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Audience Rating: Unrated
Binding: VHS Tape
EAN: 9786301257046
Format: Black & White, Color, HiFi Sound, NTSC
ISBN: 6301257049
Label: Universal Studios
Manufacturer: Universal Studios
Number Of Items: 1
Publisher: Universal Studios
Release Date: March 01, 1992
Running Time: 77 minutes
Sales Rank: 17322
Studio: Universal Studios
Theatrical Release Date: April 12, 1940
Editorial Review:
Amazon.com:
Special effects took a clever step forward with the release of Paramount's Dr. Cyclops in 1940. This wasn't the first movie to deal with the miniaturization of human beings (The Bride of Frankenstein and The Devil Doll addressed the issue earlier), but it was the first to devote its visual effects to depicting the dangers of being tiny in a full-scale world. Introducing themes and images that would later be perfected in The Incredible Shrinking Man, the story is set in a remote Peruvian jungle, where the bald, bespectacled mad scientist Dr. Thorkel (Albert Dekker) uses his secret 'radium machine' to reduce humans to one-fifth normal size.
When two American explorers stumble upon the doctor's lab, they're captured and shrunken, suddenly finding that cats, chickens, and even raindrops now pose a deadly threat to their survival. The doctor and his experiments must be destroyed, and the film winds down to a predictable conclusion. Dr. Cyclops is now merely a curio for science fiction fans, but it's blessed with the same spirit of adventure and innovation that was gloriously evident in director Ernest B. Schoedsack's best-known previous film, the original King Kong. Photographed in three-strip Technicolor, Dr. Cyclops earned an Academy Award nomination for its visual effects (losing the Oscar to The Thief of Baghdad), and remains an enjoyable milestone in imaginative cinema. --Jeff Shannon
Customer Reviews
Average Rating: 
Rating:  - GOOD SCI-FI , BUT NOT MY FAVORITE SHRINKING PEOPLE FILM!
It's hard to believe that I never saw this film as a kid! I never missed the weekly sci-fi/horror films on TV Saturday night and afternoon but , for some reason I never got around to this one. I was in a nostalgic mood this Halloween and wanted to watch some of my old favorites. I decided to watch this film as a starter for my Halloween horror marathon. It is a nice surprise to watch something so old that you have never seen and for the most part this film did not disappoint me. It has good special ... Read More
Rating:  - Very Entertaining
I enjoyed this movie.
There are some really cool scenes like when Dr. Cyclops puts on his helmet and turns on his cool machine. It gives a really eerie effect.
The actor who plays the doctor is very well cast and must certainly go down as one of the classic villains in horror history.
The down side is it takes what could be a true story (shrinking people) and puts in things that are impossible.
For example Doc Cyclops first dresses his little friends ... Read More
Rating: - SURPRISINGLY GOOD EFFECTS FOR THE PERIOD
There's simply no way you can compare a movie from the 1940's in terms of special effects with todays CGI-laden fare. That said Dr. Cyclops uses eveything it can to create this effective sci-fi thriller.
The story involves "Mad Scientist" Dr. Thorkel (Albert Dekker) who summons three scientists (Thomas Coley, Janice Logan, Charles Halton) to his remote South American laboratory to seek their advice on his secret project. Along the way they are forced to bring muleskinner (Victor Kilian) along. ... Read More
Rating: - Sci-fi classic of the 40's
This is a classic. If many of its themes are a cliche today, it is only because this film was one of the first to use them. The visual effects still hold up well. Conventional techniques like rear-screen projection were used to maximum effect and are not obvious despite the color photography, still a novelty in 1941. The basic concept of miniaturizing living creatures via exposure to radium is, of course, scientifically naive, but director Ernest Schoedsack did his best to give it a weird plausibility. The directing, ... Read More
Rating: - Dr. Cyclops - Classic Stuff
I really like this movie. A little campy, but good story line, decent special effects... a classic. When will we get a DVD version with added features???
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