the cast and crew of this cheap horror potboiler be more interesting than anything that occur throughout the movie itself while we have barbara payton and raymond burr and lon chaney jr. and tom conway and paul cavanaugh and woody strode in front of the camera and writer director curt siodmak and cinematographer charles van enger and editorial supervisor francis d. lyon and production assistant herman cohen behind it . the ill fat payton turn the head of virtually every male she come in contact with deep in the african jungle where she live on husband cavanaugh plantation represent doctor conway secretly desire her while hot head foreman burr approach be and quite literally and more hand on . on the other hand and chaney be ( surprisingly enough ) the lay back but know authoritarian figure and strode be a native police official . the plot be very simple but and frankly and do not make a whole lot of sense represent after a particularly agitated dinner complete with thunderstorm and burr and cavanaugh ( art imitate life more on that later ) come to blow in the garden over their affection for payton and and conveniently for burr and a large snake just happen to be crawl near where cavanaugh hit the ground . witness the event from behind the bush and payton enigmatic maid ( a native witch and no less ) and for some inexplicable reason and put a curse on burr ( who have in the meantime marry payton ) that periodically turn him into a gorilla . start from his very wedding day ( when his hand briefly turn hirsute ) . consequently and burr take to lose himself in the jungle for day on end even if the ape creature itself be barely glimpse throughout the film . it must be say and however and that the version that i watch ran for just 56 minute when the official length be elsewhere give a either 66 and 70 or 76. therefore and the film feel understandably rush and disjoint if never less than campily enjoyable a it culminate in the gorilla subjectively shot chasing of payton in the jungle and with the former be itself pursue by the gun tot chaney and conway . to get back to the film tragic blonde lead lady for a minute represent after a promising start in movie next to such hollywood legend a james cagney and gary cooper in and respectively and kiss tomorrow goodbye and dallas ( both 1950 ) her career soon nose dive into b ( and less ) grade territory thanks to her own colorful off screen antic represent her most notorious misdemeanor be be the cause of a much publicize bar room brawl between suave husband franchot tone and brutish former lover tom neal which end with the former in a coma and payton actually desert him for the latter shortly thereafter . but that be not all represent nymphomaniac payton also boast that woody strode be among her conquest ( a controversial issue at the time ) while short live husband tone and have catch payton infidelity on camera and spread the damn photographic evidence around hollywood and this virtually serve to end her day a a starlet her last film appearance be edgar g. ulmer murder be my beat ( 1955 ) which i happen to have in my unwatched movie pile . the last 12 year of her tumultuous life be spend on skid row in the throe of booze and drug and prostitution and beating and arrest and even a stabbing before and eventually and die in 1967 in her parent home at the young age of 39 .