Jungle Woman (1944) – Review

In this second of the Cheela, the Ape Woman series, Universal Pictures decided that rather than trying to recapture the success of The Wolf Man they would, instead, attempt to mimic the success of Val Lewton’s Cat People, unfortunately, this sequel fails on almost every level and being a rip-off of a much better film was the least of its problems.

The events of Reginald LeBorg’s Jungle Woman are told in a flashback format that follows the second death of Paula Dupree (Acquanetta), who had been shot by the police while in gorilla form in the previous film, and it is here where we find Dr. Carl Fletcher (J. Carrol Naish) on trial for her murder – we see a shadow-play of Fletcher struggling and killing poor Paula in the movie’s opening scene – to which several people are brought in to testify on his behalf including Fred Mason (Milburn Stone) and Beth Mason (Evelyn Ankers), who were the ostensible leads of the previous film.  It is during these courtroom proceedings that we are told how Paula ended up coming to the home of Dr. Fletcher and why things spun out of control.

“I swear to God that all of this is complete rubbish.”

When Dr. Fletcher testifies we learn that he witnessed the climatic events of Captive Wild Woman and being intrigued by Cheela the Gorilla’s heroic act in saving Mason he requests that the beast’s body kept for examination, only to discover that the gorilla wasn’t quite dead and he is able to revive the animal. Fascinated by the creature, he purchases Crestview Sanitarium with the hope of recovering some of Dr. Walters’s notes – what could go wrong with investigating the notes of a mad scientist? – but as a surprise to no one, or at least no one familiar with horror movies, Cheela reverts to her human form of Paula and is found wandering the grounds by Willie (Eddie Hyans), a simple-minded patient at Crestview, whose horny attraction to her will lead to his doom.

“I’m gonna take her home and hug her and kiss her and squeeze her with all my heart.”

While Willy is off channelling Lon Chaney Jr from Of Mice and Men we get the introduction of our two love birds, Dr. Fletcher’s daughter Joan (Lois Collier) and her fiancé Bob Whitney (Richard Davis), but the interesting dynamic here is that the once mute Paula can now speaks and it seems she has set her amorous sites on Bob.  This leads to some lame stalking scenes with Collier and Acquanetta that was clearly meant to “ape” similar scenes found in Val Lewton’s Cat People, unfortunately, Acquanetta is no Simone Simon and Reginald LeBorg is definitely no Jacques Tourneur.  Thus these scenes come across as pale imitations, which is exactly what they were. Of course, even if this film had decent direction and brilliant cinematography the screen chemistry between this love triangle was absolutely nonexistent and without that, you’re simply left with a big steaming pile of nothing.

“Why don’t we just paddle our way off this picture?”

The film attempted to build upon the enigmatic character of Paula Dupree yet failed to address her connection with wild animals that she had in the previous film because in this outing we learn that she kills the groundskeepers’ dog and some chickens – it should be noted that no reason is given as to why she did these things – and the overall narrative lacks depth and fails to provide any substantial development or insight into her backstory.  The plot feels convoluted and poorly constructed and leaves us confused and uninvested in the unfolding events. When the film comes to its “startling” conclusion we the viewer are left with no emotional ties to the characters or the events as neither the script nor the director managed to make anything all that compelling, and are left with a lame on-screen text in what I assume was an attempt to explain the movie’s theme.

How to solve poor writing in one easy step.

Stray Observation:

• This entry could be considered an ouroboros of filmmaking as not only does it contain flashback footage from Captive Wild Woman but that material also contains shots “borrowed” from the film The Big Cage.
• In court, Fred Mason testified that while on an expedition into the Belgian Congo, where he captured Cheela, he’d heard stories of a doctor who could turn human beings into animals, which makes Cheela end up in the hands of a similar scientist one helluva coincidence.
• Paula becomes instantly attracted to Bob Whitney but in the previous film she was insanely jealous of Fred Mason, which implies that gorillas or at least ape women are incredibly fickle.
• Despite the fact that Paula’s accusations against Dr. Fletcher are false that Bob would ignore her wishes to escape supposed abuse at her doctor’s hands makes him a complete dick.
• Of the three Cheela, the Ape Woman movies this is the only one in which Paula Dupree speaks, which seems a bit sexist when you consider the fact that Lon Chaney Jr. as The Wolf Man practically never shut up about his curse over the course of five films.

“I should have gotten an old gypsy woman for an agent.”

Despite Acquanetta’s exotic beauty her portrayal of Paula Dupree fails to ignite any interest or sympathy in her character as her character lacks any sense of depth and remains a one-dimensional figure throughout the film, unfortunately, her poorly developed character is the least of the film’s problems as rest of the cast is even worse. J. Carrol Naish as Dr. Fletcher is dull, ineffective and patronizingly terrible, while Richard Davis as the film’s supposed hero is someone that I’d rather see crushed by a gorilla than walk off into the sunset with the girl. Not that he wins much as Lois Collier’s damsel in distress is even less compelling of a character, if Paula Dupree is one-dimensional then Joan Fletcher is zero-dimensional. Basically,with this terrible cast of characters, a short running time and the weak script we have a film that fails to build on its somewhat interesting premise, a woman with the strength and mindset of a jungle animal, this is all compounded by the lack of chemistry between any of the characters, further exacerbating the film’s lack of emotional connection.

“What if we transplanted her brain into a different gorilla?”

Of course, one of the greatest crimes committed by this film is its lack of actual “Jungle Woman” as the film also fails to provide the audience with any “ape woman action” whatsoever, at most we get several scenes with characters explaining what happened off-screen.  Also missing is the excellent Jack Pierce make-up transformations from the previous film, instead, we simply have Acquanetta glowering menacingly at people as if they stole her lunch money. Needless to say, this resulted in a film that was an insult to the original and represents a forgettable entry in the classic monster movie genre, offering nothing new or innovative.  This sequel acks the charm and intrigue that made its predecessor enjoyable, making it a disappointing continuation of the story.

Sadly, this is the only shot of the ape-woman we get.

In conclusion, Jungle Woman is a rather forgettable film that failed to deliver on its promise of adventure and mystery. Its uninspired performances and a predictable storyline, which struggles to hold its weak plot together, will disappoint fans of  the original film and likely be disappointed fans of the genre in general. This makes it a entry from Universal Pictures that is nothing more than another forgettable chapter in the vast jungle of mediocre cinema.