(1940)
3
Hans J. Wollstein
Ernest B. Schoedsack, who had earlier co-directed King Kong, once explained that the entire technical side of Dr. Cyclops had been "plotted on blueprints before shooting began," a common enough method today, but apparently unusual in 1940. The result is one of those early science fiction-thrillers that it is very hard to dislike. Although the once so frightening aspects of the tale may have been lessened by later explorations into the art of shrinking living tissue -- The Incredible Shrinking Man from 1957 immediately comes to mind -- Dr. Cyclops remains an entertaining treatise on the subject. It is still fun to watch a group of stock company players deal with the sudden dangers of giant-sized household items and one can still marvel at the obvious ingenuity that went into making the film, Albert Dekker's rather obvious mechanical hand notwithstanding. Unfortunately, the story that screenwriter Tom Kilpatrick concocted and the performances of the mostly unknown cast are routine at best, and the garish Technicolor seems an unnecessary addition.
Dr. Cyclops on AllMovie
Dr. Cyclops (1940)
