Jungle Captive (1945) d. Harold Young (USA) (63 min)
This second sequel to Captive Wild Woman is notable primarily for (Caucasian) Vicky Lane replacing Acquanetta as Paula Dupree and for the presence of Universal’s “Monster without Makeup” Rondo Hatton, cracking necks like nobody’s business as “Moloch the Brute,” in his second showcase role following The Pearl of Death with Sherlock Holmes (1944). Seems that a certain endocrinology enthusiast, Mr. Stendahl (Otto Kruger), is a Frankenstein in the making, obsessed with reviving dead tissue, viewing the resurrection of Paula Dupree (last seen in Jungle Woman) as his Mt. Everest to climb. Recruiting Moloch to steal her corpse from the morgue and then later to kidnap his assistant Ann (Amelita Ward), Stendahl plots a synthesis of electricity and blood transfusions (and brain transplanting, just for good measure) in order to demonstrate his superior intellect to the world.
