THE MONSTER , THE GIRL, AND PHILLIP VAN ZANDT by Dave Goode

 




When I created the Phantom Gorilla with Vance Capley a major inspiration for the character was the 1941 Paramount B-Movie THE MONSTER AND THE GIRL. Produced by Jack Mass and directed by Stuart Heisler THE MONSTER AND THE GIRL was a 65 minute time killer that I liked as a kid. But as an adult...well it seems like it's a lot longer than 65 minutes. It drags in a lot of spots.

The screenplay by Stuart Anthony plays like a grind house exploitation flick. When Susan Webber played by Ellen Drew is tricked into a life of prostitution her brother played by Phillip Terry comes to the big city to rescue her. The small town church organist is instead framed for murder, tried, and executed. This is where the flick gets interesting. Dr. Perry played by the never to be forgotten George Zucco transplants the young man's brain in the body of a gorilla (ape- suit actor Charles Gemora). From there he wrecks vengeance on the men who ruined his sister and caused his death. If this wasn't a superhero origin story I don't know what is.

Any movie automatically becomes better with the inclusion of an ape-suit. You can also say the same about any movie that features actor Phillip Van Zandt. Before I knew his name I knew his face. Van Zandt appeared in over 200 movies including CITIZEN KANE (1941). But I first knew him for his roles on THE ADVENTURES OF SUPERMAN. And in 3 Stooges shorts. It was Vance Capley who decided to make the mad scientist in the Phantom Gorilla origin story look like Van Zandt after we discussed the 3 Stooges short SPOOKS (1953).

Produced and directed by Jules White the screenplay for this short that ran just under 16 minutes , was by Felix Adler. The story has Moe, Larry, and Shemp as private detectives hired to rescue the kidnapped Mary Bopper (Norma Randall) from mad scientist Dr. Jeckyl (Phillip Van Zandt) and his assistant Mr. Hyde (Tom Kennedy). Another plus for this one was ape-suit actor Steve Calvert as Dr. Jekyll's pet gorilla. A mad scientist, a damsel in distress and a gorilla. My kind of movie. Now if only the Stooges were playing masked wrestlers.

CHRIS CASTEEL IN HIS GORILLA SUIT...THANK CHRIS!

Thank you again, Chris

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The Olympian and The Burlesque Queen by Dave Goode

I'm a huge fan of low-budget jungle adventure movies.The kind with potted plant jungle sets and tons of decades old stock footage.I think I developed this particular flick fetish in my pre-teen years watching the syndicated Ramar of the Jungle and Jungle Jim television shows.

I also loved PRC jungle programmers. The ones starring Buster Crabbe were special favorites.As I've said before Crabbe in safari togs and a pith helmet was a dead ringer for Doc Savage. My favorite of these was Nabonga.Where you not only have Crabbe fighting a crocodile and delivering the line "Those crocodiles can sure give you a work-out." But you also get the ape-suited Ray Corrigan. Plus a teenage Julie London. 

But another Crabbe jungle flick I've come to enjoy is Jungle Siren. Directed by Sam Newfield and written by George Wallace Sayre and Milton Ralson this flick stars legendary burlesque queen Ann Coriro in the title role playing Kuhlaya a Sheena-type who helps Crabbe fight Nazis in the wilds of Africa. Buster plays Captain Gary Hart and Paul Bryar is his comic relief sidekick Sgt. Mike Jenkins.

Bryar has the flick's funniest line. He wakes up one morning and starts flexing his muscles while commenting "Another 10 days of this and I'll have a physique like Buster Crabbe."

And I suppose this was the purpose of casting the former Olympic swimming champion opposite Coriro the ecdysiast.The PRC producers probably thought putting two such perfect physical specimens in the the same movie as romantic leads would be good box office.