Friday, November 2, 2018

DR. CYCLOPS 1940 (UNIVERSAL)

Paramount released this in 1940, but Universal now owns it.

This beautiful color film is included in the DVD set entitled "Sci-Fi Ultimate Collection Vol. 2." It was good to see this get a release as the only time I ever had a chance to see this when I was a kid was on the Ken Films 200 foot reel.

Albert Dekker stars as Dr. Thorkel, a mad scientist who summons three scientists to his jungle lair to get their opinion on his discovery of a ray that shrinks people.

They arrives as well as a guide and another in their party. Thorkel uses his device on the 5 and they soon find themselves fighting for survival as little people in a giant world. The scientists, Bill Stockton (Thomas Coley), Mary Robinson (Janice Logan) and Dr. Bulfinch (Charles Halton) along with guide Steve Baker (Victor Killian) and Pedro (Frank Yaconelli) must work together to escape the madman and his South American jungle hell.

The special effects are top notch for the time and are very convincing. One of the most remembered scenes involves Thorkel picking up Bulfinch in his hand and then killing him with a cotton ball to his face. Thorkel has found that his little people are slowly growing back to normal size, and that he cannot have.

Dekker is great as usual and this is kind of an off the wall performance for him. The color print is beautiful and Universal did a great job with it's release. The 5 movie set I mentioned earlier has been available since 2007 and if you don't have it, you should.

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