THE APE MAN (1943) ** ½

Bela Lugosi plays a scientist who injects himself with ape spinal fluid.  As a result, he becomes an ape man with bushy sideburns who sleeps in a cage with a guy in an obvious gorilla suit.  Lugosi needs human spinal fluid to live, so he and his gorilla pal go out on the town and kill.  Bela, who has an early TV set, also blackmails his colleague into injecting him with the fluid.  Meanwhile a fast talking reporter (Wallace Ford from Freaks) and his female photographer (Louise Currie) are investigating the story and are hot on his trail.  Seeing Lugosi in third rate Wolf Man make-up is good for a few chuckles, but there’s way too much irritating repartee between the chauvinist reporter and his photographer and not enough of Bela in funny sideburns.  Director William Beaudine did literally hundreds of B-Movies (many with Lugosi) including Billy the Kid vs. Dracula.