A movie that not only functions as a solid scarefest but a razor-sharp satire.

It’s not bad or unwatchable but despite the amplitude of the spectacle, the end result is underwhelming.

It is neither dumb nor smart enough to be fun, and spends way too much time with its boring human characters.

Actress is magnificent and exudes a hypnotic screen presence in this affecting drama.

The Jungle Captive is the third (and thankfully final) installment in Universal's Ape Woman trilogy. In most trilogies, the third movie is usually the worst. I actually found The Jungle Captive to be the most entertaining of the bunch (although that's not saying much). In this one, a scientist named Stendahl (Otto Kruger) uses his hired muscle, Moloch (Rondo Hatton), to steal the Ape Woman's body from the morgue (she was killed at the end of part 2). He has been working with reanimating the dead bodies of small animals and wants to take his experiments to the next level with a larger subject. Unfortunately, during the heist of the body, Moloch killed a morgue worker – meaning the police are investigating. The police seem to suspect Stendahl's lab assistants, but they're completely innocent and unaware of Stendahl's new experiments. That all changes, though, once Stendahl kidnaps his female assistant, Ann. He needs her blood to help resurrect the Ape Woman. If you've seen the other two films in the series, you won't be surprised by much of what happens in The Jungle Captive. But there is more action in this one and the flow (for lack of a better word) of the movie is better. Kruger makes a great mad scientist – the best in series. The look on his face when he reveals his plan is fantastic. It's also nice to see Rondo Hatton in a speaking role. In the end, Rondo gets to play the hero. Finally, the movie focuses less on Paula the Ape Woman which turns out to be a positive. In the previous movies, she too often just stood and stared at nothing. Here, she's almost an afterthought to Stendahl and his crazy plans for Ann.Those are the positives. How about the negatives? Well, it's easy to see that Universal slashed the budget big time on The Jungle Captive. This one barely looks better than a Poverty Row programmer. In fact, most of the cast seems straight off the PRC lot – not the usual standard for Universal. Also, as I indicated, it's all horribly predictable. You know what's going to happen to the Ape Woman and that somehow Ann will be saved. In the end, I sort of felt sorry for Paula. As with the other two movies, this one ends with her being killed.

***S{POILERS*** Ape woman Paula Dupree, Vicky Lane, is back for the third time in "Jungle Captive" this time as a dead body that mad scientist Mr. Stendahl, Otto Kruger, plans to bring back to life. That with the help of blood and brain matter of his unsuspecting assistant Ann Forester, Amelita Ward, who foolishly worships the very ground that the "Great Man' walks on. It's with the help of his brutish like accomplish Moloch, Rondo Hatton, Stendahl plans to use Ann without her knowledge for his insane experiment but Moloch who took a shine to her is dead set against it. Strange Beauty and the Beast like movie with Moloch changing sides in mid stream and becoming the knight in shining armor in preventing the crazed Stendahl from doing his thing in resurrecting the dead ape woman Paula Dupree at Ann's expense.There's also Ann's boyfriend Don Young, Phil Brown,who soon finds out what Stendahl is really up to and tries to get the police in the person of Insp. H.L Harrigan, Jerome Cowan, to stop him who's attempts comes up short in his by the book approach to the case. As for "Ape Woman" Paula Depree she's brought back to life as a normal human being but totally confused-and unable to talk- in what's going on around her. This leads to her checking out in the woods with Moloch running or driving all over town trying to retrieve her.Predictable ending with Mr. Stendahl getting everything that he has coming to him with the hulking but sensitive Moloch saving the day as well as Anna's life at the expense of his own.With both Ann and Don Young, who can't afford to buy her an engagements ring, getting married by being stopped by a traffic cop who presented them with a $5.00 free of charge wedding certificate from city hall. Break out movie for Rondo Hatton who finally was given a chance to act as well as a few decent lines in the movie but his fame didn't last that long. Hatton suffered a fatal heart attack while taking a shower in his bathroom and died less then a year, in March 1946, after the films release.

Third and last entry in the series, deemed the worst (rated BOMB in the "Leonard Maltin Film Guide") but actually slightly superior to its predecessor due, for one thing, to its having a proper plot line (rather than a rehashed one) and the fact that the mad scientist (even if he is stubbornly referred to as "Mr." Stendhal throughout!) this time around is just that. Indeed, here too, the mainstay (apart, that is, from the standard 'house style' for this type of fare) is Otto Kruger's central performance (the Ape Woman herself, now played by Vicki Lane instead of Acquanetta and reverting once more to being a mute, is certainly not the protagonist in this case!).Kruger is involved in the revivification of small animals but is keen to progress on to larger ones – with his ultimate goal, of course, being Man himself; since the title creature (a convenient and somewhat lazy amalgam of the earlier 'episodes' in the franchise) is a hybrid, he knows he will be almost there if he manages to resuscitate her. The problem is that, once she has assumed human form yet again (having made imposing henchman Rondo Hatton steal the necessary files from the home of the doctor played by J. Carroll Naish in JUNGLE WOMAN {1944}, the process having actually been laid down by John Carradine in CAPTIVE WILD WOMAN {1943} – neither of these actors, however, put in 'unofficial' appearance and, thankfully, we are also spared the circus stock footage that made-up a sizable amount of the earlier films' running-time), it is discovered that she has suffered brain damage and he plans to replace it with that of his own female aide. Why the doctor, certainly among the coldest of his ilk, does not simply abduct another girl, when he would invariably have benefited from the heroine's presence by his side rather than as a laboratory subject, is anybody's guess…but, then, the latter is vehemently against her superior's intention to play God so, in this way, he would be removing the threat to his Great Experiment, were it not for the fact that, through Hatton's sloppiness, the Police – in the guise of a bemused Jerome Cowan – are already on his trail, and so is the girl's fiancé, yet another assistant! The busy finale has hero and heroine taking advantage of the Ape Woman's disappearance to escape Kruger and Hatton's clutches, only for the three to be recaptured after a short while in one fell swoop. Needless to say, however, the villain is not allowed to go through with the operation as Hatton, enamored of the leading lady (which Kruger puts down by referring to his "hardly Casanova" looks, the actor having been stricken with the deforming affliction acromegaly, and to add salt to the wound suggests that the Jungle Captive is "more in your line"!), turns on Stendhal at the instigation of the girl's boyfriend. The doctor shoots his thug dead, Lane metamorphoses into monster and cuts free of her straps and, just as she is about to incongruously attack her 'donor', Cowan appears on the premises to intervene. For the record, director Young, who had the classic swashbuckler THE SCARLET PIMPERNEL (1934), an Alexander Korda production, on his resume' was now reduced, for whatever reason, to helming the lowliest of Universal Horrors – though, to be fair, he sure made an entertaining job of it!

This little seen Universal horror movie from 1945 brings back fun memories for me as I remember watching this with my sister Tammy and my cousin Shalaine on the local Friday night creature feature on TV. Even as a teenager I can remember thinking that this movie was more funny than actually scary.The basic plot revolves around Mr. Stendall, a mad scientist who is trying to revive the dead ape woman, Paula Dupree, from the previous two Universal movies Captive Wild Woman and Jungle Woman. Rondo Hatton plays the menacing servant of Stendall, Moloch, who kills several people in order to help Stendall achieve his goal of bringing the ape woman back to life. Armelita Ward portrays Mr. Stendall's pretty assistant, whom he kidnaps in a bid to use her blood to make the ape woman into a real woman. Vicki Lane is Paula, the ape woman, when she is actually a woman (are you following all this?). Lane is pretty, but has no lines and basically just wanders around looking like a zombie. The scenes when she is actually an ape woman are hilarious, she is grunting and snorting...it's a hoot.This movie is a lot of fun for people who enjoy the old Universal monster movies. Although this is definitely not frightening, it's fun to watch on a rainy Saturday night.