Dr. Cyclops (Special Edition) [Blu-ray]

This review is for the Blu-Ray edition of Doctor Cyclops released by Kino Lorber in 2020.My rating is an average of my rating for the picture and plot of this movie. That is... 5 stars for the picture and 3 stars for the plot of the movie.ABOUT THIS MOVIE: This is a movie made by Paramount in 1940. It is a rare movie from that time period that is made in color. Not only were there very few movies filmed in technicolor at that time period, it was even rarer for a movie that is in effect, a 'B' movie to be filmed in color. This would be the first horror film in this country to be made in the new 3 strip color process. There were some earlier horror films that used the two color process. The film received and Oscar nomination for Best Visual Effects. The story that it is based upon is short story that appeared in a pulp fiction magazine called 'Thrilling Wonder Stories'. The story is about a doctor who invents a miniaturization process but uses it for nefarious reasons.BLU-RAY: The picture is a new 4K master. The color in this movie looks amazingly good. When you realize it was made in 1940, it becomes all the more impressive. There are almost no flaws in the print. The colors are as bright as can be. I can't see how it can get better than this. The movie is shown in a 1.37:1 aspect ratio.EXTRA'S:-Audio Commentary by historian Richard Harland Smith - Typical commentary by Smith. Loaded with biographies as well as facts about the movie. By the end of this commentary, you will know the entire Hollywood careers of every person involved in the making of this film. You will also know the biographies of every person involved with the making of this movies extended families, friends, associates, co-workers, etc.... OK, I'm kidding... but it sure seems like that. In all honesty, Smith does a real good job. He is very prepared and throws a million facts at you. He does comment on what is happening on screen as well. I'm just partial to guys who wing it and aren't reading from a prepared script but are nevertheless knowledgeable. I much prefer when commentators spend the time talking about what is on screen while we are watching even if it's just their opinions. Some biographies are OK but, for me, this should only apply when relevant such as when telling us what other villainous roles the main villain has played.-Trailers from Hell with Jesus Trevino - I'm going to get real 'nit-picky' with this. It's obvious that Trevino either doesn't know or doesn't remember anything about this movie. He reads from a script that he probably didn't write and the writer probably wasn't paying much attention to the movie. It starts out saying "4 scientists visit"... it's 3 scientists and a prospector. Then mentions that they try to avoid being dinner for an alligator, cat or dog. The dog was not threatening and was loyal to it's miniaturized owner. He then says Dr. Cyclops got his name because his glasses broke and he had only one lens. Yes, that happens but Dr. Bulfinch named him Cyclops earlier due to his behavior that had nothing to do with 'one eye'. Finally, he says that the effects were later improved upon, which might be true but not by both of the movies he mentions. 'Attack of the Puppet People', was a low budget, Bert I. Gordon (Mr. Big), movie. The only person who should be doing these 'Trailers from Hell' is Joe Dante.-Trailers for the movies 'Cobra Woman', 'The Undying Monster' and 'This Land Unknown'.-Theatrical Trailer-Subtitles*****LOTS OF SPOILERS BELOW THIS POINT*****PLOT SUMMARY/SYNOPSIS: Dr. Thorkel (Dr. Cyclops) is working in a jungle near Lima, Peru. He is a world renowned biologist and he is working with another man named Mendoza. Mendoza appears to have provided the money and equipment for their laboratory. Dr. Thorkel is having success but for an unknown reason, Mendoza wants the work to come to an end. He believes they are tampering in Gods domain. Dr. Thorkel does not agree and forces Mendoza into some sort of machine, seemingly killing him.Two other biologists, Dr. Rupert Bulfinch and Dr. Mary Robinson, travel to Peru when Dr. Thorkel requests their presence. Once in Peru, they recruit an unwilling young geologist, Bill Stockton, to come with them. A fourth member, Steve Baker, who owns the mules they need in order to travel through the jungle, forces his way onto the team. Baker claims that he wants to make sure his mules are cared for but in reality he believes that Dr. Thorkel has discovered a valuable mine and wants in on it.The group arrives at Dr. Thorkel's jungle laboratory. He asks the group to examine a specimen that he has in a microscope. Once the three scientists do this, he thanks them and tries to sent them on their way. Dr. Bulfinch is outraged at the seemingly menial task they have traveled thousands of miles to do. Bulfinch refuses to leave until Thorkel tells him more about his research so the group decides to set up camp on the laboratory grounds. Shortly thereafter, Baker spies on Thorkel and discovers that he has indeed found a valuable mine. The mine is rich in radium. While in his lab, Thorkel brings out a tiny horse that belongs to his assistant, Pedro. Pedro believes his horse has run away. The group thinks that Dr. Thorkel is losing his mind when they see him running around with a net calling for the horse.Later, the group decides to sneak into Thorkel's laboratory. Once inside, Thorkel walks in on them and is outraged that they would try to steal his secrets and take credit. Baker calms him down and Thorkel apologizes. He then tells the group what he is up to and that he has no wishes to exploit the radium mine and uses it for scientific purposes only. He then walks the five of them (which includes Pedro) into his miniaturization room and locks them in. He turns on the machine and the group is reduced in size. He uses handkerchiefs to make them clothes. He lets them loose and eventually falls asleep, having no fear of them going anywhere since they are in the jungle. Once he is awake, the group refuses to cooperate with him. Thorkel wants to take measurements and vitals. Everyone appears to be normal. He eventually captures Bulfinch. Bulfinch refuses to cooperate with Thorkel and asks to be returned home. Thorkel denies him. Bulfinch unwittingly jumps on a scale that Thorkel was using to weigh his experiments. Thorkel realizes that Bulfinch, as well as everyone else, is growing. Thorkel smothers Bulfinch with a cloth and chemicals. The remaining four run away and find a hole in the garden wall.PRODUCTION/COMMENTS:SPECIAL VISUAL EFFECTS: The set designers and visual effects artists are top notch in this movie. These effects are better than a lot of stuff that was done decades later. I loved the 'hand' prop. At first, I actually thought it was a real hand. When I saw Dr. Bulfinch get caught. I said to myself "Wow, Dr. Bulfinch looks real in that hand!". It's only when I saw the fingernails on the other side that I realized what was going on. All of the other models looked pretty good, especially the books. The only scenes that didn't really look good were some of the scenes wear it was obvious by the lighting that there was a matte shot of the miniaturized people against a real background. Even then, it's not terrible, just noticeable because of the high definition print.KING KONG'S TEAM: Merian C. Cooper, King Kong's producer, is the producer of this film along with Dale Van Every. Ernest B. Shoedsack, the director of 'King Kong (1933)' is the director of this film.PRELUDE TO WORLD WAR II: This movie accidentally references two things (sort of) that would come to pass in the 'War in the Pacific'. The radium mine is used for Dr. Cyclops' machines. This is a premonition of sorts of the nuclear bombs that were to come. The other reference is the appearance of Dr. Cyclops. I don't want to get myself in trouble with Progressive Police and I'll just say that the character looks very much like a caricature of the time period of a certain group of people that live along the Pacific Rim.HE HAD IT COMING: Dr. Bulfinch was incredibly uncooperative considering his predicament. In a way, he reminded me of all those movies in which you see the hero tied up, imprisoned and being readied for execution, telling his captor, "When I get free, I'm going to kill you!". I don't know why the captor doesn't just eliminate these people on the spot but that's a discussion for another day. Bulfinch basically tells Thorkel that he is going to turn him in. In addition, Bulfinch knows that Thorkel is unethical and evil. He had already said as much. He even gives him the name Cyclops. So why would you antagonize someone like that? Bulfinch must have led a charmed life or at least a life in which he never knew an evil person. What did he think was going to happen?HUH?: In reference to the end of the above paragraph in which I say "What did he think was going to happen?" I actually thought that Dr. Thorkel was using chloroform. I didn't realize he actually was killing Bulfinch.A DAY AT THE ZOO: That's what it felt like every time an animal showed up. I just kept getting the impression that we were at the zoo. It looked as if the gang was visiting attractions every time they came across another animal. This just wasn't a good job by the director. I felt sorry for some of those animals and birds during the storm. That bear did not look threatening at all. It looked as if it wanted to play.MARY ROBINSON & THE GATOR SCENE DOES THE TIME WARP: Was this movie made in 1940 or 2020? In that alligator scene, it could have been either year. Scene starts out in 1940 with Mary being the typical woman, who screams at the sight of bug, doing nothing but tending the fire, while the boys do all the hard work. Then somehow it becomes 2020 and Mary becomes the super smart, super brave, super resourceful, super strong female protagonist risking life and limb by dangling herself right in the mouth of an alligator, just so the pathetic, weak and dumb soy boys can run and grab some wood. Yep... Mary warps right into 2020 without losing a beat.UNINTENTIONALLY FUNNY: Pedro getting shot just looked comical. That was probably the worst special effects shot of the movie. Not only did Pedro look like a toy falling off a shelf (which is what it was). Pedro is no more than a foot tall and gets blasted with a shotgun! There isn't a drop of blood to be seen. I get it... it's 1940... Hays Code... suspend disbelief... it still looks bad.AM I MISSING SOMETHING? I am totally confused about the scene in which Dr. Thorkel goes hunting for the escaped group. Thorkel shows up with the container he uses to keep his miniaturized subjects. Yet, he shows up with a shotgun and immediately murders one of them and then attempts to burn to death the remaining three. So what did he need the container for? He even says he is proud of them for being resourceful. What makes matters worse...JUST KILL ME NOW: ...The group escapes by imprisoning themselves??? What if Thorkel checked or opened the arm bag? How did they know it was empty to begin with? OK, so maybe I'm getting a bit carried away. It's just that this movie started out well and seemed to get sillier the longer it went.NOT IN TUNE: I don't like the soundtrack at all. I know it was 1940 and they hadn't mastered this sort of thing yet. Too often, it sounded like a soundtrack from a Disney movie or a romantic comedy. This sort of thing is out of place in a movie in which a mad doctor is murdering people.BILL STOCKTON'S LAST STAND: Bill says he is going to stop running and make a stand because Bulfinch and Pedro stopped running. Uh... not exactly... You see Bulfinch was running but he got caught in a net and you see... Pedro... well he was running too... but then he got cornered and turned into a toy figure... and well... that was that...THEY COULD HAVE AT LEAST CASHED IN: Steve Baker returns with Mary and Bill and tells the duo not to say anything about what happened. Wait... What???... Why not?!? Steve was only interested in looking for a mine. He found it... and at that, a mine that would make him wealthy beyond his dreams. Now he doesn't care? Dr. Mary and Bill have in their hands a machine that would make them fabulously wealthy. I don't get it, why would they be afraid to tell anyone? Who would think they were crazy when they had all the evidence including the machine and the notes? Almost makes you feel sorry for Dr. Thorkel. His life work will never see the light of day.CONCLUSIONS: If you are looking to purchase this release for it's picture then I'd recommend you do so. The picture is excellent. The extra's aren't that impressive but you do get an audio commentary by a film historian that is very knowledgeable.This is a movie that has some impressive visual effects for its time period. There are some bad effects mixed in but all the good effects easily nullify the few poor ones. The set design is top notch as well. The plot leaves something to be desired... at least in my opinion.COMEDY OR TRAGEDY?:My biggest issue with this movie is the direction. The movie seems to be confused as to whether it wants to be a serious science fiction/horror drama or a Disney movie. The soundtrack contributes to this. The movie opens with a very sinister scene but then follows with many light-hearted scenes. The movie becomes so whimsical that it caused me to not realize when a person, Bulfinch, was being murdered. When we see our heroes dressed in togas made out of handkerchiefs, it's comical. The soundtrack has a comical tone. We see the group doing activities that the directions makes seem comical. I suppose this could just be the style of the director. It is the same director of the blockbuster 'King Kong'. That movie has light hearted moments as well in a movie that is basically a tragedy.RECOMMENDATIONS: IF YOU LIKE THIS THEN TRY...:-The Devil Doll (1936) - I think that this movie is surprisingly good.-The Incredible Shrinking Man (1957) - A classic science fiction movie with a decidedly different tone than the other movies on this list.-Attack of the Puppet People (1958) - An interesting and underrated (hate using this term) movie which has pretty much the same premise as Dr. Cyclops.-The 3 Worlds of Gulliver (1960) - A movie based on 3 of Gulliver's adventures including one in which he is a miniature person in a land of large people.-Fantastic Voyage (1966) - Another science fiction classic in which miniaturized people, doctors and/or surgeons, enter a human body with the purpose of saving a persons life.RATINGS:Plot: 6/10 or 3 stars - The plot really isn't all that excitingPicture: 9/10 or 5 stars - Very impressiveSFX: 9/10 or 5 stars - Received and Academy Award nomination and it deserved it.Extra's: 4/10 or 2 stars - Basically you get an audio commentary.Overall: 4 Stars

Great price!

Solid Jungle/sci-fi/horror mash-up with a simply mind-blowing Technicolor presentation. Im talking Wizard of Oz level.Cool special effects as well. Definitely a B-movie ...but given A-list technical credits (the supporting cast is pretty dull...but Albert Dekker is suitably disturbing in his legendary mad doctor role).

I enjoyed this movie.There are some really cool scenes like when Dr. Cyclops puts on his helmet and turns on his cool machine. It gives a really eerie effect.The actor who plays the doctor is very well cast and must certainly go down as one of the classic villains in horror history.The down side is it takes what could be a true story (shrinking people) and puts in things that are impossible.For example Doc Cyclops first dresses his little friends in very simple clothes made out of hankerchiefs.But somehow in just a few hours they inexplicibly stack up a bunch of books that are bigger than they are to open the door and then create all new cloths for themselves. These aren't just simple clothes either like the girl has a nice blue dress.Also when they do this it seems like they are actually enjoying themselves like they are having a good time.But after that it gets more realistic again.Except for those few things I mentioned above this is a believeable story and could really happen.Recommended further viewing:The MansterThe Thing (from another world)The Four Skulls Of Jonathan DrakeHorror HotelThe Blob (with Steve McQueen)The Flesh EatersThe Indestructible ManThe Brain That Wouldn't DieNot Of This Earth (original)The Incredible Shrinking ManIT ! (The Terror From Beyond Space)Invasion Of The Saucer MenThe Hideous Sun DemonThe Fly / The Return Of The Fly / The Curse Of The FlyJeff Marzano The Incredible Shrinking Man (1957)

Kino Lorber Studio Classics released this 1940 sci-fi tale starring Albert Dekker as the title character in this fine 4K master, HD upgrade from the Universal studios DVD set, originally one of five films included in the "The Classic Sci-Fi Ultimate Collection Volume 2". Scream Factory has most films from both volumes, though this(and one other) Kino Lorber managed to acquire.Directed by Ernest Schoedsack, who had helmed the classic "King Kong", this film is nowhere in that league, though has the distinction of being filmed in technicolor. Contains the theatrical trailer and a film historian commentary by Richard Harland Smith

I had only ever seen this film on B&W TV, but knew it was one of the first sci-fi films shot in Technicolor. The use of oversized props and rear screen projection are amazing to this day, and even more so in color. A nicely restored print that all here thoroughly enjoyed. Recommended for science fiction fans and those who just love odd older movies.

Somewhat rare 1939 sci-fi has some of the King Kong creators returning for this mad scientist film, he's doing shrinking experiments in the jungle and takes down some colleagues. Was very impressed by the picture quality on the BD. This was an early technicolor film and it really popped especially the eerie early scenes bathed in green light. *Spoiler* The mood really jarringly swings on this from campy lighthearted musical queues to seriousness when the good Doctor kills his counterpart and blows away another member of the party with a shot-gun. Yikes. Thankfully in the end the rest of the group make it back and pretty well gloss over the deaths as they moon at each other, hurrah! Recommended. (j4.)

I have had this video on a 10 movie DVD box set for some time and it is of very good quality. Me being me wanted to upgrade to Blu-ray. I am very pleased to say the transfer is of in my opinion excellent. The picture and sound quality cannot be any better given the age of this movie. It was first released to cinemas in 1940 and has worn very well.I would recommend it to anyone who likes Sci-fi fantasy films I think you will not be disappointed.

I had expected more of a thriller/horror type B Movie and it would've been had it not been for the soundtrack. The music sounds like it was composed for a comedy...... Such a shame. It was done so much better in The Incredible Shrinking Man.

Brilliant special effects, superb picture quality.I am sure this was the movie that inspired Irwin Allan's "Land of the Giants"

classic sci fi really enjoyed seeing this after many years would recommend

This is a great little film to watch, and its in colour!