Although "they" would have you believe the mad scientist in this movie is to blame for the creation of the alligator man, I contest that it is actually the nameless orderly who doomed poor Paul Webster (a.k.a. the alligator man) to a life of fish-snappin' doom! But I'll get to that in a moment.

Beverly Garland (It Conquered the World) portrays Joyce Webster, an ambitious trouble-shooter in search of her missing husband Paul. We know her husband's name is Paul because that name is constantly being screamed throughout the movie.

With Joyce's cooperation, neuropathologist Dr. McGreg and his colleague Dr. Larmer inject her with truth serum so that Joyce's unconscious mind can reveal the terrible secret she's been hiding! It seems that Joyce is not her real name and she has subconsciously hidden the truth from herself concerning some horrible ordeal she experienced. Hooked up to a lie detector, and with a reel-to-reel tape recorder rolling in the background, Joyce begins to tell her terrible tale via drug-induced, barely intelligible mumblings.

Joyce's story begins on her honeymoon train ride where she and Paul discuss their plans for the future. After being served champagne by a black cabin steward who was probably told to sound like Mr. Bojangles ("Yessuh! Nosuh! Thank YOU, suh!"), we learn that Paul has recently survived a plane crash that broke every bone in his body (people often walk away from plane crashes with broken bones) yet appears to be unharmed! The steward hands Paul a mysterious telegram that upsets him and he flees the train, leaving his new bride behind screaming, "Paul!...Wait, Paul!...Paul!!...Paul!!!!"

Joyce devotes her life to locating her husband. She finds an address where Paul stayed while in college. The house happens to be located next to the swamplands. Arriving in a small town, she meets the creepy Manna, a hook-handed handyman played by Lon Chaney. Manna is more terrifying than any of Chaney's Wolfman or Frankenstein roles. Manna has a thirst for liquor and a hatred for all 'gators. Sure the Wolfman was scary, but can you imagine getting a lift from a big sweaty guy with a wolf-in-sheep's-clothing grin saying, "I'll give you a ride! Go ahead...get in my truck! It's OK!" I just wanted to yell, "Are you nuts, Joyce?! Don't accept a ride from this guy! He's evil incarnate!!" But accept she does and soon Joyce is on her way to the house where Paul stayed in college: The Cypresses Plantation.

Now at this point of the movie, if feminists aren't ticked off by an esteemed doctor asking how pretty his new patient is, then ecologists really aren't going to like Manna driving over, what I sincerely hope was, a "stunt gator". Following Manna treating an alligator as a speed bump, he and Joyce arrive at a mansion where Mrs. Hawthorne resides. But she denies ever having heard of Paul Webster. With Joyce stuck in town for the night, she agrees to let her stay until morning. Mrs. Hawthorne almost pulls off the innocent act until she demands that Joyce be locked in her room. Hmm...nothing suspicious going on here!

Frightened Mrs. Hawthorne races to a nearby lab where a certain Dr. Sinclair is working on an experiment. The next 10 minutes can be labeled, "What do we do about the girl?". The viewing aucience is then informed that Sinclair has been working on a formula that enhances growth. No, it's not Viagra, but a serum that allows human limbs to regenerate after being severed.

Then Hawthorne reveals that she is Paul's mother. Now don't you think Joyce would've already met Paul's mother? These are the 1950s! Oh Joyce, if you had gotten to know your inlaws a little better, maybe you wouldn't be terrorized by Alligator People. A lesson for kids planning to elope! If Joyce had only asked for a little for information from Paul before marrying him. The conversation might have sounded like this:
" So, Paul, what does your father do for a living?"
" He conducts experiments that involve injecting human beings with experimental alligator enzymes," he might have replied.
" Get away from me you sick weirdo...this wedding's off!"

In any case, Joyce and "mom" plan an intervention for Paul (maybe for guys who leave their wives on trains) but he runs away, leaving her to chase him in the rain, screaming his name over and over again. Joyce gets lost in the swamp and, after tripping over a phony, wooden alligator, is rescued by the despicable Manna. The slimey Manna takes Joyce to his shack where she can "get out of those wet things." When she refuses, Manna punches her in the face! You read correctly. Luckily, this is just a Hollywood punch, so instead of suffering a broken jaw as she would in real life, she later appears unharmed. She is then "rescued" (a little too late) by the now half-mutated Paul. Paul's stunt double pounds Manna's stunt double into submission.

Paul takes Joyce back to the lab where everyone decides to combine X-Rays with radiation from Cobalt 60 to reverse his condition (that's just crazy enough to work!) But as they begin Paul's treatments with a really cool ray machine that lowers from the ceiling, the relentless Manna bursts onto the scene looking to kill the alligator man.

Here is where some really strange stage direction occurs: When Manna enters the lab, a big, muscular orderly/security guy says to Mannna, "Hey, you can't go in there!" Then Manna says, "Out of my way!" and just walks past the guy! Manna proceeds to ruin the experiment and the orderly/security guy is never seen again! Where is this coward?! If he had just held Manna for a second, Paul would've been cured! Why even have him in the scene if he's just going to stand there??? It's clear to me that this movie's tragic ending is entirely the fault of the orderly.

Paul and Manna battle briefly until Manna's hook gets caught on some wires and he is char-broiled Cajun-style! What follows is a confused, frightened alligator man running through the swamps fighting stuffed alligators in a battle royale which can only be called a Crocodile Rock. While a battle to the death with another alligator would've been an ironic ending, Paul defeats the 'gator, takes two steps and sinks into the quicksand. The End. No wait..."Paul! Paul! Paul!"

When Joyce's hypnotic tale is concluded, the two respected doctors decide not to "upset" her by playing her taped subconscious confession, but to instead, let her live a lie! The End.

Although I've obviously picked on some of the film's campier moments, this movie is a lot of fun to watch and I highly recommend it. It's non-stop fun from start to finish.

Comment on this movie

One of the best b-movies of all time. An entertaining film without any dull scenes. If a guy wearing an alligator's head is your idea of a great leading man, this movie's for you.

Dr. Larmer: "On the phone you said you were having a serious problem with a young girl."
Dr. McGreg: "Yes. Mary's here, as a matter of fact."
Larmer: "Pretty?"
McGreg: "Here's her case study." (Hands him file and photo).
Larmer: "Jane Marvin"
McGreg: "That's the name she's using. Very complicated girl."
Larmer: "and pretty!"

Physician: "What brings you here?"
Joyce: "An old address, the Cypresses, that I found in Paul's college records."
Physician: "You came all that way, traveled hundreds of miles on nothing more tangible than that?"
Joyce: "I've traveled much farther on even less."

Dr. Sinclair (creator of the alligator serum): "Paul, I'll never be able to tell you how sorry I am."
Paul (laying on an operating table, with scales all over his face): "Don't blame youself. I certainly don't. You couldn't have known. You're not God."
Sinclair: "No, but I feel as though I've been playing God and now I've been punished!"
Paul: "Forget it."

Dr. Larmer parks his car at the sanitarium but exits the vehicle by sliding over to the passenger side.

The only thing Manna hates more than 'gators is rejection from women.