first film, as a coroner's court questions several people about the events leading up to the death a young woman called Paula (Acquanetta), the enquiries starting with Dr. Fletcher (J. Carrol Naish), who is accused of her murder. Fletcher tells how he received the body of the gorilla Cheela for research purposes (the animal shot by a guard at the end of Captive Wild Woman). Not quite dead, the ape was restored to life by Fletcher, but it escaped. The doctor then explains how he found the woman Paula and, over time, began to suspect that she might be Cheela in human form, and quite possibly very dangerous. All of this is told in flashback, up to the point where Fletcher injected Paula with a sedative, accidentally giving her an overdose. The film then returns to the court, where a re-examination of Paula's body proves that she was indeed an ape and Fletcher is allowed to go free. Jungle Woman is sorely lacking in most departments, but just two things would have made it far more entertaining: an evil mad scientist and an actual apewoman. Fletcher is not just sane but also very kindly, a long way from the ranting, demented loony played with gusto by John Carradine in the first movie. And we never actually see Paula in ape form (unless you count her body on the slab at the very end of the film) -- Acquanetta in hairy monkey make-up would have really added to the fun but would have most likely blown the film's budget. Amazingly, despite this one being so awful, the character of Paula would return for one more film, The Jungle Captive (Acquanetta replaced by Vicky Lane). I haven't seen that one yet, but it surely can't be any worse than Jungle Woman.

Acquanetta returns to play Paula Dupree(the Ape Woman) in this sequel, which sees her restored to life(after having been shot by a policeman before) by kindly scientist Dr. Carl Fletcher(J. Carrol Naish) who keeps her at his sanitarium in order to study and educate her, but is alarmed when she not only learns to speak, but again shows romantic interest in the male lead, who is engaged to his daughter, so of course that must be stopped... Equally absurd sequel is of course utterly unnecessary, though does work in a wacky way as a post-script to the first, the picture(directed by Reginald Le Borg) is overly talky and static, done with no style or atmosphere, though once again Acquanetta does have an undeniable allure about her, she is given nothing to work with. Also wastes top-billed Evelyn Ankers and Millburn Stone, who briefly return here at the inquest.

Jungle Woman picks up shortly after the events in Captive Wild Woman. After the gorilla Cheela is shot, Dr Carl Fletcher (J Carrol Naish) takes the body and discovers a faint heartbeat. He's able to revive the animal. The gorilla escapes at about the same time that a strange woman named Paula (Acquanetta) is discovered wander Dr Fletcher's sanatorium grounds (coincidence?). Paula develops strong feelings for Dr Fletcher's daughter's fiancé. So strong, in fact, that she sets out to do harm to the Dr's daughter, Joan. Joan is in real danger. Paula may be more than she appears. I haven't seen Captive Wild Woman in at least 10 years so I don't remember much about it. I do, however, remember being disappointed. I felt the same way about Jungle Woman. It's just not very good and is often quite dull. There are way too many long stretches of the film where nothing much happens. I actually found myself getting bored. The film feels longer than its brief 61 minute runtime. On the positive side, the movie looks fantastic. Even in their cheaper productions, Universal movies always look remarkable. The cinematography is on par with what you'll find in the best of the Universal horror films. Had Jungle Woman been made by a studio like PRC, it wouldn't have looked half as good. Another positive is the acting. I was especially impressed with Naish. He's always proved to be a very capable actor. I don't, however, understand how Evelyn Ankers got top billing for Jungle Woman. I swear she was on screen for less than 10 minutes. Finally, another positive when compared with Captive Wild Woman is fewer lion taming scenes. Lion taming in Jungle Woman takes up about 5 minutes – compared with what seemed like half the movie in Captive Wild Woman.

***SPOILERS*** Second of the Paula the "Jungle or Ape Women" trio has Paula ,Acquanetta, fall in love with wild animal trainer the handsome Fred Mason,Milburn Stone, who's life she saved when the lions and tigers he was handling under the big top turned on him almost mauling Fred to death. That's when Paula was in her other incarnation as Cheela the friendly lady gorilla sprung to his rescue. After Cheela's death Dr. Carl Fletcher, J. Carroll Nash,who witness this amazing event had the lady ape's body brought back to life in human form christening her Paula Dupree. As we all saw at the beginning of the flick Dr. Fletcher killed in self defense Paula when she attacked him trying to prevent him form putting her to sleep with a strong animal sedative. Now on trial for murder Dr. Fletcher is to tell the court the reason for his actions that in fact had to do with a love triangle between Paula the ape woman and her former trainer Mason as well as his wife Beth, Evelyn Anker, that a love sick Pula had it in for and tried to murder. There's also Paula secret lover the mentally challenged sanitarium orderly Willie,Eddie Hyans, who tried to make it with her by giving her extra ham and cheese sandwiches, that he stole from the commissary, who ended up getting his neck broken by Paula's super human gorilla strength. ***SPOILERS*** Second of the three "Paula the Lady Gorilla or Ape Woman" movies that has Paula killed in the end where she's discovered after death to be an ape not human being! Thus exonerating the guilt ridden Dr. Fletcher of murdering her or it. But in it also being just too good of a thing-A sexy lady ape-to let go. Paula was to be reincarnated and return for a third time at bat in 1945's "Jungle Captive" with Vicky Lane not the exotic and sexy looking Acquanetta in the leading role.

"Jungle Woman" is an unnecessary sequel to the superior "Captive Wild Woman" but it's not a bad film in its own right. J. Carrol Naish - a fine character actor - is one of the leading characters as a scientist who attempts to steady the ape woman, Paula. The flashback part of the film is confusing and should have been removed from the screenplay. Evelyn Ankers is given top billing but is only involved in the beginning and end of the film and her screen time is very limited. There is a fair bit of incident but it beggars belief how a further "Ape Woman" film was commissioned.

No need to waste time on this sequel mess. Apparently, Universal needed to meet product demand for wartime audiences. So they took a hunk of 1943's Captive Wild Woman and cobbled together some surrounding footage to make something of a story. The result comes across like Val Lewton on a really bad day. The supposedly scary scenes are done in Lewtonesque shadow, but come across as more clumsily cost-cutting than artful. Too bad so many distinguished players (Hinds, Dumbrille, Naish) are wasted in what must have been an embarrassment. I just hope Ankers & Carradine got compensated for the reuse of their earlier footage. But I doubt it given studio dominance of the period. No need to go on. Suffice that this is about the nadir of human-into-animals that were so popular at the time. As Lewton knew, horror needs more than shadow; it needs concept, dread, and mood, elements in short supply here.

Acquanetta pretty much just stands around, looking like a zombie, recites a few lines then stares back into space again. This follow-up to "Captive Wild Woman" has her as a transformed ape who falls in love with hero Milburne Stone, hating his fiancée Evelyn Ankers, aka "the scream queen" and obviously out to kill her. Shadowy photography is more interesting than Acquanetta's lack of a performance, added onto with a mentally retarded man who appears to be imitating Lon Chaney Jr's brilliant performance in "Of Mice and Men". There really aren't any chills because it all seems so phony, told in flashback and poorly written. Even attempts to give it a psychological background comes up empty. This is one that ranks among the worst of the dogs of cinema and nothing other than two robots and an unseen man making wisecracks while it is playing could make this any more watchable.

Jungle Woman is the follow up Captive Wild Woman.Acquanetta returns as Paula the Ape Girl. This time scientist De Carl Fletcher played by J Carroll Nash has revived her as Cheela the Gorilla at his sanatorium but she morphs back into Paula without any surgical assistance.The doctor has a lovely daughter Joan >Lois Collier< who is his secretary. She is engaged to a nice looking young fellow Bob Whitney >Richard David<. When Paula meets the young man she finds her voice. She also sees the doctors daughter as a romantic rival who must be eliminated.Paula finding her voice is when this film is really torpedoed. Acquanetta made it through the first film because all that was required of her was to flash a threatening glare and occasionally show anger. Delivering dialog was definitely not her strong suit.The fact the the script is laughably bad certainly doesn't help. SPOILER: The film is show in flashback as Dr Fletcher is on trial for murder. Much of the action is from Captive Wild Woman. At first Fletcher will not reveal why he injected Paula with a drug to kill he. However, his supporters which include Fred Mason >Milburn Stone< and Beth Mason >Evelyn Ankers along with his daughter Joan and Bob reveal to the court Paula's to animistic nature. The prosecutor >Douglass Dumbrille< is dubious but when the judge >Samuel S Hinds< orders a re examination Paula's body the court finds that Paula has reverted to her half ape/half girl state. Dr Fletcher is vindicated and goes free. One of the worst of Universals WWII horror flicks, Jungle Woman is only to be watched as part of the Paula the Ape Girl series.

1944's "Jungle Woman" was the first of two sequels to "Captive Wild Woman," to be quickly followed by a second, "The Jungle Captive," which ended the trilogy (producer Ben Pivar went on to do The Creeper series with Rondo Hatton). Unlike the other two, this title was never included in the SON OF SHOCK television package, receiving relatively little airplay over the years (Pittsburgh's Chiller Theater showed it only once, following 1952's "Mesa of Lost Women" on Sept 24 1977). Acquanetta may be back, but saddled with dialogue this time, gives a lackluster performance not helped by her risible lines (nowhere near as good as Kathleen Burke's Panther Woman from "Island of Lost Souls"). The entire film consists of wall to wall talk, awkwardly structured as a courtroom drama featuring a pointless love triangle and a couple murders. The opening 20 minutes (out of 60) are just a recap of "Captive Wild Woman," made up of footage shot for three different films; by the time the story proper begins, we're saddled with a simpleton character (Edward M. Hyans Jr.) who doesn't get bumped off soon enough (expediency appears to have been the studio's only motivation). The few attack scenes take place off screen, and Paula Dupree's fate is depicted in shadows. J. Carrol Naish, between Oscar-nominated roles in 1943's "Sahara" and 1945's "A Medal for Benny," is clearly marking time, following a similar turn in PRC's "The Monster Maker" ("House of Frankenstein" was just around the corner). "The Jungle Captive" could only have been better, even without Acquanetta, whose career quickly petered out after leaving Universal (following "Dead Man's Eyes").

Sequel to Captive Wild Woman that is often cited among fans as one of the worst, if not THE worst, of Universal's classic horror films. I can't find much good to say about this to argue against that opinion. Frankly, this stinks. I wasn't much of a fan of Captive Wild Woman in the first place so I am a little perplexed as to why it needed a sequel, let alone two (there's another film following this one!). Once they decided to make a sequel, one would hope they would try to improve on the first movie in some way. Instead we get this thing, told through flashback, that utilizes way too many clips of the first movie. If you have to pad the runtime of a movie that's barely an hour, maybe you just shouldn't make that movie. Evelyn Ankers, Milburn Stone, and Acquanetta all return from Captive Wild Woman. It helps that this movie has the great J. Carrol Naish in it, as well as solid actors like Douglas Dumbrille and Samuel Hinds. Eddie Hyans plays a simple-minded lab assistant named Willie who provides some unintended laughs for his "Which way did he go, George" method of acting. But this is a snoozer for anyone who's seen Captive Wild Woman or anyone who comes into this expecting some kind of cheesy "beast-woman" fun. The lack of any attempt at making this a real monster movie and the constant clips test your patience. It's a very cheap and ho-hum movie that I wouldn't recommend to anyone but those looking to see every film in Universal's classic horror catalog, regardless of quality.