Dr. Cyclops (1940)

Dr. Cyclops
Directed by Ernest B. Shoedsak
Written by Tom Kilpatrick
1940/USA
Paramount Pictures
First viewing/Netflix rental

[box] Dr. Alexander Thorkel: Strange how absorbed man has been in the size of things![/box]

I put this on thinking it would be a good double feature with Flash Gordon Conquers the Universe.  Imagine my surprise when it surpassed its mediocre IMDb rating and proved to be a complete delight.

Genius biologist Dr, Alexander Thorkel (Albert Dekker) has been working for two years at an isolated outpost in South America on a top-secret project involving radium.  Aside from driving him insane, his intense work has weakened his eyesight to the point where he can no longer see clearly through the microscope, later earning him his nickname.  After murdering his assistant, he sends off for a group of scientists to act as “eyes” for him. Two biologists and a geologist pick up a mule-team owner and a local handyman along the way.  All are excited either to work with the famous Thorkel or because the radium deposit could make them millions.

But Thorkel rapidly dismisses them after they briefly confirm what he thought he was seeing through the microscope.  The curious group refuse to leave and are caught spying on the good doctor’s experiments.  So Thorkel gratifies their curiousity by shrinking them to under a foot tall.

The little people are extremely resourceful and escape him, fighting off the many perils to those of their size.  However, Thorkel starts a relentless extermination campaign after he figures out his creations are slowly growing and could later expose him.

I don’t know why humans are so fascinating by miniatures.  I think it has always been so. This movie does an outstanding job, in Technicolor no less, of convincingly combining its “miniature” people will normal sized people and a combination of giant and normal sized props.  It looks like a movie made a couple of decades later.

This was Albert Dekker’s year.  I really enjoyed his performances in The Long Voyage Home and Strange Cargo.  Here, where he carries the film, he is the ideal combination of a scary, menacing villain and a bit of a fussbudget scientist.  If you like this kind of thing, I’d recommend it.

Doctor Cyclops was nominated for an Oscar for its superb special effects.

Trailer