As the first horror movie to be filmed in glorious three-strip Technicolor, Dr. Cyclops is widely hailed as a pioneer. While its Oscar-nominated visual effects still pop 85 years on, leading man Albert Dekker is arguably just as revolutionary, with his multi-faceted performance as the villain essentially reinventing the mad scientist trope.
Dekker plays Dr. Alexander Thorkel, whose stocky frame, shaven head, and striking eyewear — “Now you can call me ‘cyclops’ because I have one good eye,” he helpfully explains early on — appears to have laid the blueprint for James Bond’s Blofeld (he even has a beloved cat, with the ingenious name of Satanus).
