JohnHowardReid Copyright 15 May 1934 by Monogram Pictures Corp. A Paul Malvern Production. No recorded New York opening. U.S. release: 30 March 1934. 62 minutes. NOTES: Only film appearance of bandleader and radio personality, Ed Lowry. COMMENT: Here's an odd one. This version follows the stage play fairly closely, despite a quarter-hour of opening out with a Prologue in a Poverty Row India and a scene in a lawyer's office. The name of the play, however, has been changed. On the other hand, when Monogram re-made the property under its original title, The Ape, in 1940, the story was altered beyond recognition. Both versions were directed in a fairly humdrum style by William Nigh. Despite this lack of creativity, the original play retains a moderate amount of interest here, thanks largely to a few thrills in the plot and a lot of fairly amusing comedy relief. The players also rise to the occasion, particularly Harry Bradley as a wonderfully dotty professor of Egyptology and Mary Foy as his sharp-tongued harridan of a wife. I also enjoyed the gloriously exotic Joyzelle Joyner, who has at least two wonderful scenes and two superb changes of costume. Ed Lowry does okay by the brash insurance salesman hero, though way outclassed by lovely Verna Hillie's attractive feminine lead. Alas, Clay Clement overdoes the villain and Brandon Hurst disappoints as the chief priest. Irving Bacon's flamboyantly dumb detective also fails to distinguish himself, as does "Gabby" Hayes as a surprisingly dull gambler. As for the ape, this creature is no clone of Kong, but an obvious stunt man in a moldy gorilla suit.

Chase_Witherspoon An archaeologist (Clement) offends the Hindu spirit of Khali whilst on the Sub-Continent, then returns to England with his ill-gotten gains peddling a ruse that the fortune he's amassed is tainted by debilitating visions of apes crushing his windpipe, in an attempt to put off suspicion and the investors in his expedition who've come to collect their dues.Comedy-thriller is nothing more than a haunted house romp, with Clement starring as the charlatan John Prendergast (aka Pren), fond of the liquor and the ladies, particularly his nubile house nurse Hillie which upsets his faithful Indian servant-woman Joy. Irving Bacon is quite amusing as the detective without a clue, while Sheehan does a pretty good Groucho Marx impersonation as Scotland Yard incognito.Mild slapstick and witty dialogue couple with some innovative camera angles and dolly tracking, unusual for 1934 cinematography leave an impression, but otherwise, there's little to entertain even at barely 62 minutes brief.

MartinHafer During the 1930s, there were quite a few spooky old house and murder mystery films--so the bizarre plot of this turkey isn't all that bizarre for the time. However, I call it a turkey because the film is so badly made on so many levels--you can't help but laugh at the ineptitude of the film makers and actors.The film begins in Asia. A really stupid white guy not only invades the sacred Temple of the Ape, but he killed one of the creatures there as well. When he's confronted by the priest, the idiot basically says he could care less about it. No wonder this jerk soon finds himself cursed! Oddly, throughout this entire scene you see gorillas--yes, African gorillas around the place. And, during the course of the film, they appear again. No, not real gorillas but the lame 1930s guy in a gorilla costume variety of gorillas.I was surprised but the folks in the temple did not kill the idiot and he soon returned home. Apparently, though, he appeared to believe in the 'curse of Kali (oddly, pronounced 'Kay-lie'--though a teeny bit of research would have shown them that this was the wrong pronunciation). Now if you believe you are cursed and those around you are cursed, what would you expect him to do? Yep, invite a whole bunch of folks to his house and see them one after the other brutally murdered. And, if you are one of the folks invited, you'd naturally stick around and just wait to be murdered--at least in the stupid bizarro world!! In addition to this awful plot (though it does have a bit of a nice twist near the end), you have very, very bad acting and direction. A few of the 'actors' had trouble delivering their lines and two of the characters were beyond poorly written. The insurance guy was a one-note obnoxious jerk and the sickly lady just sounded like she could have used a good rap in the mouth--both were incredibly annoying and seemed less real than having Huckleberry Hound play their parts. The only character I liked at all, and she WAY overplayed the role, was the grouchy old lady with the henpecked husband--at least she was entertaining. But otherwise, the best actor might just have been the guy in the gorilla suit--it was THAT bad!By the way, I was really torn by this film. Part of me wanted to give it a well-deserved score of 2. But, the film did have one nice twist and although bad, there are much worse films out there, so I'll be generous and score it 3. Too bad I can't give it a 2.5!

wes-connors "The mansion of a retired adventurer is the scene of some mysterious happenings, all apparently caused by the 'Curse of Kali'. The authorities and the adventurer's relatives all end up caught in the middle of these bizarre events, with plenty of suspicious characters to choose from. It's going to take some clever detective work to uncover the truth and bring those responsible to justice," according to the DVD sleeve's synopsis. The film begins in 1913 Asia, where the Hindu curse begins. Twenty years later, this connects with a group of investors gathering at a spooky old mansion, to collect their share of the Hindi's treasure. Supposedly, the Hindu curse resurfaces, claiming the lives of greedy treasure-seekers. The curse manifests itself as a stuffed gorilla (first seen in 1913 Asia) seems to come alive, and kill people. "Pocahontas" is somehow involved. Honest Injun. *** House of Mystery (3/30/34) William Nigh ~ Clay Clement, Ed Lowry, Verna Hillie