Dr. Cyclops

In the Amazon, a mad scientist shrinks a group who came to his camp at his request to corroborate his findings. Their interest in his work--and perhaps the mineral that assists heavily in the success of his work--puts them in harm's way and this mad scientist doesn't want to share.

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"Are we country doctors? You do realize what we have here? In our very hands, we have the cosmic force of creation itself. In our very hands, we can shape life, take it apart, put it together again, mould it like putty."
--Dr. Thorkel (Albert Dekker)

Yeah, similar to Frankenstein in some respects, right? No matter, Dekker (whose death is cloaked in mystery and notoriety, forever sordidly tied to Hollywood lore, much in the same way as David Carradine) is such devious fun as a master biologist lured to the Amazon by a protégé who discovered radium, the content's initial familiarity gives way to giant human and his danger towards miniaturized humans who are victim to a shrinking ray. The cast is rather minuscule in comparison to Dekker, who simply has the primo part in the film. He contentiously makes a decision that anyone who poses a threat to his experiments and research into the miracles of science based on radium deposits drilled from the earth will either be involuntary participants or die.

Dekker's Dr. Thorkel requests the aid of two biologists and a mineralogist, mainly for their eyes and intellect for a specific purpose: to identify results under a microscope that would lend credence to his findings on the shrinking ray. Once they do, he wishes them gone, much to their unamusement. In fact Charles Halton's Dr. Bullfinch, a university biologist of significant prestige (and who is quite haughty and high on himself), finds his calling and quick dismissal after giving such credence insulting. Janice Logan, his accompanying biologist / colleague, Dr. Mary Robinson, furthermore feels as Bullfinch does: they have come a long way and want to have active roles in his current experiments. Thomas Coley, as mineralogist Stockton, isn't keen on coming with them as a replacement for another who couldn't make it, but Mary insists (using money problems as a means of persuasion). Needing the mules currently owned by Steve (Victor Kilian) to travel to Thorkel's camp, he will provide if allowed to tag along. Finally you have Pedro (Frank Yaconelli), Thorkel's servant, eventually rendered a shrunken member of the group just because he discovers that his boss had miniaturized his horse! Because this group all has an interest in the possible notoriety and profitability of the discovered radium, they pose a threat to Thorkel (he wants all the glory) and must be put in their place. He shanghais them into a room where the shrink ray renders them humans of doll size.

Let's get down to the nitty gritty. This is a special effects film with a diabolical psychotic scientist shrinking down people and eventually hunting them down for extermination. They are nuisances to his work, and when they refuse to participate in measurements and such, Thorkel sees them as reasons to be done away with.

The effects are quite impressive considering when they were made. 1940. Not bad at all. The way Dekker grabs miniature Halton and eventually chloroforms him to death. Or when you see a rooster, caiman, bear, cat, and pet dog all opposite the tiny versions of the cast. They are quite exciting, adventurous, elaborate, inventive, and suspenseful. King Kong had set quite a bar before Doctor Cyclops, and it certainly offers a promising sign of Hollywood ingenuity to come.