Basically, Boris Karloff is the only good thing about this movie, and I wouldn't be at all surprised if the makers of this film were aware of that. He truly does give a good performance, and adds a good amount of depth to an otherwise rather stereotypical character. But imagine if it had been played by anyone else: a doctor is trying to cure polio, when he is attacked by an escaped circus ape. He kills the circus ape, skins it and makes a perfect costume out of it, and then makes a remarkably unsuccessful attempt to go on a killing spree looking for spinal fluid. It's not a great concept, and no one but Karloff could have added any plausibility to it. And even with him, there are still problems. Lines like "Man... the greatest of animals" are pretty hokey and some of the throwaway scenes that don't relate to the plot (like that random guy and woman whom you never see again looking at the circus) are pretty annoying. I will also note that although there is no such thing as a convincing gorilla suit, that one is scraping the bottom of the barrel.
Review of The Ape
