702 - THE BRUTE MAN (1946; 1945; NR; 60m)

Shown with Short: 702S-The Chicken of Tomorrow

Plot: A guy blames his facial disfigurement on his former college classmates and seeks revenge.

Prod: Ben Pivar (The Mummy's Ghost;
She Wolf of London; sto/802-The Leech Woman)
Dir: Jean Yarbrough (The Creeper; The Devil Bat)
Asst Dir: Ralph Slosser (Chained for Life)
Scr: George Bricker (She Wolf of London)
Scr: M. Coates Webster (Jungle Captive)
Sto: Dwight V. Babcock (The Mummy's Curse)
Cin: Maury Gertsman (Creature Walks Among Us)
Ed: Philip Cahn (208-Lost Continent)
Cos: Vera West (Son of Dracula)
M/U: Jack Pierce (623-Amazing Transparent Man)
ADir: John Goodman (Son of Dracula;
won Oscar/1943's Phantom of the Opera)
ADir: Abraham Grossman
Set: Russell A. Gausman (802; L02-This Island Earth;
801-Revenge of the Creature; 803-The Mole People;
804-The Deadly Mantis; 805-The Thing That Couldn't Die;
won Oscar/1943's Phantom of the Opera)
Set: Edward R. Robinson (Son of Dracula; Oscar nom/The Spoilers)
Sound Tech: Joe Lapis (802; Oscar nom/The Boys from Syracuse)
Sco: Hans J. Salter (L02/803; Oscar nom/Christmas Holiday, etc.)

The Creeper a.k.a. Hal Moffat / Rondo Hatton*
Clifford Scott / Tom Neal (*520-Radar Secret Service; Detour)
Virginia Rogers Scott / Jan Wiley (She Wolf of London)
blind Helen Paige / Jane Adams (House of Dracula)
Captain Donnelly / Donald MacBride (The Seven Year Itch)
Joan Bemish / JaNelle Johnson Dolenz*
normal Hal Moffat / Fred Coby (203-Jungle Goddess)
Prof. Cushman / John Hamilton (TV's Superman)
Lt. Gates / Peter Whitney (Gorilla at Large)
Governor Salisbury / Joseph Crehan (Blondie's Secret)
Parkington / Lorin Raker (The Fuller Brush Girl)
grocer Mr. Harkins / Oscar O'Shea (The Mummy's Ghost)
delivery boy Jimmy / Jack Parker (House of Horrors)
Mary Ann Obringer / Mary Ann Bricker
Mrs. Obringer / Peggy Converse (805; They Rode West)
with Tristram Coffin
(520; 105-The Corpse Vanishes; 106-The Crawling Hand)
John Gallaudet (Lost City of the Jungle; In Cold Blood)
Patrick McVey (North by Northwest; Bang the Drum Slowly)
Charles Wagenheim (Salome; Suddenly)

Trivia: A 1913 picture from a high school yearbook confirms that RONDO HATTON (1894-1946) at one time was a handsome, athletic young man whose life would be cut short by the disfiguring disease acromegaly. It was during his tour of France during World War I that Hatton was exposed to chemical warfare which attacked his pituitary glands, eventually causing abnormal skeletal growth in the face, hands and feet. (This disease can be cured today if caught early enough. The acromegaly of British actor Paul Benedict--he played Bentley on TV's The Jeffersons--was surgically stopped after minor progression).

In 1930, while working as a reporter in Florida on an article about a movie being made there (Hell Harbor), Rondo was cast by director Henry King in the part of a dock-side saloon owner. When Hatton moved to Hollywood in 1936, Henry King immediately cast him in his next picture, In Old Chicago, and Rondo worked very steadily in films until his death. In 1944, he first played the role of "The Creeper" in the Sherlock Holmes mystery, The Pearl of Death, but it was only in THE BRUTE MAN that The Creeper role was the lead. The plot of the movie, made in late 1945, even somewhat paralleled Hatton's real life. Sadly he did not get to enjoy THE BRUTE MAN's success as he died two months before its release. He was buried at the American Legion Cemetery in Tampa, Florida.

JANELLE JOHNSON DOLENZ (1923-1995) was the mother of Mickey Dolenz (of The Monkees) and grandmother of actress Ami Dolenz. She only made one other movie, 1944's Since You Went Away.

Last Updated: 6/10/1999

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