There is something to be said about mad scientists. They have been providing horror movies with villains for close to a century now. In fact from 1930 to 1980 mad scientists and their creations made up 30 percent of villains in films.
Dr. Cyclops is a 1940 horror movie from director Ernest B. Schoedsack, the director of original King Kong. It was shot in Technicolor and it features some decent special effects that still stand up today. The movie starred Albert Dekker as Dr. Thorkel, a bald and nearly blind scientist, who has made an amazing discovery out in the jungle. He has invited fellow doctors Thomas Coley, Charles Halton and Janice Logan who along with Victor Kilian (who thinks the doc is mining ore) go out to his compound. Thorkel has brought them not reveal what he is working on but to merely identify some crystals that he can’t see with his poor eyesight. When the group get curious, they soon find out what sort of experiment Dr. Thorkel is working on. He is shrinking living beings using radiation and he soon shrinks the cast down to size.
The film was nominated for best effects but lost out to The Thief of Bagdad. I guess small people fighting for their lives in the jungle can’t beat a giant genie.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gZ_aXfASFrQ
