Which is surprising, given the nature of schlock purveyor Jerry Warrens' subsequent output. This entry in the yeti genre of the 1950s may be silly at times and not 100% convincing, but it's also pretty atmospheric, even spooky. Granted, the appearances of the monster were laugh inducing for this viewer, but the effects certainly could have been worse. The acting isn't as abominable as one might expect, and the protagonists aren't unlikable people. In addition, there's a delicious revelation from our primary antagonist.Working from a screenplay by B. Arthur Cassidy, Warren tells the tale of young and headstrong Connie Hayward (Asa Maynor), who launches an expedition into the Himalayas in search of her missing brother Jim, in the company of worrywart friend Trevor Hudson (Lloyd Nelson). They meet up with others in the area including Steve Cameron (Tom Maruzzi) and Dr. Erickson (George Wells Lewis), and come to learn that local stories about beast-men aren't as crazy as they might think. What's more, their guide, Varga (George Skaff), seems to have a hidden agenda.This viewer admits that he had a pretty good time with this one, although it helps if one is partial to monster movies and horror features set in mountainous or snowy environments. Another good thing is that Warren ensured that the running time remained very brief; there are versions running both 63 minutes and 67 minutes. Only the resolution really fell short of being satisfying.Incidentally, Maruzzi is actually billed twice, once under his own name and once under the phony matinée idol pseudonym Rock Madison given to him by Warren. The pretty Maynor can also be seen in "Conquest of the Planet of the Apes", and co-stars Skaff and Nelson had pretty extensive careers afterwards; Skaff did other genre films such as "Frogs", "Exorcist II: The Heretic", and John Carpenters' 'Someone's Watching Me!', and Nelson became a frequent script supervisor and bit player in Clint Eastwood vehicles.A decent watch overall.Seven out of 10.

The film begins with a small group going on an expedition to the Himalayas. A professor is looking for evidence that the Abominable Snowman exists and a young lady is looking for her brother who disappeared during a previous expedition. Although they do seem to have SOME evidence that the Yeti exists during this trek, their guide, Varga, insists that it's all nonsense. However, eventually they learn that Varga has a secret--and you'll need to see the film to learn what it is.While I am pretty sure "Man Beast" would never win any awards, it is sure a lot better than its IMDb score of 2.9 would indicate. 2.9 would seem to indicate that the film is awful--really, really awful. However, despite having a low budget, I didn't think the film was bad at all and makes for a decent time-passer. Now I am NOT saying it's a great film--it IS cheap and there is a very extensive use of stock footage. There also is a really bad cliché near the end, as the woman just stands back as the hero fights the villain. Think about it--if the villain wins, horrible things will happen to the lady and yet she just stands there...doing NOTHING. But, on the other hand, the Yeti costume is pretty good for such a low budget film, the writing, directing and acting are all competent and the film DID keep my interest. Worth a look and a decent example of a movie that is better than it's budget would usually indicate.

When I was a kid, "Man-Beast" was one of my favorite Saturday morning TV low-budget "shockers" - at 67 minutes, it's not hard on one's attention span, and there's a fair amount of footage of the eponymous monsters. I also liked the exotic Himalayan locales (brought to cinematic life via loads of stock footage - probably half of the film is stock footage, in fact - and a somewhat ridiculous looking "village" in the first scene).when view by an adult, "Man-Beast" is still fun for those reasons, even if one looks at it with more of a jaundiced eye. The acting ranges from laughable (the heroine) to surprisingly good (the villainous Varga), and the Yeti costume, while not exactly state-of-the-art, still delivers the requisite monster action. The stock footage of Alpine hikers is fairly seamlessly incorporated into the remainder of the film - it's no worse than the stock footage found in, say, "Lost Horizon", and better than the African safari stock footage of "Monster from Green Hell".*SPOILER* The climactic scene in which Varga reveals the nature of his parentage to the professor is likewise more effectively scary than one might expect, although I didn't quite know what to make of his "half-Yeti" costume - it looked like his torso was wrapped in cellophane. (But then, goofy moments like these are one of the reasons that "Man-Beast" and its ilk are still legitimate entertainment after all these years ...)***

Man Beast is one of several Yeti movies made in the 1950's. Though not brilliant, I quite enjoyed this one.An expedition heads for the Himalayas to search for one of the party's brother, who has gone missing while on another trek. When they reach the higher regions, they encounter Yeti's and are put in more danger when it is revealed that one of the party is a mad scientist who has been cross breeding Yeti's with humans and is half Yeti himself. At the end, just two pf the party survive while the others are killed off in various ways. There is also an avalanche.Man Beast contains some good scenery, even though it wasn't filmed on location in the Himalayas.I've heard of nobody in the cast and their acting isn't brilliant either. You can clearly tell this movie was made on a low budget. Despite this, certainly worth a look.Rating: 3 stars out of 5.