The Neanderthal Man (1953)

Set in the California High Sierra mountain range, a deranged scientist (Robert Shayne) experiments on animals and humans with a serum that turns back the clock and reproduces creatures and homo sapiens from 40,000 years ago. Directed by Ewald Andre Dupont (VARIETE), who'd seen better days as a director, this crudely made B cheapie horror flick is tedious to the extreme. With one exception, the acting is appalling though to be fair there's not much any actor could do with the trite dialog. The film might just as well have been another Wolf Man movie for the originality the plot gives off. The budget is so cheap that we're not even allowed to see a cat turn into a saber tooth tiger though the time lapse cinematography by Stanley Cortez (MAGNIFICENT AMBERSONS) does show the human to Neanderthal transformation. The one scene that stands out in an otherwise mundane film is a scene where Beverly Garland (the only actor in the film who suggests talent) describes being kidnapped by the Neanderthal man that suggests she'd been raped. With Richard Crane, Robert Bray, Joyce Terry and Doris Merrick.