Sh! The Octopus

Sh! The Octopus (1937)

Runtime: Only 54 minutes

Directed by: William C. McGann

Starring: Hugh Herbert, Allen Jenkins, Marcia Ralston, John Eldredge, George Rosener

From: Warner Bros.

A movie as strange as its title. I’ve known of this for years due to the title; that was even before a special effect during the finale went viral. More on that later in the review. This combined two different plays; that might explain how baffling the plot was.

A painter decides to live at an abandoned lighthouse; it is owned by a Captain Hook who does in fact have a hook for a right hand, The leads are a pair of goofball detectives portrayed by Hugh Herbert and Allen Jenkins; to echo the thoughts of others, they were like a low-rent version of Abbott & Costello.

At the lighthouse, there’s a criminal mastermind known as The Octopus, an actual octopus is seen, some horror tropes are older than I suspected (the arms of the villain are about to grab an unknowing victim, drops of blood from above reveal a victim), one of the characters-Marcia Ralston-I can describe as a Temu Joan Crawford-although her performance was fine-an iridium ray, and more.

A little bit of the detectives go a long way; Herbert loves going, “whoo-oooh!” often, to list an example. The humor I can sometimes describe as “humor,” in a sarcastic sense. Yet, this was all so bizarre. It’s a comedic mystery horror picture that has absurdist moments, slapstick, submarines, a tortoise… and this was only 54 minutes in length. Who knows what audiences in ’37 thought of Octopus; could they make heads or tails of it? What would they think of Herbert going “ribbit!” right back at a pair of frogs?

I couldn’t always make heads or tails of this… I’ll still say it was “fine.” Sometimes I did laugh & I was never bored by this insanity. Plus, the special effect used during the finale is a “holy crap” even in 2026. You don’t need CG or AI to have a sudden transformation. There are explanations elsewhere how they achieved it but in short… color theory, makeup, and optical effects were combined to create a transition that caused a stir in ’22 when it briefly went viral online, people GOBSMACKED this was from a late 30’s picture unknown to most youths on the social media.

Props to those that created this effect; for some, that might be the only part of Sh! The Octopus worth watching.