''The Monster Maker'' is a 1944

science-fiction Science fiction (sometimes shortened to Sci-Fi or SF) is a genre of speculative fiction which typically deals with imaginative and futuristic concepts such as advanced science and technology, space exploration, time travel, parallel univers ...

horror film Horror is a film genre that seeks to elicit fear or disgust in its audience for entertainment purposes. Horror films often explore dark subject matter and may deal with transgressive topics or themes. Broad elements include monsters, apoca ...

starring

J. Carrol Naish Joseph Patrick Carrol Naish (January 21, 1896 – January 24, 1973) was an American actor. He appeared in over 200 credits during the Golden Age of Hollywood. Naish received two Oscar nominations for his supporting roles in the films '' Sahara ...

and

Ralph Morgan Raphael Kuhner Wuppermann (July 6, 1883 – June 11, 1956), known professionally as Ralph Morgan, was a Hollywood stage and film character actor, and the older brother of Frank Morgan. Early life Morgan was born in New York City, the eig ...

. Albert Glasser supplied the film score, his first, an assignment for which he was paid US$250.

Plot

Dr. Markoff (J. Carrol Naish) has concocted a formula that spreads

acromegaly Acromegaly is a disorder that results from excess growth hormone (GH) after the growth plates have closed. The initial symptom is typically enlargement of the hands and feet. There may also be an enlargement of the forehead, jaw, and nose. Other ...

, a hideous disease that extends bones and distorts facial features. Markoff has no moral dilemma in experimenting on unsuspecting human subjects. His amoral behavior assumes monstrous dimensions when famed concert pianist Lawrence (Ralph Morgan) is injected with the doctor's disease-inducing serum. In return for an antidote, Markoff intends to exact more than his pound of flesh by extorting a fortune from Lawrence and demanding the hand of the musician's pretty daughter Patricia (Wanda McKay).

Cast

as Dr. Igor Markoff *

as Anthony Lawrence *

Tala Birell Tala may refer to: Arts and entertainment *Tala (comics), a fictional character in DC comics *''Tala'', a 1938 volume of poetry by Gabriela Mistral *Tala (music), a rhythmic pattern in Indian classical music * "Tala" (song), by Sarah Geronimo, ...

as Maxine *

Wanda McKay Wanda McKay (born Dorothy Quackenbush; June 22, 1915 – April 11, 1996) was an American actress and model. Early years McKay was born as Dorothy Quackenbush in Portland, Oregon,McKay's obituary in the Los Angeles Times says that she was " ...

as Patricia Lawrence *

Terry Frost Sir Terence Ernest Manitou Frost RA (13 October 1915 – 1 September 2003) was a British abstract artist, who worked in Newlyn, Cornwall. Frost was renowned for his use of the Cornish light, colour and shape to start a new art movement in ...

as Bob Blake *

Glenn Strange George Glenn Strange (August 16, 1899 – September 20, 1973) was an American actor who mostly appeared in Western films and was billed as Glenn Strange. He is best remembered for playing Frankenstein's monster in three Universal films d ...

as Giant / Steve * Alexander Pollard as Butler / Stack *

Sam Flint Sam Flint (born Samuel A. Ethridge; October 19, 1882 – October 17, 1980) was an American actor. Flint appeared in more than 230 films, often as a "judge, lawyer, military officer, senator, sheriff, chief of police, or doctor." Flint was ...

as Dr. Adams *

Ace the Wonder Dog An ace is a playing card, die or domino with a single pip. In the standard French deck, an ace has a single suit symbol (a heart, diamond, spade, or club) located in the middle of the card, sometimes large and decorated, especially in the ca ...

as Ace

Production and reception

Lowly

PRC China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. It is the world's List of countries and dependencies by population, most populous country, with a Population of China, population exceeding 1.4 billion, slig ...

hadn't released a horror picture in nearly 17 months, having spent most of 1943 substantially expanding their capabilities by purchasing the bankrupt Chadwick Studio (a poverty row operation that specialized in renting stages and production equipment to low-budget producers along Gower) for $305,000. While critics, what few that would review a PRC release, complained about the film's lack of action, production values were noted to be somewhat higher than earlier releases. The working title of this film was The Devil's Apprentice.The Monster Maker TCM Notes The film holds an extremely low 3% on

Rotten Tomatoes Rotten Tomatoes is an American review-aggregation website for film and television. The company was launched in August 1998 by three undergraduate students at the University of California, Berkeley: Senh Duong, Patrick Y. Lee, and Stephen Wang ...

and a 4.7/10 on the

Internet Movie Database IMDb (an abbreviation of Internet Movie Database) is an online database of information related to films, television series, home videos, video games, and streaming content online – including cast, production crew and personal biographies, ...

References

External links

* * * 1944 horror films 1944 films American science fiction horror films American black-and-white films Mad scientist films American monster movies Producers Releasing Corporation films 1940s science fiction horror films Fictional companies Films scored by Albert Glasser 1940s English-language films Films directed by Sam Newfield 1940s American films {{sf-horror-film-stub

Plot

Cast

Production and reception

See also

References

External links