The Ape Man is a 1943 horror

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...

 Science fiction film

Science fiction film

Science fiction film is a film genre that uses science fiction: speculative, science-based depictions of phenomena that are not necessarily accepted by mainstream science, such as extraterrestrial life forms, alien worlds, extrasensory perception, and time travel, often along with futuristic...

 starring Bela Lugosi

Béla Lugosi

Béla Ferenc Dezső Blaskó , commonly known as Bela Lugosi, was a Hungarian actor of stage and screen. He was best known for having played Count Dracula in the Broadway play and subsequent film version, as well as having starred in several of Ed Wood's low budget films in the last years of his...

 and directed by William Beaudine

William Beaudine

William Beaudine was an American film actor and director. He was one of Hollywood's most prolific directors, turning out films in remarkable numbers and in a wide variety of genres.-Early life and career:...

. The film follows the tale of a part human

Human

Humans are the only living species in the Homo genus...

 part ape

Ape

Apes are Old World anthropoid mammals, more specifically a clade of tailless catarrhine primates, belonging to the biological superfamily Hominoidea. The apes are native to Africa and South-east Asia, although in relatively recent times humans have spread all over the world...

.

A sequel

Sequel

A sequel is a narrative, documental, or other work of literature, film, theatre, or music that continues the story of or expands upon issues presented in some previous work...

, in name only, called Return of the Ape Man, followed in 1944, one year later after this film and starred Bela Lugosi, John Carradine and George Zucco.

Plot

Dr. James Brewster (Bela Lugosi

Béla Lugosi

Béla Ferenc Dezső Blaskó , commonly known as Bela Lugosi, was a Hungarian actor of stage and screen. He was best known for having played Count Dracula in the Broadway play and subsequent film version, as well as having starred in several of Ed Wood's low budget films in the last years of his...

) and his colleague Dr. Randall (Henry Hall) are involved in a series of scientific experiments which have caused him to transform into an ape-man. In an attempt to obtain a cure Brewster believes that it will be necessary to inject himself with recently drawn human spinal fluid. When Randall refuses to help him by providing the fluid, Brewster and his captive Gorilla

Gorilla

Gorillas are the largest extant species of primates. They are ground-dwelling, predominantly herbivorous apes that inhabit the forests of central Africa. Gorillas are divided into two species and either four or five subspecies...

 must attempt to find an appropriate donor

Donation

A donation is a gift given by physical or legal persons, typically for charitable purposes and/or to benefit a cause. A donation may take various forms, including cash, services, new or used goods including clothing, toys, food, and vehicles...

.

Cast

Actor	Role
Bela Lugosi Béla Lugosi Béla Ferenc Dezső Blaskó , commonly known as Bela Lugosi, was a Hungarian actor of stage and screen. He was best known for having played Count Dracula in the Broadway play and subsequent film version, as well as having starred in several of Ed Wood's low budget films in the last years of his...	Dr. James Brewster
Louise Currie Louise Currie Louise Currie is a former American film actress, active from the 1940s into the early 1950s.Born in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, Currie first attended Sarah Lawrence College in New York, where she became interested in acting...	Billie Mason
Wallace Ford Wallace Ford Wallace Ford was an English film and television actor who, with his friendly appearance and stocky build later in life, appeared in a number of film westerns and B-movies....	Jeff Carter
Henry Hall	Dr. George Randall
Minerva Urecal Minerva Urecal Minerva Urecal was an American actressBorn as Minerva Holzer, Urecal was originally a radio and stage performer. She made her film debut in 1933...	Agatha Brewster
Emil Van Horn	The Ape
J. Farrell MacDonald J. Farrell MacDonald Joseph Farrell MacDonald was an American character actor and director. He played supporting roles and occasional leads. MacDonald, who was sometimes billed as "John Farrell Macdonald", "J.F...	Police Capt. O'Brien
Wheeler Oakman Wheeler Oakman Wheeler Oakman was an American film actor.Usually appearing as a henchman in films, rarely a leading role, he appeared in over 280 films between 1912 and 1948....	Det. Brady
Ralph Littlefield	The Strange Little Man*
Jack Mulhall Jack Mulhall Jack Mulhall, born John Joseph Francis Mulhall, was a film actor since the silent film era and appeared in over 430 films....	Reporter
Charles Jordan	Det. O'Toole
Charlie Hall	Barney (the Photographer
George Kirby George Kirby George Kirby was an American comedian, singer, and actor from Chicago, Illinois.Kirby broke into show business in the 1940s at the Club DeLisa, a South Side establishment that employed a variety-show format and preferred to hire local singers, dancers, and comedians...	Detective #1
Ray Miller	Reporter
Ernest Morrison	Copyboy
William Ruhlas Martin	Editor

• NB - Ralph Littlefield's character is often misleadingly called "Zippo". In fact the character has no name in the movie, but is rather a comically-dressed, odd-acting little man who appears at various times during the story, his purpose unclear. At the very end of the film, he claims to be its scenarist. This is intended as a humorous surprise revelation. Why the name "Zippo" was invented and used in the film's publicity, much less later copied without comment in literary and internet filmographies, is unknown; however, it is amusing to find him credited with this role name in the AFI Catalogue entry on "The Ape Man", and then in the notes to read extensively about an "unnamed character" played by an "unidentified player."