Das Geheimnis des Dr. Mirakel (1932)

Das Geheimnis des Dr. Mirakel: Directed by Robert Florey. With Sidney Fox, Bela Lugosi, Leon Ames, Bert Roach. A mad scientist seeks to mingle human blood with that of an ape, and resorts to kidnapping women for his experiments.

“Much creepier than any mad scientist and his monkey movie has a right to be. Much of the credit must go to cinematographer Karl Freund (The Last Laugh, Metropolis) who gives the movie the feel of a German horror film. Charles D. Hallu0026#39;s distorted sets also help make this often resemble a sound remake of u0026quot;The Cabinet Of Dr. Caligari.u0026quot; The script has a very European flavor as well with lines that sometimes sound as if they were translated from another language. The ape is more convincing than all those later films because of quick cutting between an actual apeu0026#39;s snarling face and a man in a suit, the latter shown not enough to destroy the illusion. At one point stop motion is used to show the ape carrying a woman across the top of buildings a year before u0026quot;King Kong!u0026quot; There are three failings, however. Near the end is a long attempt at humor concerning French bureaucracy that hurts the build-up of tension. The other two failings come from the lab. They lay over one sequence a fog effect with the fog blowing at hurricane strength despite no apparent wind anywhere else in the shot. And at the end is a very obvious matte shot with lots of squiggly lines around the characters.”