[2] The film stars Evelyn Ankers, John Carradine, Milburn Stone, and features Acquanetta as Paula, the Ape Woman.

The film involves a scientist, Dr. Sigmund Walters, whose experiments turn a female gorilla named Cheela into a human by injecting the ape with sex hormones and via brain transplants.

Captive Wild Woman was initially announced by Universal Pictures in 1940 with several promotional campaigns that did not reflect what ended up in the film.

After the ape is loaded onto his truck, the scientist callously pushes the man into the gorilla's grasp and stolidly watches as the beast wrings his neck.

Paula rushes into the cage and saves him from the ferocious felines, who display an unnatural fear of her and retreat from her presence.

Captive Wild Woman was announced as a film more than two years before its release with an initial starting date to be on August 8, 1941.

[4][5][6] The reason for the change, to which the studio did not object, was apparently to eliminate any possible implication that a human soul might transfer into an animal and violate religious doctrine.

[1] Director Edward Dmytryk referred to Carradine as having always been "kind of a ham" but that he "had a little talk with him and I think we got a very controlled performance out of him for a mad scientist!

"[7] The ape in the film was played by Ray "Crash" Corrigan who began his career as a stuntman with a few starring roles in serials like Undersea Kingdom and B-Westerns.

[8] Acquanetta who plays Paula Dupree was previously a model in New York after graduating high school and had a story fabricated that she was from Venezuela to hide her Arapaho background.

[9] On her way to perform in South America, she stopped over in Hollywood meeting the head of Warner Bros. and Universal, Dan Kelley and Walter Wanger respectively.

[9] She was cast in small roles in Arabian Nights and Rhythm of the Islands, while Universal presented themselves as "introducing" her in Captive Wild Woman.

[9] Acquanetta recalled that there was no preparation for her part but got along with the rest of the cast and crew, even dating director Dmytryk briefly.

From contemporary reviews, Thomas M. Pryor of The New York Times wrote the film "[s]hould not let thrill-seekers down" while "there is nothing to recommend in the story or the performances....The picture as a whole is in decidedly bad taste".

[13] A reviewer in Harrison's Reports described as "another one of those implausible horror melodramas, suitable as a supporting feature in situations where this type of entertainment is acceptable" noting that "Acquanetta, a new screen personality is effective as the ape woman.