Chipper newlywed Joyce Webster (a typically fine and robust portrayal by the ever lovely Beverly Garland) gets dumped by her husband Paul (dashing hunk Richard Crane) on their wedding night. Joyce tracks Paul down to a remote swampland area of Louisiana and discovers much to her dismay that Paul is slowly mutating into a hideous alligator man hybrid. Director Roy Del Ruth, working from a silly, yet sincere script by Orville H. Hampton, maintains a constant pace throughout, treats the admittedly absurd premise with dead seriousness, and does an expert job of creating a flavorful brooding bayou atmosphere. Lon Chaney, Jr. contributes a lively turn as gruff, hearty, lecherous hook-handed local yokel troublemaker Manon, plus there are nice supporting performances by Frieda Inescort as Paul's stern, but loyal mother Lavinia Hawthorne, George MacReady as earnest physician Dr. Mark Sinclair, and Douglas Kennedy as helpful psychiatrist Dr. Wayne MacGregor. Cranes deserves extra praise for effectively evoking sympathy for the grotesque, yet pitiable Paul. Karl Struss' crisp black and white cinematography, the rousing climax, Irving Getz's booming overwrought score, and the uncompromisingly downbeat ending further enhance the entertainment value of this immensely fun nonsense.

ALLIGATOR PEOPLE is one of dozens and dozens of 1950s schlock horror films. Most of these involve giant bugs or mammals--this one involves human-alligator hybrids! For what it is, this film is actually pretty engaging. Now this isn't to say that this is a great film (it sure isn't),but it is better than the average film of this type. It seems that the movie probably had a bit bigger budget than usual for the genre, as the special effects were a tad better than I'd expected.

Beverly Garland stars as a young woman determined to discover what happened to her husband who disappeared on their honeymoon. What little evidence there is leads her to a freaky house in the middle of nowhere in the bayous of Louisiana. Despite everyone there insisting that they know nothing, Garland is determined and eventually discovers the truth--her hubby is an alligator man--like a man with patches of gator skin!! All this leads to a funny finale, where her hybrid husband undergoes another medical procedure--after which, he looks simply amazing!! You have to see it to believe it!

Overall, this film is a bit more literate and intelligent than you might expect for the genre. I liked the way the story came out and much of the story is about as plausible as you can make a gator man story! However, periodically, the film just got extremely stupid--and I mean REALLLLY stupid! My favorite part was when Garland got off the train in the middle of no where. There was no one at the station and the only other thing on the platform was a wooden crate emblazoned with signs such as "Warning--Radioactivity" or "Cabalt--DANGER"--and yet someone just left it sitting there to await eventual pickup!! Worse yet, when Garland can't find a ride, she just sits on top of the crate! I also was amazed at how badly Lon Chaney, Jr.'s acting and role was. Most people in the film behaved as if this were a bigger budget and serious film--Chaney acted like he was in an Ed Wood, Jr. film AND he'd just been given an over-dose of acid! In real life, Chaney was an alcoholic--you wonder if maybe this affected his performance.

This film is entertaining yet bad. Not painful bad, but so funny that you can't stop watching bad. As one who likes this silly genre, I was definitely not disappointed--enjoying all the silliness you'd expect from this sort of thing.

By the way, at the end when our fated hero is fighting with the alligator in the swamp, look carefully. If you slow down the film, you can clearly see that the gator's mouth is taped shut!

This film starts with Beverly Garland recounting under hypnosis to doctors Bruce Bennett and Douglas Kennedy some terrible events occurring during a recent visit to the bayous. Like the fact that her newlywed husband has turned into an alligator man.

Mad scientist George MacReady who keeps his lab on the sassafras and magnolia plantation of Frieda Inescourt is doing all kinds of experiments looking for disease cures. Alligator serum seems promising and he experiments and turns Garland's husband Richard Crane into said alligator man. Something and someone better kept in the bayous.

George MacReady who played some nasty villains in some really good films looking pained, plays it straight. He had just the kind of voice and countenance for horror and a few them toward the end of his career.

Some pretty good players actually managed to keep a straight face while reciting all this claptrap dialog. With the glorious exception of Lon Chaney, Jr. who lost a hand to an alligator. He's a swamp dweller who has a hook for a right hand in the same way Captain Hook does. He bellows his way through the claptrap more than likely stewed to the gills as he was one of the great tipplers of Hollywood. If I wasn't one already I'd become one if my agent got me this film.

If you like bad 50s science fiction look no further.