THE BRUTE MAN
(director: Jean Yarbrough; screenwriters: story by Dwight V. Babcock/George Bricker/M. Coates Webster; cinematographer: Maury Gertsman; editor: Philip Cahn; cast: Rondo Hatton (Hal Moffat/The Creeper), JaNelle Johnson (Joan Bemis), Jan Wiley (Virginia Scott), Jane Adams (Helen Paige), Tom Neal (Clifford Scott), Donald MacBride (Police Captain M. J. Donelly), Fred Coby (Young Hal Moffat), Peter Whitney (Police Lieutenant Gates), John Hamilton (Prof. Cushman), Jack Parker (Delivery boy); Runtime: 58; MPAA Rating: NR; producer: Ben Pivar; PRC Pictures (Universal); 1946)
“Though obscure and just a mediocre film, film buffs have maintained an interest in it through the years because of their curiosity over the grotesque looking Rondo Hatton.”
Reviewed by Dennis Schwartz
Jean Yarbrough(“The Creeper”/”The Naughty Nineties”/”She-Wolf of London”) directs this unpleasant B-film. It’s the last in the series, but nonetheless reverts back to showing The Creeper’s origin. Universal was so ashamed of this trashy exploitation film it farmed it out to PRC. The story is by Dwight V. Babcock and the writers are George Bricker and M. Coates Webster.
The disfigured character actor Rondo Hatton, to die from his disease of acromegaly just before the film was released, stars as The Creeper. Rondo plays a young star college football player, known as Hal Moffat, who accidentally has acid splash on his face during a failed experiment at the science lab. He becomes The Creeper and starts getting revenge on those he blames for his disfigurement or for mocking him. They include classmates from his Class of ’30, Professor Cushman (John Hamilton), and a Peeping Tom delivery boy (Jack Parker). The loony strangles each vic from behind. When befriended by the beautiful blind girl, Virginia (Jan Wiley), who could care less about his looks, he is so crazed that he attempts to kill her before getting caught in a trap and killed.
Though obscure and just a mediocre film, film buffs have maintained an interest in it through the years mainly because of their curiosity over the grotesque looking Rondo Hatton.
REVIEWED ON 8/12/2015 GRADE: B- https://dennisschwartzreviews.com/