The Alligator People

Amazon.com

When Jane's husband disembarks from a passenger train immediately after their wedding and disappears without a trace, troubling questions are raised. How could his face, mangled beyond recognition in a plane crash during the war, have healed without any scarring? And what unspeakable acts took place on the alligator-ridden bayou plantation he left as an address? Wonderfully haunted, The Alligator People explores the mystery with skillful pacing, generally decent dialogue, and only intermittently laughable special effects. Miscegenation, anxiety over radiation and atomic science, homoeroticism, distrust of doctors and medicine, fear of the American South--all the major cultural obsessions of the late '50s are either tacitly or explicitly represented here; perhaps that's why the far-fetched scientific premise that underlies the plot makes a weird resonance despite its utter implausibility. The ubiquitous Lon Chaney is on hand, and his performance as a drunken swamp rat with a penchant for violence is a hoot; but the real star of the show is Beverly Garland, whose inspired lead, alternately detached and histrionic, decidedly puts to rest the myth of the inelasticity of early sci-fi and horror performers. A winner. --Miles Bethany

Description

A young wife (Beverly Garland) is abandoned by her husband on their wedding day. Distraught, she traces him to his ancestral home in the bayous of Louisiana, where, amid the swamps and deadly undergrowth, she discovers a terrible secret. Her husband was saved from death by an experimental medical procedure involving serum derived from alligators and now he's developing horrifying side-effects. She'll face any danger to help him, but soon discovers her love may not be enough.

Customer Reviews:

Bayou Terror.......2007-05-07

This is a decent Horror Movie. Lon Chaney plays a pretty good role as a Gator Hater. The setting in the Bayous make it interesting as well. The ending is pretty good and i would recommend it..because of LON CHANEYS apperance in the movie. Overall not a bad movie for late on Saturday night.

not the cheapest i've seen.......2006-04-18

I saw The Alligator People the other night on AMC. I've always liked these 1950's b and lower level horror/sci-fi movies. I've found that a lot of them have an interesting premise/story line if you ignore the cheap special effects, monster costumes, poor acting, etc. I liked The Killer Shrews, Attack of the Slime People (believe it or not), but the 2 cheapest worst bbbb movies I have ever seen are HOrrors of Spider Island and It's Alive. The HOrrors of Spider Island was reviewed/ridiculed on Mystery Science Theatre several years ago ( if you can get the tape/dvd of it do so, my husband called the movie Whores of Spider Island),and the other one, It's Alive, is not the one made in the 1970's/1980's, it was made in the 1960's or very early 70's, I saw it on tv a long time ago and taped it, but have never seen it again and can't find it offered anywhere(if anyone has any info on it please post it somewhere on amazon). It's officially the worst movie ever made to me. If you saw it or Spider Island and then compare these to The Alligator People it would be like comparing the first Jaws to Jaws 3 or Jaws the Revenge(and I'm being kind). In fact, I don't believe they could have spent over maybe $200 on either one of them. But I love them, it's like saying a kid is so ugly he's cute, or the old saying about a wreck on the highway "you can't look at it, but you can't look away". I thought Beverly Garland was very good, wasn't she the mother in My Three Sons or some other family type tv show in the 60's but with blond hair? Lon Chaney Jr. was fun to watch, he seemed to be having a good time doing the movie, kind of like Boris Karloff in The Body Snatchers, both did what good actors can do for a mediocre movie, make it much better than it would have been with lesser caliber actors. But I had to laugh out loud when I saw the alligator head and rubber suit on the reptilian groom (is an alligator considered a reptile? I think it said so in the movie but I'm kind of ignorant about reptiles and their kin).Anyway, all in all a fun movie to watch when you can't get to sleep late at night.

It Came From the Swamp !.......2004-11-19

"The Alligator People" is a typical, 50s, low-budget horror film that provides some fun for fans of the genre ( fans like me ! ). It would be an understatement to say that special effects and make-up have made a quantum leap in movies since 1959, the year that this film was released theatrically. Today, many viewers will find the title creatures more amusing than horrific.

At the same time, "The Alligator People" does benefit from a couple of good performances and a wonderfully creepy atmosphere. Beverly Garland stars as a young nurse who marries a handsome pilot, only to have him disappear on their honeymoon.
Her search for the missing groom eventaully leads her to a forbidding old mansion in the middle of a Louisiana swamp. The local residents are far from welcoming, not to mention various alligators and snakes that infest the area. She does indeed find her errant husband, very much a "changed" man thanks to the efforts of a mad scientist. The whole saga is told in flashbacks, as Ms. Garland relates her amazing story, under hypnosis, to her psychiatrist.

Beverly Garland is terrific in the lead, an attractive actress who deserved better projects than Grade B horror flicks. I must admit though that she has one quality that is compulsory for this type of movie--she sure knows how to scream ! Richard Crane is the unfortunate husband, spending much of the film looking like he has the rash from hell ! Veteran heavy George Macready is the "mad doctor", although his performance lacks the maniacal spark that would have added to the fun. Horror film icon, Lon Chaney, is "worth the price of admission" with his super, over-the-top role as a demented, alcoholic swamp denizen, who "hates dem gators"--it seems that one of them chomped his hand off! His scenes with Ms. Garland are classic--his intentions for her totally dishonourable. For Chaney fans, this title is a "must".

The movie has plenty of atmosphere, whether the scene takes place in the swamp with "dem gators", snakes and deadly quicksand, or the spooky old mansion where medical experiments are backfiring in the worst possible way.

"The Alligator People" was a black and white, Cinemascope production, and the DVD captures all of its widescreen "glory". Except for the occasional line, I found the picture quality to be excellent--the sound what you would expect. Several trailers for this film, and other Fox thrillers are included.

Yes "The Alligator People" has "quickie, exploitation flick" stamped all over it, and the title monster is undeniably goofy. However, for fans of old horror/sci fi movies, there is more than enough here to keep you entertained. Besides--look at the title--were you really expecting "Citizen Kane" ? !

some movies just have to be seen...lol.......2004-10-07

The Alligator People is more of a mild hoot, than a horror film. One of the grade C-flicks, not good enough to be a B-Drive In film! Still, it's a delight to people who love old B&W horror films. This film must be loaded with more phobias and prejudices per square inch than any other horror film of the period, yet instead of insulting people (too much, lol) it all gels into one great time.

Two doctors are talking at the start of the film, and one is telling he has just heard a story under hypnosis that he can scarcely credit. Jane (Beverly Garland), his receptionist, recounts the tale, which the doctor plays for his colleague. Jane had married a man from the Southern US, and while on their honeymoon, they were sitting on a train. He receives a frantic telegram, gets off at the station to place a telephone call, only to have the train pull off with his waiting Bride. The Bride gets off at the next stop and tries to find her groom, but he has vanished.

After years of searching, she finally tracks down the ancestral home of his family. His domineering mother does not welcome Jane, but Jane won't go away without answers to her questions. At times, as Jane prowls the bayous the movie is quite hauntingly lensed. However, dialog is stilted, frustrating, rushed, the acting is OTT or so understated it borders on laconic, and the special effects, well, as I said are grade C. Toss in the great Lon Chaney as a drunken lecherous redneck swamp-rat, a perfect bizarre touch to one strange film that seems to succeed in spite of itself!

Great fun for a cold rainy autumn night.

"I'll kill you Alligator Man!".......2004-09-24

Based on a true story (okay, it's not), The Alligator People (1959), often confused with the film The Crocodile People (okay, there's no such film), relates a completely fantastic tale (well, maybe not fantastic, but pretty darn good) of what happens when a scientist tries to utilize the regenerative properties inherent within the genetic make-up of reptiles on humans, with unexpected results (the title of this film should give you a hint).

The Alligator People was directed by Roy Del Ruth, a man who's forte was tense crime dramas for Warner Brothers in the 30's, then lavish musicals for MGM after that, and was also responsible for what many consider to be the worst biography made yet in The Babe Ruth Story (1948), yeah, the one with William Bendix, but I digress...the film stars the very attractive and highly prolific Beverly Garland (remember her role in the definitive 1979 film Roller Boogie) as Joyce Webster, a recently married woman whose husband Paul, played by Richard `Rocky Jones, Space Ranger' Crane, ran off during their honeymoon, after receiving a mysterious telegram (boy, talk about your cold feet, although you're suppose to run off BEFORE you get hitched, fool)...anyway, not one to take a fairly obvious hint, Joyce begins a long and fruitless search for her beloved, one that finally leads her to some lovely swampland somewhere in the south, Louisiana, I believe. It's here where she discovers Paul is holed up on a plantation of sorts, participating in some weird and wacky experiments conducted by scientist Dr. Eric Lorimer (played by Bruce Bennett, who's appeared in some 120 plus features throughout the 30's well into the 60's, but I recall him from the films The Cosmic Man and Fiend of Dope Island). On the `mad scientist' scale, Dr. Lorimer rates pretty low as he's not really mad or suffers from a god complex, but his experimentation, while appearing successful early on, has recently begun to exhibit serious scaly side effects (say that three times fast) on his human test subjects, and now he's remorseful and working to fix the problem. Lessons learned, I suppose...finally we have Lon Chaney Jr., appearing as Manon, a caretaker/handyman (of sorts) who works on the plantation, but spends most all of his time either drinking his homemade hooch and/or tormenting gators. I suspect his hatred of alligators has something to do with the hook for a hand (ahh, a classic case of CHS, short for Captain Hook Syndrome), and I was right...at least he's still got that one good hand for shooting his gun at gators, and that hook comes in handy for those pesky itches and handling sides of beef...what awful secrets does Joyce uncover about her husband, his murky past, and the inhuman experiments being performed deep in the alligator and snake infested swampy morass they call home? Whatever they maybe be, you'll never get them from me...but you can probably figure it out for yourself, unless you've been into Manon's bathtub booze...yick...

I thought The Alligator People was really good, in terms of a B movie. The title pretty much gives the plot away, in my opinion, as the story offers little in the way of shocks or surprises. Beverly Garland was quite good, basically supporting the entire film on her shoulders, and I got a kick out of seeing her running through some fairly nasty and dangerous swampy pools with live alligators. She's got more guts than I...she's also very easy on the eyes, which certainly helps. Richard Crane did okay, but I thought his gravelly croc/man voice was pretty funny (along with his varying degrees of make-up and costumes). As far as the character of Dr. Lorimer, I prefer my B movie scientists to be a bit more mad...he sure talked the talk, spewing technical mumbo jumbo at a pretty constant rate, "The oscillating jiggy-ma-bob produces an equivalent of one billion kilovolts of energy!" He did drive a rather cool swamp buggy, and managed to get his hands on a good amount of radioactive material (maybe the stuff wasn't that closely regulated back then), so I give him a bit of credit. Lon Cheney Jr's character of Manon was a lot of fun to watch, but doesn't have a lot of screen time. What he did have, he made the most of, playing the dirty, drunken, lecherous, gator hating, inbred, cayenne pepper snortin', backwoods Cajun hillbilly to the hilt. One thing was for sure, he sure hated them gators...as I've said, the plot is pretty predictable (and silly), offering few, if any surprises, but it does move along fairly well (the film runs approximately 74 minutes), and stays on track. The direction of the film was professionally done, handled by someone who knows his business, but lacked a hard to define quality I look for in good science fiction (I know, I know, the film is billed as a horror flick, but I felt it leaned more towards sci-fi). The special effects were pretty low budget, especially the rubbery alligator suit donned by Clark (as mentioned by another reviewer). I really wasn't expecting much in this area, and that's exactly what I got...all in all, a well-done cheapie film that's fun as long as you don't look at it too hard. I will say, even though the plot was middling at best, I did find interesting the part at the very beginning, and at the very end, as the middle is presented in flashback form, providing a nice little twist.

The wide screen transfer provided on this DVD is exceptionally good-looking, and nearly flawless. Added to that is two separate audio tracks, one mono and one stereo. Special features include an original theatrical trailer, and trailers for other Fox releases, including The Fly, (1958), The Fly (1986), The Omen (1976), and Phantom Of The Paradise (1974). Also, the cover artwork is really cool...look at it...go ahead...you know you want to...

Cookieman108

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