Doctor Cyclops Goes To Riverdale!

Dr. Cyclops is an intriguingly titled move from the 1940's. I'd long wanted to see it when I found it included with some Universal monster flicks from the 1950's which I dearly adore such as The Monolith Monsters and The Tarantula. The flicker features a mad scientist isolated in the Amazon jungle who is experimenting with making things small and considers the arrival of a party of strangers a good fortune for his research. Albert Dekker comes across as properly mad in this one. 

Here's a surprising and also delightful 1960's sci-fi cover by John Giunta for the seventh and final issue of Archie's Tales Calculated to Drive You Bats. It offers up a slightly more serious run-in between a trio of explorers and a calculating and cruel three-eyed scientist. Below is the splash page.

And here's a link to read the compete story with art by Archie mainstay Dan DeCarlo.

The story is clearly an unofficial adaptation of sorts of the classic sci-fi movie Doctor Cyclops which also pits a gang of explorers against a mad scientist who wants to shrink them down for his own purposes. His name is the result of his giant status as well as his exceedingly limited eyesight which makes his domination of his tiny victims all the more difficult.

This story, clearly inspired by Homer's The Odyssey was written by Henry Kuttner for inclusion in a 40's issue of Thrilling Wonder Stories. Kuttner adapted the story from the film script. The movie was directed by Ernest B. Shoedsack, who had in years previous directed King Kong. The movie has the distinction of being the first American horror film produced in full Technicolor. All in all, a nice diversion. 

That story proved popular enough to end up eventually in this 60's paperback anthology, which thought enough of the story to headline it, but not feature it in the cover art. A strange choice, I think. 

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