Customer Reviews

The Gorilla

5 star:		(4)
4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(3)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

Had Edgar Allen Poe known how many bad murder mysteries featuring gorillas would have been inspired by his classic The Murders in the Rue Morgue, he may never have written it. It should come as no surprise that 1939's The Gorilla was one of these ape-related films - featuring an ape named (what else?) Poe. It's as much comedy as a murder mystery, though, with the Ritz Brothers lending their slapstick antics to the whole affair. Most folks say that this was a bad vehicle for the comedy trio and that they really could deliver laughs aplenty, so I'm giving them the benefit of the doubt. I've never seen the Ritz Brothers in anything before, but you'd have to have a really big funny bone to find much humor in all the bumbling around you'll find here.

Since this story, based on a play from the 1920s, had already been brought to cinematic life twice already, somebody at 20th Century Fox decided to bring in the Ritz Brothers and play it for laughs as much as suspense. Actually, there isn't all that much suspense to begin with. Some killer calling himself "the Gorilla" has been murdering folks all over town, making the cops look pretty inept in the process (since he tends to warn his intended victim a full 24 hours in advance). The latest target is Walter Stevens (Lionel Atwill), a fairly well-to-do guy who, we learn, happens to be heavily in debt. His niece (and co-beneficiary of Stevens' brother's will) Norma (Anita Louise) and her beau Jack Marsden (Edward Norris) just so happen to be on hand for the occasion, which has prompted Stevens to hire the Ritz Brothers to protect him. As the appointed hour approaches, there are plenty of wall-tapping, secret room-hopping shenanigans throwing the intrepid detectives off, and - wouldn't you just know it? - a real gorilla has escaped and headed right for the Stevens estate.

The Gorilla is an incredibly average film. It's certainly watchable, but nothing all that interesting or humorous ever happens. The main draw of the film today is the presence of Bela Lugosi as Stevens' butler. It's rather sad to watch such a talented actor as Lugosi play such a subordinate role in a film, but - as always - he steps up and delivers in a big way, despite the banality of the movie as a whole. Besides Lugosi, I think Lionel Atwill is quite a fine actor, but the most memorable player in this whole droll affair is Patsy Kelly, who plays Stevens' maid. She eventually becomes rather annoying due to her proclivity for delivering more and more one-liners as her general state of fear increases, but she's about the only character on hand with a discernible spark of life in her.

Horror and comedy can only bond effectively in the most special of circumstances, and the formula really just doesn't work in The Gorilla. Bela Lugosi certainly deserved better, and I can only hope that others are correct in saying that the Ritz Brothers were actually funny in some of their other films.

This is a great movie. I wish the Ritz brothers had made more movies. They were a great comedy team. Try it, it's not much to lose for a few good laughs.

I grew up on the Ritz Brothers who, unfortunately, where often overshadowed by the other trio of brothers from the same era. Their comedy is classic, slapstick and hilarious and the Gorilla is one of their better movies.

THE GORILLA was the crux of a contract dispute between the Ritz Brothers and their studio -- the comedians complained about the script and walked off the set. They came back to finish the movie... but they were right. This has handsome production, atmospheric direction, and above all a solid supporting cast (Bela Lugosi, Lionel Atwill, Patsy Kelly, Wally Vernon, Anita Louise, Joseph Calleia), but the results are more noisy than funny in this stagey adaptation of an old play. Not at all typical of the Ritz Brothers, who were much more at home with musical comedy, and first-time viewers shouldn't judge the team by THE GORILLA. Lugosi fans will also be disappointed by his limited role. Video versions derive from retired 16mm TV prints.

The zany Ritz Brothers (Jimmy, Harry, Al) could do it all: sing, dance, and were skilled practitioners of verbal and visual comedy. From the 1930s through the 1960s, they were hugely popular on stage and in nightclubs; their wild brand of humor, which could be extremely silly, was a major influence on such comic talents as Sid Caesar, Jerry Lewis, Milton Berle, Danny Kaye, and Mel Brooks.

Today they're generally forgotten; while their handful of starring movies contain moments of exuberant fun, most of them fail to capture what made the team so special. By all accounts-including the Ritzes themselves-THE GORILLA (1939) is one of their worst films. As screwball detectives assigned to investigate a series of murders committed by a man in an ape suit (or could it be a real gorilla?), the boys are trapped in a lame vehicle that doesn't afford them the opportunity to show off their musical abilities. Along with co-stars Bela Lugosi and Lionel Atwill, the Ritzes do a lot of yelling and running around, but it's all wasted energy in this virtually laughless parody of haunted house thrillers.

The movie was a bit hokey, but still very funny. It wasn't scary at all (and I am easily scared). The Ritz Brothers were great. They really are overshadowed by others like The Three Stooges (whom I never thought was funny) and the Marx Brothers, so many people today tend not to remember them, but in their day they were highly regarded. I recommend this movie as a good family film.

This is a great movie. The picture is good, and the sound is good as well. I highly recommend this movie, especially if you like a good laugh!

At one time Ralph Spense was thought to be the highest paid writer working in Hollywood. He was certainly among the most prolific, making contributions to more than one hundred films between about 1916 and 1946. Even so, his great claim to fame was on the stage, where he wrote dialogue for both The Ziegfeld Follies and The Vanities--and in 1926 he created the mystery comedy THE GORILLA, which played about two months, not a bad run by the standards of the day. When Spense went back to Hollywood he took THE GORILLA with him, where it was filmed at least four times between 1927 and 1939.

The play, and the films based on it, is basically a riff on such "old dark house" mystery comedies as the 1920 THE BAT and the 1922 THE CAT AND THE CANARY. A mad killer known as "The Gorilla" informs his victims when they will be dispatched and has killed a half dozen or so when the story begins. He now threatens Walter Stevens (Lionel Atwell), who summons his niece Norma (Anita Louise), her lover Jack (Edward Norris), and three bumbling detectives (The Ritz Brothers) to protect him. His butler Peters (Bela Lugosi) and maid Kitty (Patsy Kelly) are also on hand for this emergency--Peters seemingly indifferent, Kitty comically terrified. But is the Gorilla a man? Is he a gorilla? Is he a man with a gorilla? Just what is really going on?

Today THE GORILLA is best known as a Bela Lugosi film; in 1939, however, it was considered a vehicle for The Ritz Brothers, a trio who were sometimes compared to The Three Stooges or The Marx Brothers. Most popular on the stage, the brothers made about sixteen films during their 1930s-1940s heyday. Filmed at 20th Century Fox, The Ritz Brothers considered the movie so bad that they famously walked out on their contract with Fox and went to Universal. The brothers, popular ingenue Anita Louise, brash comic Patsy Kelly, and frequent horror star Lionel Atwill were all billed above Lugosi, whose career had begun a major slide. Although he had a few good films remaining to him, Lugosi would spend most of the 1940s and 1950s eeking out a living in "B" movies and ultimately finishing out in several infamously bad Ed Wood films.

THE GORILLA is actually quite a bit better than you might expect. The story is silly and the script is slightly incoherent, but the movie looks good, the production values are expert, and the cast plays it very well, with Patsy Kelly especially memorable as the hysterical maid (she would repeat the same idea in the later TOPPER RETURNS.) Ironically, the one bit of casting that does not work well is The Ritz Brothers, for whom the film was created and who complained about it so extensively. Their humor has not dated well, and today they seem dull and uninspired instead of bright and amusing. The film was a flop in 1939 and quickly forgotten, and like many such films the copyright was not renewed. But even though the film is in the public domain, and even though Alpha is hardly known for pristine DVD releases, THE GORILLA's sound and especially picture elements have survived the passing years very well. Even so, this is really a movie best left to hardcore Lugosi fans--and hardcore Ritz Brother fans, if any such still exist.

GFT, Amazon Reviewer

I'm a huge fan of classic horror films, even the comedic ones such as Abbott & Costello Meet Frankenstein, but this movie is an outright insult to the genre and the associated renowned horror film actors Bela Lugosi and Lionel Atwill. True, Lugosi would make a film for anyone but this one represents a notable stain on his career.

SYNOPSIS: "The Gorilla" snuffs his victims as expected, but he telephones them in advance, assuring them of their demise and of the exact moment in which it will happen! Three detectives (played by The Ritz Brothers) are brought in to protect the fifth victim, (played by Lionel Atwill.) Lugosi plays the household butler.

The chief problem with this 1939 black-and-white dud is that The Ritz Brothers' comedy is no longer funny, if it ever was. They represent a poor second to The Marx Brothers and/or Abbott and Costello. So what we get is a disappointing low-budget film from the notorious micro-manager of Executive Producers, Darryl F. Zanuck. Zanuck was involved in the production of some superb films, such as Twelve O'Clock High (Special Edition), but this assuredly isn't one of them.

The routines of The Ritz Brothers are central to this film and it's akin to watching The Three Stooges with no smacking, slapping, or kicking. This is a very lame performance coupled with weak script writing. But the biggest shame of it all is how it reflects on the great Lionel Atwill [Sherlock Holmes - The Hound of the Baskervilles] and the venerable Bela Lugosi [Dracula (75th Anniversary Edition) (Universal Legacy Series).

In summary, if you miss these sixty-six minutes of comedy-horror drudgery, there's no cause to lose any sleep over it -- not recommended.

The newspaper headline says a murdering maniac gorilla is terrorizing the suburbs. Is the killer a man or a beast? Westchester is terror-stricken! A hairy arm delivers a note to a woman in bed. She runs off screaming. The note contains a threat to Walter Stevens! Somebody wants Stevens to repay a huge sum of money. Eleanor Danby arrives in a Packard on a dark and stormy night. Stevens explains the terms of the will: the survivor gets it all. Stevens hired some private detectives to guard him (the Ritz brothers, so this film will have comedy). [There is no rain on their coats.] Jack's car won't start, so it can't be put away. "Make a note of that, Garrity!" Who keeps a gorilla in a cage? The radio plays a warning. Who is walking upstairs?

The phone is dead, the lights go out, and Stevens disappeared. They find a strange man in a closet. They reenact the crime, twice. The three detectives disappear. A stranger enters from outside, who is he? "It wasn't my fault." The detectives search the house, this provides comic events. Will they find something in the cellar? Eleanor screams upstairs. "An unfortunate coincidence." Another stranger shows up, he is an animal trainer who was hired to bring his gorilla to the house. More confusion follows. [It is not funny.] There is a detective from the SEC. They find secret passages in the house. The detective surprises the people, and is surprised in turn. The mystery is finally solved.
This movie is neither mysterious or comical.