Orville H. Hampton

This enjoyable mad scientist / monster flick sees newly-weds Joyce (Beverly Garland) and husband Paul Webster (Richard Crane) heading off on honeymoon. When Paul receives a mysterious telegram he disappears, leaving a distraught Joyce to begin a desperate search. She eventually finds her way to a mansion deep in the Louisiana bayou where Dr Mark Sinclair (George Macready) is conducting experiments into limb restoration by injecting an alligator-derived serum into his patients. These patients include Paul who is gradually mutating into a human / alligator hybrid. "The Alligator People" is a decent little film that is competently directed by Roy Del Ruth and which benefits from excellent widescreen photography by Karl Struss that gives it a cloying, swampy atmosphere. The story is suitably engaging with plenty of enjoyable cod-scientific explanations and nonsense justifications. Beverly Garland is first class in the lead role playing it straight and serious. Lon Chaney Jr. puts in a mad turn as an alligator hating, hooked handed Cajun who rampages about drunkenly for most of the film. The make-up effects range from the excellent to the laughable: the scaly makeup during the first stage of Richard's transformation is effective but when he develops an alligator head it's more than a touch laughable.… (meer)