The Alligator People
Encyclopedia
The Alligator People is a 1959 science fiction
horror film
directed by Roy Del Ruth.
Joyce has just married a young man named Paul Webster. Aboard their honeymoon train, Paul receives a telegram and, in a panic, immediately leaves the train to make a phone call. When the train pulls out, Paul is missing, having vanished without a word to Joyce. Throughout the following months, Joyce employs private detectives and conducts her own search for her husband to no avail, until one day, she discovers the address of the Cypresses Plantation that Paul entered on his college enrollment forms.
Joyce takes the next train to the whistle stop town of Bayou Landing in the heart of Louisiana swamp country. While sitting forlornly at the rail station, she meets Mannon, a handyman at the Cypresses, and asks him to drive her there. As they proceed deeper in the swamps, Joyce is horrified when Mannon tries to run over an alligator and then exhibits the hook where a gator bit off his hand. At the plantation, Joyce introduces herself to Lavinia Hawthorne, the Cypresses’ stern mistress. When Joyce suggests that Paul once lived at the plantation, Lavinia bristles and calls her a liar. Joyce has missed the last train back to town, so Lavinia reluctantly invites her to stay the night under the proviso that she not leave her room.
That night, Joyce is disquieted by the sound of gunshots, and when she tries to open the door to her room, she discovers it is locked. When the maid Lou Ann delivers Joyce’s dinner tray, she warns that the house is deeply troubled and advises her to leave as soon as possible. Later, Lavinia notifies Mark Sinclair, a doctor who operates a clinic on the plantation, that Paul’s wife is there. At the clinic, Mark administers an injection to an agitated patient who is swathed in bandages. Soon after, Lavinia arrives to confer about how to deal with Joyce.
At the house, meanwhile, Joyce hears the strains of a piano and slips out of her room to investigate. As she descends the stairs, she sees a man in a robe, his face in shadows, seated at the piano and fails to recognize the shadowy figure as Paul. When Joyce enters the room, Paul flees, leaving behind a trail of muddy footprints. Paul, his face terribly disfigured, stops Lavinia’s car and in a distorted voice, insists that Joyce leave as soon as possible. The next morning, Mark comes to the house to question Joyce, and sensing that he is withholding information about Paul, she refuses to leave. When Joyce demands that Lavinia tell her what she did to Paul, the older woman breaks down and confesses that Paul is her son.
That night, as a storm rages, Paul, thinking that Joyce has gone, returns to the house. When Joyce sees him, he runs away and she follows him into the swamps. After a giant snake blocks her path, Joyce screams, and Mannon appears and carries her to his shack, where he assaults her. When Joyce tries to resist, Mannon slaps her unconscious, and Paul then bursts in, knocks Mannon down and takes Joyce back to the house. After his mother insists that Joyce be told the truth, Paul presses Mark to give him an untested cobalt treatment in hopes of curing his condition. Mark reluctantly agrees to give him the treatment the following evening after Joyce has been informed of the situation.
The next morning, Mark summons Joyce to his lab and tells her about his experiments with reptilian hormones that are capable of regenerating limbs. He continues that after Paul was horribly mangled in a plane crash, Mark administered the serum to him and several other accident victims. The treatment appeared to be a great success, until his patients began to turn into reptiles. Mark explains that after Paul received the telegram notifying him that his tests were positive, he hurriedly left the train and came home in hopes of reversing his condition. When Joyce learns of Paul’s scheduled radical cobalt treatment, she insists on being present.
That night, Paul encounters Joyce at the clinic and turns away from her in shame. After Joyce clasps his hand and reassures him of her love, Lavinia apologizes to her for her brusqueness. As Paul climbs onto the table and Mark aims the ray at him, Mannon bursts into the lab and destroys the control panel, shooting powerful rays at Paul that transform him into a giant alligator. Mannon is electrocuted to death while attacking Paul. Hearing his wife and mother scream in horror, Paul flees into the swamps and peering into the water, sees his reflection. Joyce scrambles after him, but after wrestling an alligator, Paul stumbles into quicksand and slowly sinks out of sight to the sound of Joyce’s shrieks. Meanwhile, the lab is destroyed in an explosion.
Back in the present, the psychiatrists review the tapes of Joyce’s ordeal and, concluding that her amnesia has allowed her to suppress the horror and resume a normal life, they decide not to tell her about her life as Joyce Webster.
The film is set in the Southern United States
and is one of many monster
B-movies released in the era.
Science fiction
Science fiction is a genre of fiction dealing with imaginary but more or less plausible content such as future settings, futuristic science and technology, space travel, aliens, and paranormal abilities...
horror film
Horror film
Horror films seek to elicit a negative emotional reaction from viewers by playing on the audience's most primal fears. They often feature scenes that startle the viewer through the means of macabre and the supernatural, thus frequently overlapping with the fantasy and science fiction genres...
directed by Roy Del Ruth.
Plot
After she is administered the drug pentothal by psychiatrists Dr. Erik Lorimer and Dr. Wayne McGregor, nurse Jane Marvin recalls a series events from her forgotten past when she was known as Joyce Webster.Joyce has just married a young man named Paul Webster. Aboard their honeymoon train, Paul receives a telegram and, in a panic, immediately leaves the train to make a phone call. When the train pulls out, Paul is missing, having vanished without a word to Joyce. Throughout the following months, Joyce employs private detectives and conducts her own search for her husband to no avail, until one day, she discovers the address of the Cypresses Plantation that Paul entered on his college enrollment forms.
Joyce takes the next train to the whistle stop town of Bayou Landing in the heart of Louisiana swamp country. While sitting forlornly at the rail station, she meets Mannon, a handyman at the Cypresses, and asks him to drive her there. As they proceed deeper in the swamps, Joyce is horrified when Mannon tries to run over an alligator and then exhibits the hook where a gator bit off his hand. At the plantation, Joyce introduces herself to Lavinia Hawthorne, the Cypresses’ stern mistress. When Joyce suggests that Paul once lived at the plantation, Lavinia bristles and calls her a liar. Joyce has missed the last train back to town, so Lavinia reluctantly invites her to stay the night under the proviso that she not leave her room.
That night, Joyce is disquieted by the sound of gunshots, and when she tries to open the door to her room, she discovers it is locked. When the maid Lou Ann delivers Joyce’s dinner tray, she warns that the house is deeply troubled and advises her to leave as soon as possible. Later, Lavinia notifies Mark Sinclair, a doctor who operates a clinic on the plantation, that Paul’s wife is there. At the clinic, Mark administers an injection to an agitated patient who is swathed in bandages. Soon after, Lavinia arrives to confer about how to deal with Joyce.
At the house, meanwhile, Joyce hears the strains of a piano and slips out of her room to investigate. As she descends the stairs, she sees a man in a robe, his face in shadows, seated at the piano and fails to recognize the shadowy figure as Paul. When Joyce enters the room, Paul flees, leaving behind a trail of muddy footprints. Paul, his face terribly disfigured, stops Lavinia’s car and in a distorted voice, insists that Joyce leave as soon as possible. The next morning, Mark comes to the house to question Joyce, and sensing that he is withholding information about Paul, she refuses to leave. When Joyce demands that Lavinia tell her what she did to Paul, the older woman breaks down and confesses that Paul is her son.
That night, as a storm rages, Paul, thinking that Joyce has gone, returns to the house. When Joyce sees him, he runs away and she follows him into the swamps. After a giant snake blocks her path, Joyce screams, and Mannon appears and carries her to his shack, where he assaults her. When Joyce tries to resist, Mannon slaps her unconscious, and Paul then bursts in, knocks Mannon down and takes Joyce back to the house. After his mother insists that Joyce be told the truth, Paul presses Mark to give him an untested cobalt treatment in hopes of curing his condition. Mark reluctantly agrees to give him the treatment the following evening after Joyce has been informed of the situation.
The next morning, Mark summons Joyce to his lab and tells her about his experiments with reptilian hormones that are capable of regenerating limbs. He continues that after Paul was horribly mangled in a plane crash, Mark administered the serum to him and several other accident victims. The treatment appeared to be a great success, until his patients began to turn into reptiles. Mark explains that after Paul received the telegram notifying him that his tests were positive, he hurriedly left the train and came home in hopes of reversing his condition. When Joyce learns of Paul’s scheduled radical cobalt treatment, she insists on being present.
That night, Paul encounters Joyce at the clinic and turns away from her in shame. After Joyce clasps his hand and reassures him of her love, Lavinia apologizes to her for her brusqueness. As Paul climbs onto the table and Mark aims the ray at him, Mannon bursts into the lab and destroys the control panel, shooting powerful rays at Paul that transform him into a giant alligator. Mannon is electrocuted to death while attacking Paul. Hearing his wife and mother scream in horror, Paul flees into the swamps and peering into the water, sees his reflection. Joyce scrambles after him, but after wrestling an alligator, Paul stumbles into quicksand and slowly sinks out of sight to the sound of Joyce’s shrieks. Meanwhile, the lab is destroyed in an explosion.
Back in the present, the psychiatrists review the tapes of Joyce’s ordeal and, concluding that her amnesia has allowed her to suppress the horror and resume a normal life, they decide not to tell her about her life as Joyce Webster.
The film is set in the Southern United States
Southern United States
The Southern United States—commonly referred to as the American South, Dixie, or simply the South—constitutes a large distinctive area in the southeastern and south-central United States...
and is one of many monster
Monster
A monster is any fictional creature, usually found in legends or horror fiction, that is somewhat hideous and may produce physical harm or mental fear by either its appearance or its actions...
B-movies released in the era.
Cast
| Actor | Role |
|---|---|
| Beverly Garland Beverly Garland Beverly Garland was an American film and television actress, businesswoman, and hotel owner. Garland gained prominence for her role as Fred MacMurray's second wife, "Barbara Harper Douglas", in the 1960s sitcom My Three Sons... |
Joyce Webster |
| Bruce Bennett Bruce Bennett Bruce Bennett was an American actor and Olympic silver medalist shot putter. During the 1930s, he went by his real name, Herman Brix .-Early life and Olympics:... |
Dr. Eric Lorimer |
| Lon Chaney Jr. | Mannon |
| George Macready George Macready George Peabody Macready, Jr. , was an American stage, film, and television actor often cast in roles as polished villains.-Background:... |
Dr. Mark Sinclair |
| Frieda Inescort Frieda Inescort Frieda Inescort was a Scottish-born actress best known for creating the role of Sorel Bliss in Noel Coward's play Hay Fever.... |
Mrs. Lavinia Hawthorne, Henry's Wife |
| Richard Crane Richard Crane Richard Crane was a veteran character actor whose career spanned three decades in films and television. His early career included many uncredited performances in feature films made in the 1940's. He is best remembered for his portrayal of the title role in the TV science fiction series Rocky... |
Paul Webster |
| Douglas Kennedy Douglas Kennedy (actor) Douglas Richards Kennedy was an American supporting actor who appeared in over 190 films between 1935 and 1973. He was born in New York City.-Career:... |
Dr. Wayne MacGregor |
In pop culture
- The LizardLizard (comics)The Lizard is a fictional character, a supervillain in the Marvel Comics universe and enemy of Spider-Man. The Lizard first appeared in The Amazing Spider-Man #6 , and was created by Stan Lee and Steve Ditko...
, a Marvel ComicsMarvel ComicsMarvel Worldwide, Inc., commonly referred to as Marvel Comics and formerly Marvel Publishing, Inc. and Marvel Comics Group, is an American company that publishes comic books and related media...
character who first appeared several years later in 1963, has an origin which is nearly identical to the Alligator Man's in the film. - A video game for the Atari 2600Atari 2600The Atari 2600 is a video game console released in October 1977 by Atari, Inc. It is credited with popularizing the use of microprocessor-based hardware and cartridges containing game code, instead of having non-microprocessor dedicated hardware with all games built in...
based on the movie was programmed by 20th Century FoxFox Entertainment GroupThe Fox Entertainment Group is an American entertainment industry company that owns film studios and terrestrial, cable, and direct broadcast satellite television properties...
, but never released. - In Metal Gear Solid 3, Para-medic makes a reference of the movie when Naked Snake equips the crocodile cap.