The Monster Maker

This is one of those films that's entertaining for its sheer audacity. It also has an unusually interesting cast for a small-studio B-picture. J. Carroll Naish (as the evil Dr. Markoff) and Ralph Morgan (as victim Anthony Lawrence) were veteran character actors who were always worth watching, and Glenn Strange (as Steve, Markoff's giant-size henchman) would be promoted that same year to playing the Frankenstein Monster in the first of three films for Universal.

This professional cast tries to lend believability to several ludicrous situations. At one point Markoff attempts to put his nervous female assistant under a Svengali-like hypnotic influence; when this fails, Markoff turns loose his pet gorilla (!) in the hope that the beast will kill the beauty, though all it does is overturn a table.

Some critics have found this film particularly distasteful since it deals with acromegaly, an actual disfiguring disease (see the bio for actor Rondo Hatton elsewhere on this data base). And the sight of the malformed Mr. Lawrence (when his daughter suddenly enters a darkened room) is certainly an unforgettable jolt.

The evil Dr. Markoff (J. Carrol Naish), is a scientist experimenting with a cure for the rare disfiguring disease acromegaly (which cult actor Rondo Hatton, "The Brute Man" suffered from in real life). At a concert by pianist Anthony Lawrence (Ralph Morgan) he sees a beautiful girl who reminds him of his late wife. Backstage he discovers that she is Lawrence's daughter Patricia (Wanda McKay). He sets out to woo her, but after she spurns his advances he deliberately infects her father with acromegaly with the plan of forcing him to "give" his daughter to him in return for a cure. I really enjoyed this nasty b-grade thriller. It was obviously made on a tiny budget, the script is pretty dumb and the acting is variable, but I got a kick out of how twisted the central premise was, and Naish was extremely entertaining as Markoff. McKay's cute, future Frankenstein's monster Glenn Strange is one of the supporting cast, AND there's a guy in a gorilla suit, always a sign of a silly but fun movie in my book. 'The Monster Maker' is recommended to fans of old school "bad" b-grade horror movies.

This is a fairly good entertaining film concerning a conceited mad scientist named Dr. Igor Markoff.

Dr. Igor falls for a woman named Patricia who resembles his dead wife. Patricia rejects the doctor's advances and enlists her father (Anthony) to help stop the doctor from coming on so strong to her. Dr. Igor insists that Patricia marries him and will stop at nothing for her to become his new bride. Surprisingly, the doctor is actually well respected in the medical community and hides his wicked ways well from others. Dr. Igor hides the fact he will inject his enemies with Acromegaly to get what he wants.

The movie is fun, a bit corny and has some fairly good horror moments in it. This is a good afternoon film - it's not the really good creepy horror film that is good for a late night viewing but it's fun to watch.

5/10

Considering the pedigree and title, the flick's not all that bad. In fact, it's well-mounted for it's type. There's good attention to set detail though lighting doesn't emphasize the dark mood. Seems poor Dr. Markoff is trying to find a cure for acromegaly which causes head and hand deformities that killed his beloved wife. Trouble is he needs a patient to research on. So he infects concert pianist Lawrence with the disease so he can both experiment with him and get next to the pianist's attractive daughter Patricia who strongly resembles his dead wife. Needless to say, complications ensue.

Except for the hokey gorilla sequences, the storyline manages to be fairly plausible for its kind. After all, Markoff is driven by understandable desires even though he victimizes Lawrence in the process. Naish is quite good as Markoff, along with Birell as his unrequited but loyal nurse Maxine. Together, they, rather than the good guys, establish the story's emotional center. Anyway, it's a better-than-average horror programmer from lowly PRC.

PRC poverty row horror The Monster Maker stars J. Carrol Naish as boo-hiss mad scientist Dr. Igor Markoff, an expert in glandular disorders. When Markoff sees Patricia (Wanda McKay), beautiful daughter of concert pianist Lawrence (Ralph Morgan), at a recital, he is struck by her resemblance to his dead wife and becomes obsessed, vowing to marry her. Lawrence goes to see Markoff to warn him not to continue pestering his daughter, but winds up in a scuffle and being injected with a serum that causes acromegaly, a disease that results in enlargement of the extremities. Markoff tells Lawrence that he can cure his condition, but only if he persuades Patricia to be - how shall we put it? - more co-operative.

I've only seen two of director Sam Newfield's 200+ films before this one-The Flying Serpent and White Pongo-and they were both terrible. The Monster Maker is surprisingly watchable by comparison, a fun potboiler with solid performances from a decent cast, some nifty 'monster' make-up, and a snappy runtime of just 62 minutes, meaning that it's too short for boredom to set in. There's not a lot in the way of genuine horror, since Lawrence-the monster-is sympathetic and kind-natured, but there is plenty to enjoy here, including a killer gorilla of the man-in-a-monkey-suit variety, an appearance by Glenn 'Frankenstein's monster' Strange as Markoff's henchman Steve, and a brave hound played by none other than Ace the Wonder Dog!