You know what sucks?
Being on your honeymoon with a man you nursed back to health and have him leave you, stranded and alone on the train.
What sucks even WORSE is finding out that he’s been turned into an alligator.
In this gem from 1959, we have Beverly Garland as a new bride looking for her runaway husband. She finds him, and more alligator filled swamp adventures than she bargained for. “The Alligator People” includes horror legend Lon Chaney Jr. as a hook handed drunk with questionable driving skills, a shack in sore need of a cleaning, and a vendetta against all alligators.
The Episode
Words From Warren
I like to quote from one of my favorite reference books, the late Bill Warren’s “Keep Watching The Skies: American Science Fiction Movies of the Fifties”. Mr. Warren does not suffer fools gladly, and does not mince his words when it comes to either praising a film or flaying it alive.
In his entry on “The Alligator People” he has this to say:
“The Alligator People is a decently crafted and intelligently made program SF-horror film, sadly let down by misconceived make up and perfunctory ideas.”
I would agree with this sentiment, and pretty much come to the same conclusion in this episode.
Still, it is a very fun movie, and I think that Warren is a bit too hard on everyone in the complete entry in the book.
The movie is beautiful black and white, very atmospheric, and the story isn’t that bad. Chaney Jr. falls back on his likeable rogue archetype, a mix of Larry Talbot and Foster Brooks. Well, that is until things start to get a little handsy, and then pretty much assault, so be warned there.
The Links
Shout Factory “The Alligator People” BluRay
“Beverly Garland: Her Life and Career” (biography)
“Lon Chaney, Jr.” (McFarland Press biography)
The Alligator People on Wikipedia
Grand Old Movies – “The Gothic Goings On in “The Alligator People”
Western Clippings Interview with Beverly Garland
Richard Crane on Wikipedia; on IMDB; Biography
“The Alligator People” on the Monster Kid Radio podcast.
Credits
You can find a list of all music used, and all sound effects used, and links, here, on our Credits page.
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