Curiously undercooked, this old science fiction movie is one of those unfortunate attempts to follow the impossibly towering previous success - director Ernest B. Schoedsack is the one who will be forever associated with his 1933. masterpiece "King Kong" and seems it was impossible act to follow. This time he had glorious technicolor at his disposal that is the first thing that strikes the viewer, making you wonder how would 1933. classic turn out if things were different.
Not every old movie is campy and silly - the best example in this genre would surely be awesome 1927. "Metropolis" - but "Dr. Cyclops" unfortunately feels like children's movie from our perspective, with cartoonish characters and script that defies serious analysis. Bunch of scientists wonder in the Peruvian jungle to help mysterious Dr. Thorkel in his research - before they can even dust their boots, he quickly dismisses them and unceremoniously sends them back to where they came from, which makes them very curious so they decide to stick around and find what secrets he hides. All sorts of mayhem and adventures that follow present our heroes as brave survivalists while Thorkel is obviously an evil ogre, but personally I couldn't help but feeling some compassion for visually impaired loner who lives and works alone outside of any human society - as usual, I am always for unfortunate monster misunderstood by people, be it Frankenstein, King Kong or like here, Dr. Thorkel. Obviously, this is not the way Schoedsack planned, because movie depicts him as evil but I was rooting for him, instead of these annoying visitors.
Visual effects, so naive to us today, were spectacular for the time and even nominated for Academy Award back in the day. More importantly, writer Richard Matheson paid close attention to this movie because we find clear echoes of "Dr. Cyclops" in Matheson's 1956. novel "The Incredible Shrinking Man" later adapted for the big screen with some identical scenes, so perhaps I shouldn't be too harsh on its predecessor. I guess this is a cult classic now and there must be some movie cognoscenti who cherish its quaint charm. Of all the people in the movie, I can only praise Albert Dekker in his title role as mad scientist - scientists here are curiously perceived as loonies and bug catchers while real people supposedly have other occupations. Not only that Dr. Thorkel works something secretly in his laboratories but he also have books - sure sign of his strangeness and potential dangerousness - today they would make him listen classical music as well, since this is also something every monster does. No wonder I was rooting for Dr. Thorkel instead of those meddling creatures.
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