The She-Creature (1956)

Expected more

Better than most people think

A Surprisingly Unforgettable Movie!

While it is a pity that the story wasn't told with more visual finesse, this is trivial compared to our real-world problems. It takes a good movie to put that into perspective.

In the 1940s, Chester Morris and Tom Conway were reasonably successful and respected actors. Both made B series films (Boston Blackie and The Falcoh respectively) as well as A and B films...quite a few of them. But by the mid-1950s, both these actors were having problem finding roles on TV or films...and they were sadly reduced to acting in a schlocky film like this. Fortunately for Morris, he still had a few good projects in him (such as "The Great White Hope") but Conway would soon become a pathetic guy without work, a home as well as broken health. A sad end for a very good actor.In this film, Chester Morris plays Dr. Lombardi--a stage hypnotist with amazing powers. He is able to exert amazing power over people and claims to even be able to use age regression to bring out a physical manifestation...in essence, a monster. As for Conway, he plays Timothy Chappel, a guy who wants to exploit Lombardi's reputation in order to strike it rich. Little does he know that Lombardi's Svengali-like powers are real...and he's a very dangerous man. Apart from looking at how beautiful Lombardi's muse (Marla English) is, there isn't a lot of positive things to say about this cheap film. The monster, in particular, is pretty comical looking...and instead of instilling fear in the audiences watching the movie, it likely just elicited laughter. Plus, nothing about this film even seems scary...just kind of silly.

One of the worst monster movies of the 1950s, THE SHE-CREATURE is about a sinister hypnotist (Chester Morris) who somehow is able to awaken a sea creature from the distant past to do his bidding. The monster fortunately is not fully seen until the last few minutes of the movie, and it turns out to be just a man in a rubber suit. That rubber suit with some modifications turned up in a second monster movie of the period, but I have mercifully forgotten which one. Veteran actor Morris, best known for playing Boston Blackie, is joined in this tomfoolery by fellow Hollywood veteran Tom Conway (George Sanders' brother and best known for playing The Falcon). Conway shows up as a sleazy fellow looking to cash in on the hypnotist's deal. One of the worst acted and silliest monster movies ever made. Most of the movie is spent listening to Morris jabber on and on. And on. Ugh.

The best performances come early on-- that's when the two stiffed-up dead people fall to the floor. From then on, the acting goes steadily downhill. Actually, my nomination for "This movie's so bad, I'm not even going to try" award goes to Chester Morris, formerly known as Boston Blackie, with Ron Randell's "where am I" cop a close second. Morris wins because he gives his lines all the emotional inflection of a dial tone, and when he cuddles up to cutie Marla English for one of their many painful clinches, she looks like she wants to bang down the receiver. Too bad that making fun of a stinkeroo like She-Creature is like kicking a dead carcass. Because unlike one of those it's-so-bad-that-it's-good campy features, this one never had any life to begin with. Good camp needs an element of conviction— at least someone in production who believes the film is worth his/her effort. There's none of that belief here, probably because the cast of movie veterans knows they're on the downgrade and can look forward to little more than the next Social Security check. American-International and Roger Corman would soon wise up and turn these productions over to eager young unknowns and then the real campy fun would start. I just wish cable TV would honor some deserving old actors and give this celluloid zombie a quick burial, decent or otherwise.

Either something's wrong with me or I've been watching too many of these grade Z horror flicks; I really didn't find this to be so bad. Now don't get me wrong, this clearly isn't anywhere near "Casablanca" territory, but it had all the elements of a creepy late night scare fest, especially if you're about nine or ten years old. Like Chester Morris in the lead role as the villainous Dr. Carlo Lombardi, keeping his lovely female assistant (Marla English) under a hypnotic spell as he regresses her into the spirit and form of a prehistoric she-creature. He calls it a 'transmigration of the soul', I just love it when a film utilizes that kind of pseudo-scientific babble to support it's plot.However unlike other screen villains, Lombardi is not only committed to his mission of calling forth an all powerful presence across the span of ages, he's also out to make a buck off of it. Can you imagine, Lombardi's benefactor Chappel (Tom Conway) turns him into a money machine with books and a lecture tour to cash in on the she-beast; you would think it was the year 2008 instead of 1956!Say, remember when police Lieutenant James listens to a conversation he had with Dr. Lombardi on a tape recorder? He actually asked for the recorder some time AFTER he spoke with Lombardi, so who recorded the conversation? But you know what makes the picture so goofy in the final analysis? When the she creature eventually confronts some of the principals, they never think to utilize that one single piece of useful information that would actually come in handy - JUST RUN AWAY! Like the aforementioned James - he attempts to go one on one with the beast in hand to scale combat. And how about Chappel, when his gun runs out of bullets, he throws it at the creature in the tradition of all those classic Superman episodes. Good grief, didn't these guys ever watch any television? In the final analysis, you have to admire the temerity of the folks who put this thing together. The film closes on the words "She'll never be back, will she?" followed by a large question mark before the final fadeout, virtually begging the question of there being a sequel. Well I guess you can't blame them for trying.