82 Captive Wild Woman ( 1943 )

This  one  is  much  better, giving  an  interesting  twist  to  the  ape -man/ mad  scientist  genre.

Dr  Sigmund  Walters  ( John  Carradine )  is  a  respected  endocrinologist  who  is  secretly  using  secretions  from  his  patients  to  test  out  his  mad  theories. When  he  takes  on  a  girl  whose  sister  works  for  a  circus  he  is  captivated  by  the  gorilla  Cheeta  who  animal  trainer  Fred  Mason  ( Milburn  Stone )  has  mostly  tamed. He  arranges  for  the  kidnap  of  the  gorilla  and  turns  her  temporarily  into  a  beautiful  woman - a  bit  different  to  Lugosi  sticking  some  furry  sideburns  on -  who  can  help  Mason  tame  his  lions.

It  sounds  very  silly  and  it  is  but  it's   also   well-made  even  if  some  of  the  special  effect  shots  are  used  more  than  once.

Evelyn  Ankers  ( as  Beth  Colman )

Sex : No more  than  a  quick  clinch

Death : Survives

The  statuesque  Anglo-American  actress  was  born  in  Chile  and  had  an  undistinguished  c.v.  until  1941  when  she  appeared  in  The  Wolf  Man  and  found  her  niche  in  horror  films. She  retired  in  1950  to  become  a  housewife . She  moved  to  Hawaii  when  her  husband  Richard  Denning  got  a  regular  role  in  Hawaii  Five - O  and  died  there  in  1985  of  ovarian  cancer. She  was  67.

Acquanetta   ( as  Paula  Dupree )

Sex : No  but  she  looks  great  in  her  costume

Death :  Paula's  jealous  rage  triggers  a  morph  back  into  Cheeta  so  she  ceases  to  exist.

Acquanetta  claimed  to  be  a  Native  American    who  had  ditched  her  forename  Burnu. The  more  likely  truth  is  that  she  was  Mildred  Davenport  from  Pennsylvania. She  became  a  model  in  New  York  before  signing  for  Universal  in  1942. Her  film   career  was  very  brief  but  eventually  she  found  the  right  partner  and  became  a  local  celebrity  in  Arizona  on  radio  and  TV. She  died  of  Alzheimers  in  2004  aged  83.

Martha  Vickers  ( as  Dorothy  Colman )

Sex : No

Death : Survives

Matha  ( billed  here  under  her  real  surname  MacVicar )  was  also  a  former  model, just  beginning  her  film  career  here. She  graduated  to  better  roles, notably  in  The  Big  Sleep  and   was  married  to  Micky  Rooney  for  two  years  but  her  career  stalled  in  the  mid-fifties. She  died  of  cancer  in  1971 aged  46.

Fay  Helm  ( as  Nurse  Strand )

Sex :  No

Death : Killed  ( offscreen  )  by  Dr  Walters  to  provide  brain  material  for  Cheeta's  transformation

Fay  again  fails  to  make  it  to  the  final  reel.