"The Monster Maker" is all about a mad scientist who is obsessed with the daughter of a famous pianist. Markoff is a jealous man with a painful past, and his obsession with pretty, young Pat pushes his already questionable morals past the breaking point. When Mr. Lawrence, Pat’s father, attempts to put a stop to Markoff’s unwelcome advances the evil doctor injects the pianist with a disease-causing agent.

 

Lawrence’s features become distorted, and the pressure on his brain impairs his mental capacity. Markoff will cure Lawrence only if Pat will agree to marry him. Hmmm, now there's a courting tactic I haven't tried....

 

This is another story that had a lot of promise. In some ways it delivers, but in others it fails to live up to what it might have been. The characters, while simple and possibly even stereotypical, are well-established, clear, and strong. Lawrence is the smart, brave, loving father. Pat is the desirable young woman. Markoff is the evil mastermind. We also get the typical protective boyfriend and the lovely but spurned mad scientist assistant.

 

The acting is largely pretty good. The big draw is probably J. Carroll Naish as the mad scientist. Ralph Morgan as the disfigured father is particularly good. He sells the role and manages to be a little frightening as a monster while reminding the viewer that underneath all that he is still human. The daughter, Pat, and the assistant are also good.

 

One disappointment is Glenn Strange. I thought him not bad in "The Mad Monster," but in this one he just seems bored the whole time.

 

The make-up effects are less campy than what's typical for a black-and-white flick. Lawrence comes across as gruesomely disfigured, and it actually works well. The same cannot be said for the ape. This looks like the same ape suit used in the Boris Karloff movie "The Ape." It looks really bad here, and the actions (like reaching slowly through the cage bars to try to strangle someone) don’t seem very ape-like at all. It puts a new spin on the idea of monkey business. Where does an ape fit in with this story? It doesn't.

 

For the most part, other than the monkey moments at least, I think the scenes are all well staged. I buy Lawrence as a master pianist and I enjoy the scenes of him playing. The music is good and the camera angles give a little excitement to what is really nothing more than a recital. Lawrence’s frustration as he finds himself less nimble on the keyboard is engaging, and his struggles as he’s strapped down in bed are well done.

 

Unfortunately, there are more negatives. The exposition is very poorly done. Markoff has a full history, a whole to-do about his wife. Yet hearing the story is like reading a script rather than watching a movie. Yes, it may be a good idea, but that doesn’t mean it works without the proper presentation. Considering how well so many of these other scenes were done, the dramatization of Markoff’s past rather than the telling of it might have taken this movie to the next level. Instead we get time spent on crappy monkey scenes. Really the only other negative I can give is that there are some moments where the narrative drags. This is usually due to the weak exposition we have to sit through.