User Reviews

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!

Taking a look at a box set that a very kind fellow IMDber has given me,I spotted a movie which sounded like a fun "creature feature",which led to me getting ready to seeing the monsters being made.

The plot:

Attending a performance by composer Anthony Lawrence, Dr. Igor Markoff notices a woman in the audience who looks just like his dead wife. Spotting Markoff's glances,the woman turns away from Markoff's view.Meeting Anthony backstage,Markoff discovers that the mysterious woman is Anthony's daughter Patricia.Since his wife's suicide,Markoff has been working on formula's which give and cure people of illnesses.Setting his sights on Patricia,Markoff decides to compose a special score for her dad.

View on the film:

Despite having a creature feature-style title,the film actually turns out to be a mad scientist flick,which includes the genres man in a gorilla suit trademark.Whilst the movie does not break away from the genre,the screenplay by Larry Williams/Pierre Gendron & Martin Mooney keep the 62 minutes speeding by,thanks to the writers allowing Markoff to take his time in getting a tight grip on the Lawrence's.Covered in stylish Film Noir lighting from director Sam Newfield, J. Carrol Naish gives a terrific performance as Markoff,with Naish keeping Markoff away from being a simple boo-hiss villain,by showing him to have (some ) determination in actually finding a cure,as Markoff starts to turn Anthony into a monster.

Having just seen Boris Karloff in "The Ape", I was somewhat taken aback to see another "man in a gorilla suit" sharing office space with the protagonist of "The Monster Maker". Though not credited, I wouldn't be surprised to learn if it was Ray "Crash" Corrigan in the get up, up to his old monkey shines once again. In the movie, J. Carrol Naish portrays mad scientist (is there any other kind in these 1940 era poverty row productions?) Dr. Igor Markoff, suddenly smitten with the appearance of Patricia Lawrence, daughter of famed concert pianist Anthony Lawrence (Ralph Morgan). You see, she's a dead ringer for the mad doctor's own deceased wife, who we learn committed suicide when she was reduced to the ugliness of acromegaly, a disfiguring disease which is glandular in origin. Markoff had injected her with a serum when a romantic rival tried to steal her away years ago so he could have her all to himself. Obviously, Markoff believed in the adage - beauty's only skin deep.

Markoff's plan to win Patricia involves injecting Lawrence with the acromegaly virus, with promise of a cure if the pianist can convince Patricia (Wanda McKay) to marry him. The makeup job on Lawrence was surprisingly well done, without being too outlandish. Holding out as long as he can, Lawrence finally seeks Markoff's help, but rather than committing to assist him in his scheme, he becomes Markoff's prisoner, with Markoff pulling more strings to entice Patricia to his lair.

As usual, good triumphs over evil, as Lawrence breaks his bonds and wrestles a handgun away from Markoff, shooting him in the tussle. Markoff's able assistant Maxine (Tala Birell), offers hope for a full recovery, as she is familiar with the doctor's work, and knows just where the X-54 serum antidote can be found - very convenient. The film ends as it opened, with Lawrence performing in concert to an appreciative audience that includes Patricia, her fiancé Bob, and Maxine, none the worse for wear for having endured his debilitating condition.

Final mention must be made of Markoff's brutish lab assistant, played by veteran "B" heavy Glenn Strange, usually to be found in hastily turned out Westerns of the era. However in his career, he managed to portray the iconic Frankenstein on three occasions ("House of Frankenstein", "House of Dracula" and "Abbott and Costello Meet Frankenstein"). The twist in this film is the name he was given, for once the mad doctor was called Igor, and the assistant was "Steve"!

Ruthless and suavely sinister mad scientist Dr. Igor Markoff (splendidly played to the deliciously slimy hilt by J. Carroll Naish) develops an unhealthy fixation on the lovely Patricia Lawrence (a charming portrayal by the fetching Wanda McKay), who rebuffs Markoff's advances. After Patricia's accomplished famous pianist father Anthony (an excellent performance by Ralph Morgan) tells Markoff to get lost or else he will inform the authorities, Markoff injects Anthony with foul germs which cause him to come down with a rare dreadful disfiguring disease called acromegaly, which of course Markoff is one of the key reigning medical experts on. Director Sam Newfield, working from a harsh and wickedly inspired script by Pierre Gendron and Martin Mooney, relates the compellingly warped story at a steady pace and milks the sharp sense of cruelty and sadism found in the narrative to maximum skin-crawling effect (the scene which reveals poor Anthony in all his grotesquely misshapen splendor is genuinely startling). Moreover, there's a surprisingly mean-spirited sensibility at work in the truly sick and disturbing premise which gives this film an extra upsetting edge. The supremely hideous make-up on Anthony is quite convincing. As an added plus, Glenn Strange has a neat minor role as hulking orderly Steve and veteran simian thespian Ray Corrigan pops up in one of his patented wild and dangerous gorilla parts. Naish and Morgan both excel in their juicy lead roles; they receive sturdy support from Terry Frost as Patricia's gentlemanly suitor Bob Blake and Tala Birell as Markoff's reluctant nurse assistant Maxine. Robert E. Kline's crisp black and white cinematography makes nifty use of fades and dissolves. Albert Glasser supplies a suitably energetic melodramatic score. A worthwhile, if decidedly unpleasant little shocker.

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.

The story starts OK, we meet the crazy mad doctor and his assistant, and the young woman the doctor is infatuated with, her famous piano playing father (the monster), and her boyfriend. All decent actors. I especially liked some of the crazy acting by the doctor's assistant. The problem here is the story and the dialogue. It's just boring and seriously implausible. The doctor is annoying the young woman by sending her flowers, because she resembles his late wife. Her father goes to the doctor to put an end to it. The doctor knocks out the father and injects him with a serum that turns him into the elephant man. Now the doctor is blackmailing the father, by exchanging a cure for the disease for his daughters hand in marriage. Side not, also, I believe the doctor tells his assistant that he killed his wife because she was having an affair with someone else. And also, the doctor is not a doctor, he actually killed the real doctor and took his place. But he's still doing research on some rare disease that he's the only one that can cure. There's also a man in a gorilla suite. And a gorilla in a man's suite (the doctor's butler).

This thing is a freaking mess. There's a scene where the fake doctor explains to his assistant that he killed his wife, and killed the real doctor and took his place. The assistant freaks out and tells him she's going to the police. He tells her to shut up and get back to work. She calms down and goes back to work. Later when she goes to bed, the fake doctor lets out the gorilla from the cage to attack the assistant. We see the gorilla open the assistant's door, she screams. Let's not forget the dog. The lab dog comes to the rescue of the assistant. Next scene the assistant is in the lab with the doctor like nothing happened. This is some full on garbage. I don't care what time period this was made in.

OK, the butler gets knocked out while trying to kill or tie down the assistant. The elephant guy is wrestling with the doctor who is holding a gun. The gun goes off. The doctor is dead. The assistant unelephants the piano player. Next scene the piano player is playing a concert, the young woman and her boyfriend, and the assistant are happily watching the show. The Freaking End.

I give this movie a D, or 3 stars. Mainly for the acting and the music. The story is garbage. The dialogue goes along with the story, crap. This could have been a decent little film. The film makers had no idea what they were doing. They had a story and ran with it. Nobody said, wait maybe we can find another story or find some other angles.

I recommend instead to watch Bela Lugosi's best film "White Zombie", or "Messiah of Evil", "Footprints on the Moon", "Last Man on Earth". Better to watch these films a hundred times than watch The Monster Maker. The only way to watch the Monster Maker and enjoy it is if you approach it as a comedy where the filmmakers are involved in the joke. Thank you, good night.