The Brute Man
Encyclopedia
The Brute Man is a 1946 American horror thriller film starring Rondo Hatton
as the Creeper, a murderer seeking revenge against the people he holds responsible for the disfigurement of his face. Directed by Jean Yarbrough
, the film features Tom Neal
and Jan Wiley as a married pair of friends the Creeper blames for his deformities. Jane Adams
also starred as a blind pianist for whom the Creeper tries to raise money for an operation to restore her vision.
The film was produced by Universal Pictures
near the end of their horror film period. The screenplay was written by George Bricker and M. Coates Webster, based on a story by Dwight V. Babcock. The Brute Man is a quasi-sequel to House of Horrors
(1946) and explains the origin of the Creeper, who is handsome and popular until his face is disfigured in an accident. The back story is based partially on the real-life story of Hatton, whose facial features were the result of acromegaly
.
As the result of a merger, Universal Pictures adopted a policy against developing any more B movies. Additionally, following the death of Hatton from acromegaly
, the studio feared accusations of exploiting the star's illness. For these reasons, Universal sold The Brute Man for $125,000 to Producers Releasing Corporation
, which distributed the film.
Considered a lost film
for decades after its release, it was eventually rediscovered and first released to home video in 1982. The Brute Man received generally negative reviews, drawing particular criticism for Hatton's poor performance. The film was featured in a 1996 episode of the comedy television series, Mystery Science Theater 3000
.
), a mysterious killer with a hideously disfigured face. The Creeper attacks and murders Professor Cushman (John Hamilton
), a professor from the nearby Hampton University. Later that night, the killer approaches a woman named Joan Bemis (Janelle Johnson
) in front of her home and identifies himself as Hal Moffet. Joan screams hysterically at the sight of him until he is driven to kill her. When police cars approach, the Creeper climbs the fire escape of a city tenement building to escape and enters the apartment of Helen Paige (Jane Adams
), a blind pianist. Unable to see the Creeper's deformed face, Helen is not afraid of the intruder, even when he admits he is fleeing from the police. When officers knock on her door, Helen encourages him to hide in her bedroom, where he escapes through the window.
The next day, a general store delivery boy named Jimmy (Jack Parker) listens to a radio report about the Creeper's murders. The cantankerous store-owner Mr. Haskins (Oscar O'Shea
) arrives with a hand-written letter slipped under the door requesting groceries be delivered to a nearby dock. Jimmy brings the groceries to the dock and leaves them at a door, where the Creeper takes them into his hideout. But, when Jimmy tries to spy on him through a window, the Creeper sneaks up on Jimmy and kills him. Meanwhile, at the police station, Captain M.J. Donelly (Donald MacBride
) and Lieutenant Gates (Peter Whitney
) receive complaints from the mayor's office about their failure to arrest the Creeper, but they deflect the blame. The two officers then get a call about the missing delivery boy and head to the dock to investigate.
The Creeper sneaks out and escapes while Donelly and Gates infiltrate his hideout and discover Jimmy's corpse. Donnelly also finds a newspaper clipping with a man named Hal Moffet and two of his friends, Clifford Scott (Tom Neal
) and Virginia Rogers (Jan Wiley), during their college days. The police visit Clifford and Virginia, who are now married and wealthy. Clifford tells the officers during college, Hal was a handsome college football star who competed with Clifford for Virginia's affections. One day, while helping Hal prepare for a chemistry exam, a jealous Clifford deliberately gave him the wrong answers, resulting in Hal being asked by Professor Cushman to remain after class for extra work. While working on a chemistry experiment, Clifford walks by the window with Virginia to boast. Furious, Hal, hurls a beaker to the ground, accidentally causing an explosion that disfigures his face. Donnelly speculates that Hal is the Creeper, and that he killed Professor Cushman and Joan because he holds them partially responsible for his accident.
Meanwhile, the Creeper goes to a pawn store to buy a brooch for Helen, and kills the pawnbroker (Charles Wagenheim) following a fight. He later brings the brooch to Helen, who he realizes for the first time is blind. Hal learns she needs $3,000 for surgery that would restore her eyesight. When Helen tries to touch his face, Hal angrily storms out. He then goes to the Scott residence and demands money from Clifford and Virginia, who he blames for his disfigurement. Clifford draws a gun and shoots Hal twice in the stomach, but the weakened Hal manages to strangle Clifford to death before escaping with Virginia's jewels. He brings them to Helen, who is concerned about Hal's injuries, but he flees before she can learn he is shot.
Helen brings the jewels to an appraiser, who recognizes them as having recently been reported stolen. Donelly and Gates bring Helen into the station, where they inform her Hal is the Creeper and accuse her of harboring a murderer. Reluctantly, she agrees to help them capture them. The next day, the newspapers run stories about Helen cooperating with police, which infuriates Hal. Feeling betrayed, he sneaks back into her apartment and finds her playing the piano. Sneaking up from behind, Hal is about to strangle her when the police seize and arrest him. The film ends with Donelly and Gates assuring Helen she will get the operation she needs.
stories and novels, Babock started writing for Universal Pictures in 1943, where he worked primarily on horror films. The Brute Man marked the last of nine films Babcock wrote for Universal before he left for a job at Columbia Pictures
. Bricker wrote several screenplays in a variety of genres, from horror films and mysteries to comedies, and worked primarily as a freelancer jumping from studio to studio. Babcock and Brister previously worked together on several low-budget horror films, including The Devil Bat
(1940), House of Dracula
(1945), Pillow of Death
(1945), She-Wolf of London
(1946) and House of Horrors
(1946). Bricker and Webster both previously wrote the screenplays for Universal Pictures films featuring The Brute Man star Rondo Hatton: Bricker penned House of Horrors, and Webster wrote The Jungle Captive
(1947), the third in a series of films about an ape that transforms into a beautiful woman.
The Brute Man is a quasi-sequel to House of Horrors, in which Hatton played a deformed madman named "The Creeper" who kills people by breaking their backs. The events of The Brute Man are set before House of Horrors and includes the Creeper's backstory, explaining how he became deformed and why he has a murderous personality. Hatton also played a disfigured killer called the Creeper in The Pearl of Death
, a 1944 Sherlock Holmes
film, but neither House of Horrors nor The Brute Man have any connection to that film. In establishing a backstory explaining the Creeper's motives, The Brute Man' s script seeks to humanize the character and elicit more sympathy for him than the Creeper's other films, in which he is generally portrayed as a two-dimensional murderer. The origin of the Creeper is based partially on autobiographical details from Hatton's real life. Before becoming disfigured by an accident, the Creeper was a handsome young college football hero. Hatton himself was also a football player at the University of Florida
before suffering from the effects of acromegaly, a syndrome that causes abnormal bone growth due to excess growth hormone from the pituitary gland
. In the film, the character is disfigured by chemicals during a laboratory accident in school. While Hatton's real-life abnormalities stemmed from acromegaly, it was often incorrectly stated by Universal Pictures publicity materials that they were the result of exposure to mustard gas attacks during Hatton's service in World War I
.
The film's setting, which appears to be a major city, is never identified in The Brute Man, but it has been suggested that it is Manhattan
, since that is where House of Horrors took place. Commentators have noted similarities between The Brute Man and other films, including the Charlie Chaplin
silent
comedy City Lights
(1931), and the Universal Pictures horror film Bride of Frankenstein
(1935). City Lights, like The Brute Man, included a protagonist (Chaplin's Tramp
character) who falls in love with a blind girl and seeks money for an operation to restore her eyesight. Likewise, the scenes between the Creeper and Helen Paige share a similar premise and dialogue as the scenes between the Frankenstein's monster
and the blind hermit in Bride of Frankenstein. In both films, the protagonist is shunned by society based on their physical appearance, but find companionship in a blind loner who knows nothing about their deformities. In both instances, the protagonist is first drawn to their blind companions by music. The Creeper heard Helen playing the piano, while the Frankenstein's monster heard the hermit playing the violin. Commentators have noted other similarities between the two films. For example, the Creeper smashes a mirror after looking at his misshapen face, much like the Monster lashes out at his reflection in a waterfall pool.
(1945), was cast as Clifford Scott. Having appeared in dozens of low-budget films throughout the early-1940s, Neal began to became known as the "King of the B Pictures". In The Brute Man, Neal portrayed Scott both in his older years and in the flashback scenes, where the character appears as a high school student. To differentiate between the two, Neal was fitted with make-up and costumes to make him better resemble a middle-aged man during his non-flashback scenes. Jane Adams was cast as the blind pianist Helen Paige. Adams had appeared in several Universal Pictures films before, including the Lon Chaney, Jr.
film House of Dracula
(1945).
Jan Wiley was cast as Scott's wife, Virginia. Although Wiley had appeared in several movies throughout the 1930s and 1940s, The Brute Man marked one of her final film performances. It was also recalled as one of her most memorable film appearances along with another Universal Pictures B horror film, She-Wolf of London. However, her performance in The Brute Man proved to be a less than memorable one for her, so much so that in an interview shortly before Wiley's death in 1993, she could barely remember even having appeared in the film. Donald MacBride
and Peter Whitney
portray the police officers Captain M.J. Donelly and Lieutenant Gates, respectively. Their roles serve as comic relief
for the film. Their characters portray the incompetence of the police force in their inability to find and arrest the Creeper and their focus on passing blame for their failures rather than diverting resources toward his arrest.
in the later years of their successful production of horror films, including Dracula
(1931), Frankenstein
(1931) and The Mummy
(1932). While those films were great critical and financial successes, The Brute Man was filmed during what was widely considered the low point of the studio's horror film period. It was produced by Ben Pivar and directed by Jean Yarbrough, both of whom had worked on House of Horrors and many other horror films for Universal over the years. The Brute Man was filmed in 13 days, during November 1945. The flashback scenes, which depict how Hal Moffet became disfigured and ultimately became the Creeper, were all shot on the final day of filming. Jane Adams said Hatton's acromegaly was becoming progressively worse by the time The Brute Man was filmed and it made acting difficult for him. Hatton had trouble remembering his lines, focusing on his performance and responding to the other actors. Hatton occasionally appears confused even on screen, like during one scene where says yes while shaking his head no. Adams called him a friendly and thoughtful man, but called him "so pathetic to work with [and] almost autistic
".
Maury Gertsman
, who handled the cinematography for nearly all Universal Pictures films from the mid-1940s to mid-1950s, worked as director of photographer on The Brute Man. Since the film focused on a disfigured serial killer, Gertsman sought to give the movie a dark, diseased look appropriate for the film's subject matter and urban setting. Although primarily a horror thriller film, Gertsman uses several film noir
elements in his photography, including shadowed lighting, unbalanced compositions and chiaroscuro
contrasts between light and dark. As a result, The Brute Man features a bleak, at times dismal visual atmosphere. Hans J. Salter
, who composed the scores for many of the Universal Pictures films of the 1940s and 1950s, worked as composer for The Brute Man as well. Salter's score for the film strongly resembled the music he composed for the Universal horror films Black Friday
(1940) and The Invisible Man's Revenge
(1944). Philip Cahn edited The Brute Man. Raymond Kessler and Ralph Slosser worked a dialogue director and assistant director, respectively, while John B. Goodman and Abraham Grossman worked as art directors. Other crew included Russell A. Gausman and Edward G. Robinson as set decorators, Joe Lapis as sound technician, Jack P. Pierce as makeup director, Carmen Dirigo as hair stylist and Vera West as gowns supervisor.
, one of the smaller film studios from Hollywood's Poverty Row
. In 1945, Universal merged with the company International Pictures, and the new organization adopted a policy against developing any more B movie
s, including Westerns, horror films, serials and movies running 70 minutes or less. This resulted in the firing of numerous production personnel members and the sale of several already-developed films, including The Brute Man. The sale was also perpetuated in part by the death of star Rondo Hatton. He died as a result of his acromegaly on February 2, 1946, about eight months before The Brute Man was first screened, making it his final film. Universal feared releasing the film so soon after his death would lead to accusations that the studio was exploiting the illness that ultimately killed Hatton. Now embarrassed by the film, the studio was anxious to sell it.
Universal sold the film to PRC for $125,000, which represented the negative cost plus interest. The transaction occurred around August 1946, but was not made public until it was screened for the trade press on October 1, marking its official release date. The sale occurred so quickly and hastily on the copyright files stores at the Library of Congress
, the name Universal Pictures was crossed out and Pathe Industries, PRC's corporate body, was written in its place in pencil. Some pressbook advertisements circulated for the film still included the Universal Pictures logo. PRC had previously produced a horror film about acomegaly called The Monster Maker
(1944), in which a mad scientist injects human subjects with the disease as part of his experiments.
trade journal, found that the film had some suspenseful moments and could be enjoyed by fans of the genre, but that the overall effect was "artificial and stagy". The review stated most audiences "will find it tiresome in plot and in treatment [...] in fact, some of the action and dialogue may provoke laughs, instead of serious response." New York Post
critic Arthur Winsten criticized the story and the acting of Rondo Hatton, commenting that his facial disfigurements alone did not make up for his poor acting skills: "Just as clothes don't make a gentleman, so a face doesn't make both a villain and continuous thrills. All this picture has is a face, handicapped by encircling improbabilities." In a review published in 1947, Wanda Hale of the New York Daily News called it "a crude production [...] compiled of bits from various B thrillers". In contrast, Mandel Herbstman of The Motion Picture Herald, said although the film used standard thriller film devices, The Brute Man "stands favorably" in its genre and director Jean Yarbrough kept the film moving at a brisk pace.
Decades after the film's release, contemporary reviews of The Brute Man were similarly negative, with many commentators criticizing the exploitation of Hatton's real-life acromegaly. Film reviewer Leonard Maltin
gave the film one-and-a-half out of four stars. John Stanley, host of the KTVU
television show Creature Features, described it as a dull and "shoddy thriller", criticizing both the performances and the mood from the direction and photography. The authors of Universal Horrors: The Studio's Classic Films, 1931-1946 were highly critical of the film's dialogue, and claimed much of the script seemed to be "time-killing stuff" to pad the film's already-short running time. They wrote that Hatton's acting was so bad, it "wouldn't be acceptable even at a pre-production cast get-together and table reading, much less in the movie itself".
Donald C. Willis, a writer who wrote about horror and science fiction films, described the horror scenes as completely lacking suspense, and said the film was "so flimsy that its three co-plots seem to be operating independently of one another". Keith Brown of the University of Edinburgh
, in his paper "Notes on the Terror Film", argued that The Brute Man is an example of what he calls the "terror film", a genre distinguishable from the horror film due to its emphasis on naturally occurring sources of fear, rather than fantastical or otherworldly horror elements. Brown wrote that the Creeper character "blurs the boundary between human and animal on account of his grotesque, deformed features, but is natural and thus a figure of terror".
. However, the film was eventually discovered and mass produced by Admit One, a home video distribution company that focused specifically on lesser-known B films. The Brute Man was first released on Betamax
and VHS
in 1982 by Admit One. It has been reissued on VHS several times since then, and was released on laserdisc
format in 1990. The Brute Man was most recently released on VHS by Image Entertainment
in 1999, a year which also marked the first DVD
release of the film, also by Image Entertainment. In his 2004 DVD guide book, Douglas Pratt complimented both the picture and sound transfers of the 1999 DVD release: "The picture looks great. There are a couple shots where a few speckles pop up, but much of the time the image is clean, with deep blacks and sharp, finely graded contrasts." An inexpensive DVD version was also released in 2006 by Cheezy Flicks Entertainment, Inc., which primarily markets B films.
' Rocketeer comic book comic book as well as the 1991 film adaptation, The Rocketeer
. In the film, the seven-foot-tall Tiny Ron Taylor
portrays Lothar, an ugly and murderous henchman for the story's antagonist. Rick Baker, the special makeup effects artist that worked on the film, designed the character's facial make-up resemble Hatton's Creeper character, and Lothar dresses in a dark coat and hat similar to his clothing from The Brute Man.
In 2002, the founders of the website The Classic Horror Film Board created the Rondo Hatton Classic Horror Awards
to honor horror works in film, television and publishing. The awards were named after the actor, and award recipients received statuettes with miniature busts of Hatton as he appeared portraying the Creeper in House of Horrors and The Brute Man. The statuettes were sculpted by illustrator Kerry Gammill
and cast by modeler Tim M. Lindsey.
The Brute Man was featured in a seventh season episode of Mystery Science Theater 3000
, a comedy television series. In the show, the human character Mike Nelson
and his two robots friends, Crow T. Robot
and Tom Servo
, are trapped in a satellite and forced by the mad scientist Dr. Forrester to watch bad films as part of an ongoing scientific experiment. In order to get through the experiment, Mike and the robots make jokes mocking the film as they watch. During the episode, their silhouetted images are superimposed over the film to give the impression that they are sitting in a movie theater as they make their jokes. The Brute Man was the second episode of the seventh season, which was broadcast on Comedy Central
on February 10, 1996. The description for The Brute Man in The Mystery Science Theater 3000 Amazing Colossal Episode Guide, a book by the cast and writers of the series, reads: "A dark film about dark things. Rondo Hatton's swan song; he died just weeks after the film was completed. So murky and dark, it makes M
look like Mrs. Doubtfire
."
Michael J. Nelson
, the show's head writer who also plays the character of the same name, said the staff initially felt strange making jokes at the expense of Rondo Hatton and his real-life illness. However, Nelson said, "Then you realize it's the whole point of the movie: he's a guy with a big ugly face. And he is a terribly bad actor." Paul Chaplin
, another writer with the series, said of the actor's acromegaly: "That fact opens up a large irresolvable issue concerning the movie industry's use of this poor afflicted fellow; he was paid, after all, and movie work is nice work. Yet it can seem exploitative of misfortune." Due to the short running time of The Brute Man, the Mystery Science Theater 3000 episode also included The Chicken of Tomorrow
(1948), a short film about advances in chicken and egg farming. The Chicken of Tomorrow was included in the DVD "Short Collection Volume 1", which itself was included in the Mystery Science Theater 3000 Collection Volume 2 DVD boxset.
Rondo Hatton
Rondo Hatton was an American actor who had a brief, but prolific career playing thuggish bit parts in many Hollywood B-movies. He was known for his brutish facial features which were the result of acromegaly, a disorder of the pituitary gland.-Biography:Hatton was born Rondo K...
as the Creeper, a murderer seeking revenge against the people he holds responsible for the disfigurement of his face. Directed by Jean Yarbrough
Jean Yarbrough
Jean Yarbrough was an American film director.-Biography:He was born in Marianna, the seat of Lee County in southeastern Arkansas. After attending the University of the South in Sewanee, Tennessee, he entered the film business in 1922, first as a propman, but he steadily rose in the ranks to...
, the film features Tom Neal
Tom Neal
Thomas Neal was an American actor best known for appearing in the critically lauded film Detour, a tryst with Barbara Payton and later committing manslaughter.-Career:...
and Jan Wiley as a married pair of friends the Creeper blames for his deformities. Jane Adams
Poni Adams
Jane "Poni" Adams was an American actress in radio, films, and television in the 1940s and 1950s.- Acting career :She was born in San Antonio, Texas, and received a full scholarship to Juilliard, which she turned down to spend years studying at the Pasadena Playhouse...
also starred as a blind pianist for whom the Creeper tries to raise money for an operation to restore her vision.
The film was produced by Universal Pictures
Universal Pictures
-1920:* White Youth* The Flaming Disc* Am I Dreaming?* The Dragon's Net* The Adorable Savage* Putting It Over* The Line Runners-1921:* The Fire Eater* A Battle of Wits* Dream Girl* The Millionaire...
near the end of their horror film period. The screenplay was written by George Bricker and M. Coates Webster, based on a story by Dwight V. Babcock. The Brute Man is a quasi-sequel to House of Horrors
House of Horrors
House of Horrors was a low-budget horror film released by Universal Pictures, starring Rondo Hatton as a madman, named "The Creeper." It was also known as Murder Mansion and in the United Kingdom as Joan Medford is Missing.-Plot:...
(1946) and explains the origin of the Creeper, who is handsome and popular until his face is disfigured in an accident. The back story is based partially on the real-life story of Hatton, whose facial features were the result of acromegaly
Acromegaly
Acromegaly is a syndrome that results when the anterior pituitary gland produces excess growth hormone after epiphyseal plate closure at puberty...
.
As the result of a merger, Universal Pictures adopted a policy against developing any more B movies. Additionally, following the death of Hatton from acromegaly
Acromegaly
Acromegaly is a syndrome that results when the anterior pituitary gland produces excess growth hormone after epiphyseal plate closure at puberty...
, the studio feared accusations of exploiting the star's illness. For these reasons, Universal sold The Brute Man for $125,000 to Producers Releasing Corporation
Producers Releasing Corporation
Producers Releasing Corporation was one of the more lower-end Hollywood film studios on Poverty Row from the late '30s to the mid-'40s. PRC, as it was commonly known, made low-budget B-movies for the lower-half of a double bill. A few of its films have gained a respectable reputation over the...
, which distributed the film.
Considered a lost film
Lost film
A lost film is a feature film or short film that is no longer known to exist in studio archives, private collections or public archives such as the Library of Congress, where at least one copy of all American films are deposited and catalogued for copyright reasons...
for decades after its release, it was eventually rediscovered and first released to home video in 1982. The Brute Man received generally negative reviews, drawing particular criticism for Hatton's poor performance. The film was featured in a 1996 episode of the comedy television series, Mystery Science Theater 3000
Mystery Science Theater 3000
Mystery Science Theater 3000 is an American cult television comedy series created by Joel Hodgson and produced by Best Brains, Inc., that ran from 1988 to 1999....
.
Plot
The police investigate a string of murders committed by the Creeper (Rondo HattonRondo Hatton
Rondo Hatton was an American actor who had a brief, but prolific career playing thuggish bit parts in many Hollywood B-movies. He was known for his brutish facial features which were the result of acromegaly, a disorder of the pituitary gland.-Biography:Hatton was born Rondo K...
), a mysterious killer with a hideously disfigured face. The Creeper attacks and murders Professor Cushman (John Hamilton
John Hamilton (actor)
John Hamilton was an American actor, who appeared in many movies and television programs. He is probably best remembered for his role as the blustery newspaper editor Perry White on the 1950s television program Adventures of Superman.-Biography:Burly, stentorian-voiced John Hamilton was born John...
), a professor from the nearby Hampton University. Later that night, the killer approaches a woman named Joan Bemis (Janelle Johnson
Janelle Johnson
Janelle Johnson was an actress in films of the 1940s. She married actor George Dolenz and was the mother of Micky Dolenz of the 1960s pop group the Monkees. Her English daughter-in-law was Samantha Juste, co-host of BBC television's Top of the Pops in its early days...
) in front of her home and identifies himself as Hal Moffet. Joan screams hysterically at the sight of him until he is driven to kill her. When police cars approach, the Creeper climbs the fire escape of a city tenement building to escape and enters the apartment of Helen Paige (Jane Adams
Jane Adams (actress)
Jane Adams is an American film, television and theatre actress.- Early life :Adams was born in Washington, D.C., the daughter of Janice, an administrative assistant, and William Adams, an engineer. She has a younger brother, Jonathan, and was raised in Wheaton, Illinois and Bellevue, Washington...
), a blind pianist. Unable to see the Creeper's deformed face, Helen is not afraid of the intruder, even when he admits he is fleeing from the police. When officers knock on her door, Helen encourages him to hide in her bedroom, where he escapes through the window.
The next day, a general store delivery boy named Jimmy (Jack Parker) listens to a radio report about the Creeper's murders. The cantankerous store-owner Mr. Haskins (Oscar O'Shea
Oscar O'Shea
Oscar O'Shea was a Canadian-American character actor with over 100 film appearances from 1937 to 1953.- Partial filmography :* Captains Courageous * Double Wedding...
) arrives with a hand-written letter slipped under the door requesting groceries be delivered to a nearby dock. Jimmy brings the groceries to the dock and leaves them at a door, where the Creeper takes them into his hideout. But, when Jimmy tries to spy on him through a window, the Creeper sneaks up on Jimmy and kills him. Meanwhile, at the police station, Captain M.J. Donelly (Donald MacBride
Donald MacBride
Donald MacBride was an American character actor on stage, in films and on TV who launched his career as a teenage singer in vaudeville and went on to be an actor on Broadway. He appeared in nearly 140 films between 1914 and 1955...
) and Lieutenant Gates (Peter Whitney
Peter Whitney
Peter Whitney, was an American actor in film and television. Born as Peter King Engle in Long Branch, New Jersey, Whitney's corpulent, heavy build qualified him to play villains in many Hollywood movies in the 1940s and 1950s.From the late 1950s, he was more prolific playing character roles in...
) receive complaints from the mayor's office about their failure to arrest the Creeper, but they deflect the blame. The two officers then get a call about the missing delivery boy and head to the dock to investigate.
The Creeper sneaks out and escapes while Donelly and Gates infiltrate his hideout and discover Jimmy's corpse. Donnelly also finds a newspaper clipping with a man named Hal Moffet and two of his friends, Clifford Scott (Tom Neal
Tom Neal
Thomas Neal was an American actor best known for appearing in the critically lauded film Detour, a tryst with Barbara Payton and later committing manslaughter.-Career:...
) and Virginia Rogers (Jan Wiley), during their college days. The police visit Clifford and Virginia, who are now married and wealthy. Clifford tells the officers during college, Hal was a handsome college football star who competed with Clifford for Virginia's affections. One day, while helping Hal prepare for a chemistry exam, a jealous Clifford deliberately gave him the wrong answers, resulting in Hal being asked by Professor Cushman to remain after class for extra work. While working on a chemistry experiment, Clifford walks by the window with Virginia to boast. Furious, Hal, hurls a beaker to the ground, accidentally causing an explosion that disfigures his face. Donnelly speculates that Hal is the Creeper, and that he killed Professor Cushman and Joan because he holds them partially responsible for his accident.
Meanwhile, the Creeper goes to a pawn store to buy a brooch for Helen, and kills the pawnbroker (Charles Wagenheim) following a fight. He later brings the brooch to Helen, who he realizes for the first time is blind. Hal learns she needs $3,000 for surgery that would restore her eyesight. When Helen tries to touch his face, Hal angrily storms out. He then goes to the Scott residence and demands money from Clifford and Virginia, who he blames for his disfigurement. Clifford draws a gun and shoots Hal twice in the stomach, but the weakened Hal manages to strangle Clifford to death before escaping with Virginia's jewels. He brings them to Helen, who is concerned about Hal's injuries, but he flees before she can learn he is shot.
Helen brings the jewels to an appraiser, who recognizes them as having recently been reported stolen. Donelly and Gates bring Helen into the station, where they inform her Hal is the Creeper and accuse her of harboring a murderer. Reluctantly, she agrees to help them capture them. The next day, the newspapers run stories about Helen cooperating with police, which infuriates Hal. Feeling betrayed, he sneaks back into her apartment and finds her playing the piano. Sneaking up from behind, Hal is about to strangle her when the police seize and arrest him. The film ends with Donelly and Gates assuring Helen she will get the operation she needs.
Writing
The screenplay for The Brute Man was written by George Bricker and M. Coates Webster based on a story by Dwight V. Babcock. An author of pulp fictionPulp magazine
Pulp magazines , also collectively known as pulp fiction, refers to inexpensive fiction magazines published from 1896 through the 1950s. The typical pulp magazine was seven inches wide by ten inches high, half an inch thick, and 128 pages long...
stories and novels, Babock started writing for Universal Pictures in 1943, where he worked primarily on horror films. The Brute Man marked the last of nine films Babcock wrote for Universal before he left for a job at Columbia Pictures
Columbia Pictures
Columbia Pictures Industries, Inc. is an American film production and distribution company. Columbia Pictures now forms part of the Columbia TriStar Motion Picture Group, owned by Sony Pictures Entertainment, a subsidiary of the Japanese conglomerate Sony. It is one of the leading film companies...
. Bricker wrote several screenplays in a variety of genres, from horror films and mysteries to comedies, and worked primarily as a freelancer jumping from studio to studio. Babcock and Brister previously worked together on several low-budget horror films, including The Devil Bat
The Devil Bat
The Devil Bat is a black-and-white comedy-horror movie which was produced by Producers Releasing Corporation and directed by Jean Yarbrough...
(1940), House of Dracula
House of Dracula
House of Dracula was an American horror film released by Universal Pictures Company in 1945. It was a direct sequel to House of Frankenstein and continued the theme of combining Universal's three most popular monsters: Frankenstein's monster, Count Dracula and The Wolf Man...
(1945), Pillow of Death
Pillow of Death
Pillow of Death was the last of the Inner Sanctum mystery films. The movie stars Lon Chaney, Jr. and Brenda Joyce, was directed by Wallace Fox, and based on a story by Dwight V. Babcock...
(1945), She-Wolf of London
She-Wolf of London (film)
She-Wolf of London is a 1946 horror film produced by Universal Studios, directed by Jean Yarbrough and starring June Lockhart and Don Porter. The title evokes the earlier Werewolf of London , although, unlike its forebear, it is concerned more with mystery and suspense than supernatural horror...
(1946) and House of Horrors
House of Horrors
House of Horrors was a low-budget horror film released by Universal Pictures, starring Rondo Hatton as a madman, named "The Creeper." It was also known as Murder Mansion and in the United Kingdom as Joan Medford is Missing.-Plot:...
(1946). Bricker and Webster both previously wrote the screenplays for Universal Pictures films featuring The Brute Man star Rondo Hatton: Bricker penned House of Horrors, and Webster wrote The Jungle Captive
The Jungle Captive
The Jungle Captive is a 1945 sequel to Jungle Woman , which had been preceded by Captive Wild Woman . The Jungle Captive features Otto Kruger, Amelita Ward, and Rondo Hatton . Vicky Lane plays Paula Dupree, a lead character from the two earlier films. The movie was written by Dwight V...
(1947), the third in a series of films about an ape that transforms into a beautiful woman.
The Brute Man is a quasi-sequel to House of Horrors, in which Hatton played a deformed madman named "The Creeper" who kills people by breaking their backs. The events of The Brute Man are set before House of Horrors and includes the Creeper's backstory, explaining how he became deformed and why he has a murderous personality. Hatton also played a disfigured killer called the Creeper in The Pearl of Death
The Pearl of Death
The Pearl of Death is a 1944 Sherlock Holmes film starring Basil Rathbone as Holmes and Nigel Bruce as Dr. Watson. The story is loosely based on Conan Doyle's short story "The Adventure of the Six Napoleons" but features some additions, such as Evelyn Ankers as an accomplice of the villain, played...
, a 1944 Sherlock Holmes
Sherlock Holmes
Sherlock Holmes is a fictional detective created by Scottish author and physician Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. The fantastic London-based "consulting detective", Holmes is famous for his astute logical reasoning, his ability to take almost any disguise, and his use of forensic science skills to solve...
film, but neither House of Horrors nor The Brute Man have any connection to that film. In establishing a backstory explaining the Creeper's motives, The Brute Man
University of Florida
The University of Florida is an American public land-grant, sea-grant, and space-grant research university located on a campus in Gainesville, Florida. The university traces its historical origins to 1853, and has operated continuously on its present Gainesville campus since September 1906...
before suffering from the effects of acromegaly, a syndrome that causes abnormal bone growth due to excess growth hormone from the pituitary gland
Pituitary gland
In vertebrate anatomy the pituitary gland, or hypophysis, is an endocrine gland about the size of a pea and weighing 0.5 g , in humans. It is a protrusion off the bottom of the hypothalamus at the base of the brain, and rests in a small, bony cavity covered by a dural fold...
. In the film, the character is disfigured by chemicals during a laboratory accident in school. While Hatton's real-life abnormalities stemmed from acromegaly, it was often incorrectly stated by Universal Pictures publicity materials that they were the result of exposure to mustard gas attacks during Hatton's service in World War I
World War I
World War I , which was predominantly called the World War or the Great War from its occurrence until 1939, and the First World War or World War I thereafter, was a major war centred in Europe that began on 28 July 1914 and lasted until 11 November 1918...
.
The film's setting, which appears to be a major city, is never identified in The Brute Man, but it has been suggested that it is Manhattan
Manhattan
Manhattan is the oldest and the most densely populated of the five boroughs of New York City. Located primarily on the island of Manhattan at the mouth of the Hudson River, the boundaries of the borough are identical to those of New York County, an original county of the state of New York...
, since that is where House of Horrors took place. Commentators have noted similarities between The Brute Man and other films, including the Charlie Chaplin
Charlie Chaplin
Sir Charles Spencer "Charlie" Chaplin, KBE was an English comic actor, film director and composer best known for his work during the silent film era. He became the most famous film star in the world before the end of World War I...
silent
Silent film
A silent film is a film with no synchronized recorded sound, especially with no spoken dialogue. In silent films for entertainment the dialogue is transmitted through muted gestures, pantomime and title cards...
comedy City Lights
City Lights
City Lights is a 1931 American silent film and romantic comedy-drama written by, directed by, and starring Charlie Chaplin. It also has the leads Virginia Cherrill and Harry Myers. Although "talking" pictures were on the rise since 1928, City Lights was immediately popular. Today, it is thought of...
(1931), and the Universal Pictures horror film Bride of Frankenstein
Bride of Frankenstein
Bride of Frankenstein is a 1935 American horror film, the first sequel to Frankenstein...
(1935). City Lights, like The Brute Man, included a protagonist (Chaplin's Tramp
The Tramp
The Tramp, also known as The Little Tramp was Charlie Chaplin's most memorable on-screen character, a recognized icon of world cinema most dominant during the silent film era....
character) who falls in love with a blind girl and seeks money for an operation to restore her eyesight. Likewise, the scenes between the Creeper and Helen Paige share a similar premise and dialogue as the scenes between the Frankenstein's monster
Frankenstein's monster
Frankenstein's monster is a fictional character that first appeared in Mary Shelley's novel, Frankenstein, or The Modern Prometheus. The creature is often erroneously referred to as "Frankenstein", but in the novel the creature has no name...
and the blind hermit in Bride of Frankenstein. In both films, the protagonist is shunned by society based on their physical appearance, but find companionship in a blind loner who knows nothing about their deformities. In both instances, the protagonist is first drawn to their blind companions by music. The Creeper heard Helen playing the piano, while the Frankenstein's monster heard the hermit playing the violin. Commentators have noted other similarities between the two films. For example, the Creeper smashes a mirror after looking at his misshapen face, much like the Monster lashes out at his reflection in a waterfall pool.
Casting
The Brute Man marked one of several films in which Universal Pictures cast Hatton as a murderer, taking advantage of his natural deformities for shock value. As a result of his acromegaly, Hatton had abnormally enlarged and shaped bones on his head and hands, and the Universal Pictures publicity department often promoted the fact that Hatton did not need make-up for his roles. Tom Neal, who had recently appeared in the cult classic noir film DetourDetour (1945 film)
Detour is a film noir thriller that stars Tom Neal, Ann Savage, Claudia Drake and Edmund MacDonald. The movie was adapted by Martin Goldsmith and Martin Mooney from Goldsmith's novel of the same name and was directed by Edgar G. Ulmer...
(1945), was cast as Clifford Scott. Having appeared in dozens of low-budget films throughout the early-1940s, Neal began to became known as the "King of the B Pictures". In The Brute Man, Neal portrayed Scott both in his older years and in the flashback scenes, where the character appears as a high school student. To differentiate between the two, Neal was fitted with make-up and costumes to make him better resemble a middle-aged man during his non-flashback scenes. Jane Adams was cast as the blind pianist Helen Paige. Adams had appeared in several Universal Pictures films before, including the Lon Chaney, Jr.
Lon Chaney, Jr.
Lon Chaney, Jr. , born Creighton Tull Chaney, was an American character actor. He was best known for his roles in monster movies and as the son of famous silent film actor, Lon Chaney...
film House of Dracula
House of Dracula
House of Dracula was an American horror film released by Universal Pictures Company in 1945. It was a direct sequel to House of Frankenstein and continued the theme of combining Universal's three most popular monsters: Frankenstein's monster, Count Dracula and The Wolf Man...
(1945).
Jan Wiley was cast as Scott's wife, Virginia. Although Wiley had appeared in several movies throughout the 1930s and 1940s, The Brute Man marked one of her final film performances. It was also recalled as one of her most memorable film appearances along with another Universal Pictures B horror film, She-Wolf of London. However, her performance in The Brute Man proved to be a less than memorable one for her, so much so that in an interview shortly before Wiley's death in 1993, she could barely remember even having appeared in the film. Donald MacBride
Donald MacBride
Donald MacBride was an American character actor on stage, in films and on TV who launched his career as a teenage singer in vaudeville and went on to be an actor on Broadway. He appeared in nearly 140 films between 1914 and 1955...
and Peter Whitney
Peter Whitney
Peter Whitney, was an American actor in film and television. Born as Peter King Engle in Long Branch, New Jersey, Whitney's corpulent, heavy build qualified him to play villains in many Hollywood movies in the 1940s and 1950s.From the late 1950s, he was more prolific playing character roles in...
portray the police officers Captain M.J. Donelly and Lieutenant Gates, respectively. Their roles serve as comic relief
Comic relief
Comic relief is the inclusion of a humorous character, scene or witty dialogue in an otherwise serious work, often to relieve tension.-Definition:...
for the film. Their characters portray the incompetence of the police force in their inability to find and arrest the Creeper and their focus on passing blame for their failures rather than diverting resources toward his arrest.
Filming
The Brute Man was developed by Universal Pictures Company, Inc.Universal Pictures
-1920:* White Youth* The Flaming Disc* Am I Dreaming?* The Dragon's Net* The Adorable Savage* Putting It Over* The Line Runners-1921:* The Fire Eater* A Battle of Wits* Dream Girl* The Millionaire...
in the later years of their successful production of horror films, including Dracula
Dracula (1931 film)
Dracula is a 1931 vampire-horror film directed by Tod Browning and starring Bela Lugosi as the title character. The film was produced by Universal and is based on the stage play of the same name by Hamilton Deane and John L...
(1931), Frankenstein
Frankenstein (1931 film)
Frankenstein is a 1931 Pre-Code Horror Monster film from Universal Pictures directed by James Whale and adapted from the play by Peggy Webling which in turn is based on the novel of the same name by Mary Shelley. The film stars Colin Clive, Mae Clarke, John Boles and Boris Karloff, and features...
(1931) and The Mummy
The Mummy (1932 film)
The Mummy is a 1932 horror film from Universal Studios directed by Karl Freund and starring Boris Karloff as a revived ancient Egyptian priest. The movie also features Zita Johann, David Manners and Edward Van Sloan...
(1932). While those films were great critical and financial successes, The Brute Man was filmed during what was widely considered the low point of the studio's horror film period. It was produced by Ben Pivar and directed by Jean Yarbrough, both of whom had worked on House of Horrors and many other horror films for Universal over the years. The Brute Man was filmed in 13 days, during November 1945. The flashback scenes, which depict how Hal Moffet became disfigured and ultimately became the Creeper, were all shot on the final day of filming. Jane Adams said Hatton's acromegaly was becoming progressively worse by the time The Brute Man was filmed and it made acting difficult for him. Hatton had trouble remembering his lines, focusing on his performance and responding to the other actors. Hatton occasionally appears confused even on screen, like during one scene where says yes while shaking his head no. Adams called him a friendly and thoughtful man, but called him "so pathetic to work with [and] almost autistic
Autism
Autism is a disorder of neural development characterized by impaired social interaction and communication, and by restricted and repetitive behavior. These signs all begin before a child is three years old. Autism affects information processing in the brain by altering how nerve cells and their...
".
Maury Gertsman
Maury Gertsman
Maury Gertsman was a senior-ranked cinematographer at Universal Pictures from the mid-1940s through the mid-1950s.-Career:...
, who handled the cinematography for nearly all Universal Pictures films from the mid-1940s to mid-1950s, worked as director of photographer on The Brute Man. Since the film focused on a disfigured serial killer, Gertsman sought to give the movie a dark, diseased look appropriate for the film's subject matter and urban setting. Although primarily a horror thriller film, Gertsman uses several film noir
Film noir
Film noir is a cinematic term used primarily to describe stylish Hollywood crime dramas, particularly those that emphasize cynical attitudes and sexual motivations. Hollywood's classic film noir period is generally regarded as extending from the early 1940s to the late 1950s...
elements in his photography, including shadowed lighting, unbalanced compositions and chiaroscuro
Chiaroscuro
Chiaroscuro in art is "an Italian term which literally means 'light-dark'. In paintings the description refers to clear tonal contrasts which are often used to suggest the volume and modelling of the subjects depicted"....
contrasts between light and dark. As a result, The Brute Man features a bleak, at times dismal visual atmosphere. Hans J. Salter
Hans J. Salter
Hans J. Salter was an American film composer.Hans J. Salter gained his education from the Vienna Academy Of Music, and studied composition with Alban Berg, Franz Schreker, and others. He was Music Director of the State Opera in Berlin before being hired to compose music at UFA studios...
, who composed the scores for many of the Universal Pictures films of the 1940s and 1950s, worked as composer for The Brute Man as well. Salter's score for the film strongly resembled the music he composed for the Universal horror films Black Friday
Black Friday (1940 film)
Black Friday is a 1940 American science fiction film starring Boris Karloff. Béla Lugosi, although second-billed, has only a small part in the film and does not appear with Karloff....
(1940) and The Invisible Man's Revenge
The Invisible Man's Revenge
The Invisible Man's Revenge is a 1944 horror film directed by Ford Beebe and written by Bertram Millhauser. It stars John Carradine as a mad scientist who tests his experiment on Jon Hall....
(1944). Philip Cahn edited The Brute Man. Raymond Kessler and Ralph Slosser worked a dialogue director and assistant director, respectively, while John B. Goodman and Abraham Grossman worked as art directors. Other crew included Russell A. Gausman and Edward G. Robinson as set decorators, Joe Lapis as sound technician, Jack P. Pierce as makeup director, Carmen Dirigo as hair stylist and Vera West as gowns supervisor.
Distribution
Although produced by Universal Pictures, The Brute Man was distributed by Producers Releasing CorporationProducers Releasing Corporation
Producers Releasing Corporation was one of the more lower-end Hollywood film studios on Poverty Row from the late '30s to the mid-'40s. PRC, as it was commonly known, made low-budget B-movies for the lower-half of a double bill. A few of its films have gained a respectable reputation over the...
, one of the smaller film studios from Hollywood's Poverty Row
Poverty Row
Poverty Row is a slang term used in Hollywood from the late silent period through the mid-fifties to refer to a variety of small and mostly short-lived B movie studios...
. In 1945, Universal merged with the company International Pictures, and the new organization adopted a policy against developing any more B movie
B movie
A B movie is a low-budget commercial motion picture that is not definitively an arthouse or pornographic film. In its original usage, during the Golden Age of Hollywood, the term more precisely identified a film intended for distribution as the less-publicized, bottom half of a double feature....
s, including Westerns, horror films, serials and movies running 70 minutes or less. This resulted in the firing of numerous production personnel members and the sale of several already-developed films, including The Brute Man. The sale was also perpetuated in part by the death of star Rondo Hatton. He died as a result of his acromegaly on February 2, 1946, about eight months before The Brute Man was first screened, making it his final film. Universal feared releasing the film so soon after his death would lead to accusations that the studio was exploiting the illness that ultimately killed Hatton. Now embarrassed by the film, the studio was anxious to sell it.
Universal sold the film to PRC for $125,000, which represented the negative cost plus interest. The transaction occurred around August 1946, but was not made public until it was screened for the trade press on October 1, marking its official release date. The sale occurred so quickly and hastily on the copyright files stores at the Library of Congress
Library of Congress
The Library of Congress is the research library of the United States Congress, de facto national library of the United States, and the oldest federal cultural institution in the United States. Located in three buildings in Washington, D.C., it is the largest library in the world by shelf space and...
, the name Universal Pictures was crossed out and Pathe Industries, PRC's corporate body, was written in its place in pencil. Some pressbook advertisements circulated for the film still included the Universal Pictures logo. PRC had previously produced a horror film about acomegaly called The Monster Maker
The Monster Maker
The Monster Maker is a 1944 Science Fiction/Horror Movie starring J. Carrol Naish and Ralph Morgan. This was the first movie where Albert Glasser was the composer, and he wrote the score for US$250.-Plot:...
(1944), in which a mad scientist injects human subjects with the disease as part of his experiments.
Reception
The Brute Man received generally negative critical reviews following its release on October 1, 1946. A 1946 review in the Harrison's ReportsHarrison's Reports
Harrison’s Reports was a New York City-based motion picture trade journal published weekly from 1919 to 1962. The typical issue was four letter-size pages sent to subscribers under a second-class mail permit. Its founder, editor and publisher was P. S...
trade journal, found that the film had some suspenseful moments and could be enjoyed by fans of the genre, but that the overall effect was "artificial and stagy". The review stated most audiences "will find it tiresome in plot and in treatment [...] in fact, some of the action and dialogue may provoke laughs, instead of serious response." New York Post
New York Post
The New York Post is the 13th-oldest newspaper published in the United States and is generally acknowledged as the oldest to have been published continuously as a daily, although – as is the case with most other papers – its publication has been periodically interrupted by labor actions...
critic Arthur Winsten criticized the story and the acting of Rondo Hatton, commenting that his facial disfigurements alone did not make up for his poor acting skills: "Just as clothes don't make a gentleman, so a face doesn't make both a villain and continuous thrills. All this picture has is a face, handicapped by encircling improbabilities." In a review published in 1947, Wanda Hale of the New York Daily News called it "a crude production [...] compiled of bits from various B thrillers". In contrast, Mandel Herbstman of The Motion Picture Herald, said although the film used standard thriller film devices, The Brute Man "stands favorably" in its genre and director Jean Yarbrough kept the film moving at a brisk pace.
Decades after the film's release, contemporary reviews of The Brute Man were similarly negative, with many commentators criticizing the exploitation of Hatton's real-life acromegaly. Film reviewer Leonard Maltin
Leonard Maltin
Leonard Maltin is an American film and animated film critic and historian, author of several mainstream books on cinema, focusing on nostalgic, celebratory narratives.-Personal life:...
gave the film one-and-a-half out of four stars. John Stanley, host of the KTVU
KTVU
KTVU, virtual channel 2 , is the Fox-affiliated television station serving the San Francisco Bay Area. Licensed to Oakland, California, the station has been owned by Atlanta-based Cox Enterprises since 1964, making it the largest Fox affiliate by market size that is not owned and operated by the...
television show Creature Features, described it as a dull and "shoddy thriller", criticizing both the performances and the mood from the direction and photography. The authors of Universal Horrors: The Studio's Classic Films, 1931-1946 were highly critical of the film's dialogue, and claimed much of the script seemed to be "time-killing stuff" to pad the film's already-short running time. They wrote that Hatton's acting was so bad, it "wouldn't be acceptable even at a pre-production cast get-together and table reading, much less in the movie itself".
Donald C. Willis, a writer who wrote about horror and science fiction films, described the horror scenes as completely lacking suspense, and said the film was "so flimsy that its three co-plots seem to be operating independently of one another". Keith Brown of the University of Edinburgh
University of Edinburgh
The University of Edinburgh, founded in 1583, is a public research university located in Edinburgh, the capital of Scotland, and a UNESCO World Heritage Site. The university is deeply embedded in the fabric of the city, with many of the buildings in the historic Old Town belonging to the university...
, in his paper "Notes on the Terror Film", argued that The Brute Man is an example of what he calls the "terror film", a genre distinguishable from the horror film due to its emphasis on naturally occurring sources of fear, rather than fantastical or otherworldly horror elements. Brown wrote that the Creeper character "blurs the boundary between human and animal on account of his grotesque, deformed features, but is natural and thus a figure of terror".
Home video
For decades after the film's theatrical release, copies of The Brute Man were unavailable, and it became regarded as a lost filmLost film
A lost film is a feature film or short film that is no longer known to exist in studio archives, private collections or public archives such as the Library of Congress, where at least one copy of all American films are deposited and catalogued for copyright reasons...
. However, the film was eventually discovered and mass produced by Admit One, a home video distribution company that focused specifically on lesser-known B films. The Brute Man was first released on Betamax
Betamax
Betamax was a consumer-level analog videocassette magnetic tape recording format developed by Sony, released on May 10, 1975. The cassettes contain -wide videotape in a design similar to the earlier, professional wide, U-matic format...
and VHS
VHS
The Video Home System is a consumer-level analog recording videocassette standard developed by Victor Company of Japan ....
in 1982 by Admit One. It has been reissued on VHS several times since then, and was released on laserdisc
Laserdisc
LaserDisc was a home video format and the first commercial optical disc storage medium. Initially licensed, sold, and marketed as MCA DiscoVision in North America in 1978, the technology was previously referred to interally as Optical Videodisc System, Reflective Optical Videodisc, Laser Optical...
format in 1990. The Brute Man was most recently released on VHS by Image Entertainment
Image Entertainment
Image Entertainment, Inc. is an independent licensee, producer and distributor of home entertainment programming and film & television productions in North America, with approximately 3,000 exclusive DVD titles and approximately 250 exclusive CD titles in domestic release, and approximately 450...
in 1999, a year which also marked the first DVD
DVD
A DVD is an optical disc storage media format, invented and developed by Philips, Sony, Toshiba, and Panasonic in 1995. DVDs offer higher storage capacity than Compact Discs while having the same dimensions....
release of the film, also by Image Entertainment. In his 2004 DVD guide book, Douglas Pratt complimented both the picture and sound transfers of the 1999 DVD release: "The picture looks great. There are a couple shots where a few speckles pop up, but much of the time the image is clean, with deep blacks and sharp, finely graded contrasts." An inexpensive DVD version was also released in 2006 by Cheezy Flicks Entertainment, Inc., which primarily markets B films.
Cultural references
Rondo Hatton's likeness from The Brute Man inspired the appearance of one of the villain characters in Dave StevensDave Stevens
Dave Stevens was an American illustrator and comics artist. He is most famous for creating The Rocketeer comic book and film character, and for his pin-up style "glamour art" illustrations, especially of model Bettie Page...
' Rocketeer comic book comic book as well as the 1991 film adaptation, The Rocketeer
The Rocketeer (film)
The Rocketeer is a 1991 period superhero adventure film produced by Walt Disney Pictures and based on the character of the same name created by comic book writer/artist Dave Stevens. Directed by Joe Johnston, the film stars Billy Campbell, Jennifer Connelly, Alan Arkin, Timothy Dalton, Paul Sorvino...
. In the film, the seven-foot-tall Tiny Ron Taylor
Tiny Ron Taylor
Ronald "Tiny Ron" Taylor is an American film actor and former basketball player. He is possibly best known for his roles as Lothar in The Rocketeer and Roc in Ace Ventura: Pet Detective , both roles that exploited his 7 ft frame and craggy features...
portrays Lothar, an ugly and murderous henchman for the story's antagonist. Rick Baker, the special makeup effects artist that worked on the film, designed the character's facial make-up resemble Hatton's Creeper character, and Lothar dresses in a dark coat and hat similar to his clothing from The Brute Man.
In 2002, the founders of the website The Classic Horror Film Board created the Rondo Hatton Classic Horror Awards
Rondo Hatton Classic Horror Awards
The Rondo Hatton Classic Horror Award is an award presented annually by the Classic Horror Film Board to honor the top works in horror in film, television, home video, and publishing.-The award:...
to honor horror works in film, television and publishing. The awards were named after the actor, and award recipients received statuettes with miniature busts of Hatton as he appeared portraying the Creeper in House of Horrors and The Brute Man. The statuettes were sculpted by illustrator Kerry Gammill
Kerry Gammill
Kerry Gammill is an American artist who has worked in the fields of comic books, special effects, storyboards, and character designs.-Early life:...
and cast by modeler Tim M. Lindsey.
The Brute Man was featured in a seventh season episode of Mystery Science Theater 3000
Mystery Science Theater 3000
Mystery Science Theater 3000 is an American cult television comedy series created by Joel Hodgson and produced by Best Brains, Inc., that ran from 1988 to 1999....
, a comedy television series. In the show, the human character Mike Nelson
Mike Nelson (character)
Mike Nelson is a fictional character in the comedy science fiction television series Mystery Science Theater 3000. Portrayed by actor/head writer Michael J. Nelson, Mike is a likable, sometimes dim temp worker from Wisconsin who comes to work for the mad scientists Dr...
and his two robots friends, Crow T. Robot
Crow T. Robot
Crow T. Robot is a fictional character from the American science fiction comedy television series Mystery Science Theater 3000 . Crow is a robot, who, along with others, quips and riffs upon poor-quality B movies.- Overview :...
and Tom Servo
Tom Servo
Tom Servo is a fictional character from the American science fiction comedy television show Mystery Science Theater 3000 . Tom is one of two wise-cracking, robotic main characters of the show, built by Joel Robinson to act as a companion and help stave off space madness as Joel was forced to watch...
, are trapped in a satellite and forced by the mad scientist Dr. Forrester to watch bad films as part of an ongoing scientific experiment. In order to get through the experiment, Mike and the robots make jokes mocking the film as they watch. During the episode, their silhouetted images are superimposed over the film to give the impression that they are sitting in a movie theater as they make their jokes. The Brute Man was the second episode of the seventh season, which was broadcast on Comedy Central
Comedy Central
Comedy Central is an American cable television and satellite television channel that carries comedy programming, both original and syndicated....
on February 10, 1996. The description for The Brute Man in The Mystery Science Theater 3000 Amazing Colossal Episode Guide, a book by the cast and writers of the series, reads: "A dark film about dark things. Rondo Hatton's swan song; he died just weeks after the film was completed. So murky and dark, it makes M
M (1931 film)
M is a 1931 German drama-thriller directed by Fritz Lang and written by Lang and his wife Thea von Harbou. It was Lang's first sound film, although he had directed more than a dozen films previously....
look like Mrs. Doubtfire
Mrs. Doubtfire
Mrs. Doubtfire is a 1993 American comedy film starring Robin Williams and Sally Field and based on the novel Madame Doubtfire by Anne Fine. It was directed by Chris Columbus and distributed by 20th Century Fox. It won the Academy Award for Best Makeup...
."
Michael J. Nelson
Michael J. Nelson
Michael John Nelson is a U.S. comedian and writer, most famous for his work on the cult television series Mystery Science Theater 3000 . Nelson was the head writer of the series for most of the show's 11-year run, and spent half of that time playing the on-air host, also named Mike Nelson...
, the show's head writer who also plays the character of the same name, said the staff initially felt strange making jokes at the expense of Rondo Hatton and his real-life illness. However, Nelson said, "Then you realize it's the whole point of the movie: he's a guy with a big ugly face. And he is a terribly bad actor." Paul Chaplin
Paul Chaplin
Paul Chaplin is a U.S. writer and comedian, best known for his work on the television series Mystery Science Theater 3000, for which he wrote and played the recurring characters of an Observer, Ned the Nanite, Pitch the Demon, and Ortega, along with several other bit roles.- Biography :After...
, another writer with the series, said of the actor's acromegaly: "That fact opens up a large irresolvable issue concerning the movie industry's use of this poor afflicted fellow; he was paid, after all, and movie work is nice work. Yet it can seem exploitative of misfortune." Due to the short running time of The Brute Man, the Mystery Science Theater 3000 episode also included The Chicken of Tomorrow
The Chicken of Tomorrow
The Chicken of Tomorrow is a 1948 documentary short film about advances in chicken and egg farming. This mini-documentary was narrated by Lowell Thomas and is in the public domain....
(1948), a short film about advances in chicken and egg farming. The Chicken of Tomorrow was included in the DVD "Short Collection Volume 1", which itself was included in the Mystery Science Theater 3000 Collection Volume 2 DVD boxset.