Monster On The Campus 1958

The blood of a primitive fish exposed to gamma rays causes a benign research professor to regress to an ape-like, bloodthirsty prehistoric hominid.

The Cast

Arthur Franz-Prof. Donald Blake
Joanna Moore-Madeline Howard
Judson Pratt-Lt. Mike Stevens
Nancy Walters-Sylvia Lockwood
Troy Donahue-Jimmy Flanders
Phil Harvey-Sgt. Powell
Helen Westcott-Nurse Molly Riordan
Alexander Lockwood-Prof. Gilbert Howard

The Director: Jack Arnold
The Writers: David Duncan

Certificate : X

Film Trivia

Prof. Donald Blake (Arthur Franz) has a collection of facial reconstructions depicting the ascent of man from the early hominids to modern man (or woman in this case, actress Joanna Moore). One of them is that of The Piltdown Man, whose "discovery" in 1912 was exposed as a hoax in 1953, five years before this movie was released.
When Professor Blake calls Madagascar he speaks to Dr Moreau, a reference to the H.G. Wells novel, "The Island of Doctor Moreau".
Arthur Franz only played Prof. Donald Blake. Once the makeup transformation scenes were over, stuntman Eddie Parker did every scene as the Monster.
Film debut for Nancy Walters.
Near the start of the movie a bunch of heads are shown supposedly charting the history of the evolution of mankind. Included in the arrangement is Piltdown man. Clarence Darrow introduced it as evidence in defense of John Scopes during the 1925 Scopes Monkey Trial. Piltdown man was conclusively exposed in 1953 as a hoax. This movie was released in 1958.
Dr. Donald Blake is also the alter ego of the Marvel Comics hero "The Mighty Thor".
At one point in the movie, Professor Howard comments that Donald's calls to Madagascar - $5 a minute at 76 minutes - is a month's salary. That means he was making approximately $380 a month or $4560 a year. In 2018 dollars, that means he was making $3281 a month or an annual salary of $39,275 .
There are two great looking 1950s cars featured in this film. The school nurse, Molly Riordan (played by Helen Westcott) and who meets an untimely end, drives a 1958 Plymouth Belvedere convertible. Joanna Moore, plays the Dean's daughter. In the film's most dramatic scene, she is run off the road by the cave man. Her car is a 1958 Desoto Fireflite convertible. Both cars are Chrysler products from the pen of legendary Designer Virgil Exner.