Jungle Woman
Brief Synopsis
Cast & Crew
Reginald Leborg
Evelyn Ankers
J. Carroll Naish
Samuel S. Hinds
Lois Collier
Milburn Stone
Film Details
Technical Specs
Synopsis
At a coroner's inquest, Dr. Carl Fletcher is questioned about the mysterious death of Paula Dupree. The physician confesses to her murder, but is initially reluctant to explain the circumstances of Paula's death. Carl finally tells of going to the circus the night lion tamer Fred Mason was saved from death by an ape named Cheela, who was then mistakenly shot by a policeman. Though the ape is thought to be dead, Carl takes the animal back to his laboratory and nurses it back to health. Later, Fred visits Carl and tells him that natives back in Africa thought Cheela was a human being who had been transformed into an ape. Fred also tells Carl about Dr. Sigmund Walters' interest in Cheela, and how after Cheela's disappearance, Walters brought Paula to the circus, where she became Fred's assistant. Fred and his wife Beth then take the stand, and their testimony also suggests that Cheela and Paula were one in the same. Carl returns to the stand, and talks about buying Walters' sanitarium, where, on the night that Cheela escaped, Carl's dimwitted assistant Willie finds the beautiful, but mute, Paula roaming the grounds. Diagnosed by Carl as suffering from shock, Paula begins to speak when she sees Bob Whitney, the boyfriend of Carl's daughter Joan. Paula becomes insanely jealous when Bob and Joan announce their engagement, and when the couple later go canoeing on a nearby lake, the apewoman tips over their boat and attempts to drown Joan. The next morning, Willie is discovered missing and he is assumed to be the one who overturned the canoe. Later, Paula goes to Bob and accuses Carl of mistreating her, only to have Joan walk in on them and think the worst. Paula then attacks Carl, and when the physician defends himself, Bob enters the room and comes to believe Paula's accusations. Later, Carl has Paula's fingerprints compared to those found on the broken lock near some dead animals on the grounds of the sanitarium, and they are an exact match except for their size. Meanwhile, Bob has Paula examined by another physician, who states that the disturbed woman should be returned to Carl's care. Willie's crushed body is then discovered by the lake, and Carl comes to realize that Cheela and Paula are one in the same. Returning to the sanitarium, Bob tells Paula that he is still in love with Joan, but before the apewoman can kill Joan, Carl arrives on the scene. The two struggle, but Carl manages to give Paula a tranquilizer. In his haste, however, the physician injects a fatal overdose of the sedative. At the end of Carl's testimony, the coroner orders the court to examine Paula's body, and they are shocked to discover that the dead woman's body has transformed into that of an apewoman. Carl is then cleared of all charges, and leaves the morgue arm and arm with Bob and Joan.
Director
Reginald Leborg
Cast
Evelyn Ankers
J. Carroll Naish
Samuel S. Hinds
Lois Collier
Milburn Stone
Douglass Dumbrille
Richard Davis
Nana Bryant
Pierre Watkin
Christian Rub
Alec Craig
Edward M. Hyans Jr.
Richard Powers
Acquanetta
John Carradine
Charles Marsh
Edward Clark
Diane Carroll
Nolan Leary
Heinie Conklin
Beatrice Roberts
Wilson Benge
Kernan Cripps
Crew
Bernard B. Brown
Will Cowan
Edward Dein
Russell A. Gausman
John B. Goodman
Abraham Grossman
Emory Horger
Jack Mackenzie
Jess Moulin
Ben Pivar
E. R. Robinson
Paul Sawtell
Bernard Schubert
Melville Shyer
Ray Snyder
Henry Sucher
Henry Sucher
Vera West
Film Details
Technical Specs
Quotes
Trivia
Notes
The working title of this film was Jungle Queen. The opening credits include the following written statement: "We hereby make grateful acknowledgment to Mr. Clyde Beatty for his cooperation and inimitable talent in staging the thrilling animal sequences in this picture." The film ends with the written statement: "The evil that man has wrought shall in the end destroy itself." Jungle Woman includes footage from the 1933 Universal film The Big Cage, which starred Clyde Beatty and Anita Page and was directed by Kurt Neumann (see AFI Catalog of Feature Films, 1931-40; F3.0312). Modern sources add the following names to the crew credits: Makeup Jack Pierce; Camera Operator Dick Towers; Special Effects Red Guthrie; and Props Dan Fish. Modern sources also state that the film had a working title of Jungle Girl and that actress/singer Julie London was originally cast in a small part, but was edited from the released film. Jungle Woman was the second film in Universal's "Cheena, the Ape Woman" series. For additional information on the series, please consult the Series Index and see the entry above for Captive Wild Woman.
Miscellaneous Notes
Released in United States July 7, 1944
Released in United States on Video September 1, 1998
Released in United States Summer July 1944
Second in a series of three films. The first is entitled "Captive Wild Woman" and the third "Jungle Captive."
Released in United States Summer July 1944
Released in United States July 7, 1944
Released in United States on Video September 1, 1998
