Story: Scot Webster (Phillip Terry) is on trial for murder and faces the death penalty, as he was caught with the murder weapon in his hands. Of course, he did not commit the crime and was trying to save his sister Susan (Ellen Drew), who had fallen in with dangerous criminals. When one of the mobsters was shot down by another crook, Scot found himself holding the smoking gun and despite a good defense, he is found guilty and sentenced to die by execution. Before he is put to death however, he is approached to donate his brain to science and have it placed in a gorilla, for science. Will this experiment prove to be a cutting edge failure or will Scot return in a form that no one, especially the mobsters, could have ever expected?

Entertainment Value: I love this premise, as it is so outlandish and chock full of b movie potential, but sadly, The Monster and the Girl drops the ball in most respects. When the narrative follows the brain transplant aspect of the plot, the movie is decent fun, I just wish there was more of that approach taken. Instead, we’re stuck with a lame, mostly dull crime drama that fails to spark much entertainment. I will say there is some fun ham handed acting and some laughable dialogue, but neither are in enough volume to tilt the scale, so this is just usually dull, rather than so bad, its fun to watch. But those handful of scenes that center on the mad scientist storyline show how much wackier and fun this could have been, as the gorilla suit looks so wild and those scenes at least provide some decent b movie vibes. As much as I love these old school mad scientist/gorilla suit flicks, The Monster and the Girl doesn’t have much reason to recommend it.

As I mentioned above, there are some moments of dialed up performances and melodrama, but for the most part, the cast here is forgettable. If more of the actors would have leaned into the silliness of the script, this might have a solid b movie, it just doesn’t happen enough. If this were a wilder picture, perhaps George Zucco could have stolen the show as Dr. Parry, our transplant obsessed mad scientist. As it stands, he has only a few scenes and even then, isn’t given a lot to do. Which is a shame, since the mad scientist and gorilla scenes are the highlights, they’re just pushed on the backburner most of the time here. Zucco certainly could have handled a larger role, especially since he was well versed in the mad scientist cinema world. The cast also includes Ellen Drew, Robert Paige, Paul Lukas, Phillip Terry, and Rod Cameron.

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