It shows a lack of confidence by the writers to introduce a character such as this and not give her a line of dialog, and not even indicate that the character is mute. The exotically named Acquanetta is the titled character, a lady ape transfered into a lady human, and the Clyde Beatty like Milburn Stone is the object of her affections. Unfortunately for her (or Evelyn Ankers as Stone's fiancée), he doesn't feel the same way about her, and the actress whose name sounds like a hairspray goes ballistic. You can't blame it on her, though; It's the animal in her, as Ethel Merman would sing. Put the blame on where it belongs, and that is of course (as it is in most Universal horror movies) a mad scientist, in this case, the oh, so dramatic John Carradine.
It isn't just mankind rebelling against the laws of nature which is disturbing, but the ridiculousness of the big cat trainers, made totally evident here. But even though this shows a realistic part of circus life, that isn't the issue of why this film is so bad. It is obvious that the script was rushed together to capitalize on the success of "The Wolf Man". The transformation of the titled character from gorilla to human to half human/half gorilla is done with weak special effects, and the dialog is absolutely absurd. The one real scary moment comes when Acquanetta makes her attempt on scream queen Ankers. The actors are sincere, but even they must have been put off by the "here we go again" syndrome. Certainly watchable if you like "Mystery Science Theater" type cinema without the wisecracks, but you'll probably come up with a few of your own.
It isn't just mankind rebelling against the laws of nature which is disturbing, but the ridiculousness of the big cat trainers, made totally evident here. But even though this shows a realistic part of circus life, that isn't the issue of why this film is so bad. It is obvious that the script was rushed together to capitalize on the success of "The Wolf Man". The transformation of the titled character from gorilla to human to half human/half gorilla is done with weak special effects, and the dialog is absolutely absurd. The one real scary moment comes when Acquanetta makes her attempt on scream queen Ankers. The actors are sincere, but even they must have been put off by the "here we go again" syndrome. Certainly watchable if you like "Mystery Science Theater" type cinema without the wisecracks, but you'll probably come up with a few of your own.