The Brute Man
Director:
Jean Yarbrough
Year: 1946
Rating: 5.5
Rondo Hatton was a tragedy as is his character
here. It almost feels cruel to exploit his famous misshapen proud face. Due
likely to poison gas that he got in WW I. He found his way into films and
though only in a few before his early death has become a horror icon. He
was The Creeper, first in the Sherlock Holmes film, The Pearl of Death and
then in House of Horrors. Universal then gave him his own film in this prequel
to House of Horrors. He was to die before either film was released.
He isn't really a bad fellow, but he is
sensitive to how people react to his looks. We get the back story. He was
a college football star in love with the woman that loved his roommate Clifford
(Tom Neal). Clifford tricks Hal pre-Creeper and embarrasses him in class.
Hal is so angry that he throws a vial of chemicals on the floor and damages
his face. Now he wants revenge on the people he blames. And kills a few others
who annoy him. He has a soft spot for a blind girl (Jane Adams) and I fully
expected a City Lights when he steals to get enough money for an operation.
But not quite. It is hard to watch Rondo in a film and not just feel sad
for him. He was by all accounts a handsome man before his face began to change.
