Dr. Cyclops

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Dr. Cyclops
Directed by	Ernest B. Schoedsack
Written by	Tom Kilpatrick
Starring	Thomas Coley, Victor Kilian, Janice Logan, Charles Halton, and Albert Dekker.
Release date(s)	1940
Running time	75 min.
Language	English
Allmovie profile

Dr. Cyclops is a 1940 horror film directed by Ernest B. Schoedsack, starring Thomas Coley, Victor Kilian, Janice Logan, Charles Halton, Frank Yaconelli and Albert Dekker.

[edit] Plot summary

Four scientists - mining engineers Bill Stockton (Coley) and Steve Baker (Kilian) and biologists Mary Mitchell (Logan) and Dr. Bullfinch (Halton) - and their assistant, Pedro (Yaconelli) are summoned by Dr Alexander Thorkel (Dekker) to his laboratory in the Peruvian jungle. But when they arrive they find Thorkel has brought them all the way there only to identify crystals under his microscope, because his own eyesight is too poor for him to see them himself. Insulted, they set up camp in Thorkel’s stockade until he will tell them more about the experiments he is engaged in. When he finds them snooping in his laboratory, he angrily locks them inside his atomic generator. And when they emerge they find they have been shrunken to twelve inches tall. At first willing to play-act the role of benevolent despot with his miniaturized captives, Thorkel reveals the more sinister side of his personality by abruptly murdering Bullfinch in cold blood (easily the film's most frightening sequence) because the effects of the ray are wearing off. The rest of the picture details the escape efforts of the four pint-sized protagonists as they hack their way through a jungle of gigantic foliage and do battle with oversized wildlife. By morning, they attempt to cross a river via small boat but are interrupted by an alligator. Thorkel then comes in, killing Pedro and igniting the grass to kill the rest. The fugitives are able to hide in one of Thorkel’s specimen cases and are unknowingly brought back to his lab. While Thorkel goes to check on an apparatus he has set above a bottomless pit, Bill, Steve and Mary prepare to kill him with his own shotgun when he lies in bed. However, he instead falls asleep at his desk. Steve then attempts to steal Thorkel's glasses, without which he is nearly sightless. Accidentally alerted, Thorkel chases the shrunken trio to the bottomless pit and nearly slips. The heroes take advantage of the distraction to cut his rope, causing Thorkel to plunge down into the pit.

Months later, Bill, Steve and Mary are seen again, restored to their original size.

[edit] External links

• Dr. Cyclops at the Internet Movie Database
• Footage From Dr. Cyclops