User reviews

A good-natured 1939 horror comedy that can be watched today for 65 minutes of easy, painless entertainment. The plot is just convoluted nonsense, and the Ritz Brothers seem to be working with erratic material (at times their humor becomes almost surrealistic, often it's purely childish), but the film is pleasant enough and has some good lines and interesting situations. (**1/2)

During the 20s, murder mystery stage plays were extremely popular at Broadway theaters with plays like "The Bat" and "The Cat and the Canary" being huge hits everywhere. Naturally, film versions of this stage plays began to be produced, and thanks to their spooky sets and intriguing plots, this movies became an enormous influence for the horror films of following decades. Ralph Spence's "The Gorilla" was another of this kind of murder mystery stories that made the jump to cinema, with its first adaptation being made in 1927. What made "The Gorilla" different to the others was the humor it had, as it was more a spoof of the genre than a serious tale of horror. While nowhere near as successful as the other film versions of plays, "The Gorilla" was popular enough to be remade twice, the first time in 1930 and the second in 1939, with the legendary Bela Lugosi.

In this version, Lionel Atwill plays Walter Stevens, a very rich man who receives a letter from a killer who names himself "The Gorilla", threatening to kill him the following night. Worried about his life, Stevens hires three detectives (Jimmy, Harry and Al Ritz) to be with him in the mansion and protect his life. He has also called his nephew Norma (Anita Louise), to whom he explains the situation and what she should do in the case of his death. Her boyfriend Jack (Edward Norris) is with her, and along Kitty the maid (Patsy Kelly) and Stevens' butler Peters (Bela Lugosi), they will remain in the house hoping to find the Gorilla before he manages to kill Mr. Stevens. However, it doesn't seem an easy task to accomplish, as the three bumbling detectives seem to be clueless as where to start looking, and far more afraid of the Gorilla than Mr. Stevens himself.

Adapted to the screen by Rian James and Sid Silvers, this version of "The Gorilla" retains that comedic approach on the mystery stories that the play originally had, however, since the movie is a vehicle for the Ritz brothers (their last film for Twentieth Century Fox), there's a lot more emphasis on the slapstick that this comedy team was famous for. As a spoof on the genre, "The Gorilla" plays with every cliché that this kind of movies had, from the ensemble of different characters forced to spend the night in a dark mansion, to the classic whodunit plot twists that keep the secret of the murderer's identity. Mixing horror, mystery and comedy isn't easy, but Spence's play had a fairly good plot that managed to do the trick. Sadly, this adaptation isn't as successful, as the mix here feels forced and messy, as if the writers weren't sure what to make of it.

Directed by the extremely prolific Allan Dwan, "The Gorilla" features an excellent use of lighting and set design to create a dark atmosphere. Despite the extremely low production values (it was a troubled production due to labor disputes between the brothers and Fox), Dwan comes up with a solid film that at times manages to help to forget the lousy quality of the script. It's nowhere near the level of his other movies, but personally I think that he makes the often incoherent story watchable and funny. While the emphasis is on slapstick, there's still some of the play's wit in the characters played by Patsy Kelly and Bela Lugosi, whom are the perfect counterpart to the brothers' physical comedy. Fortunately, "The Gorilla" lacks the usual sing and dance that made the Ritz brothers famous, as it would had been out of place in Dwan's film.

Unfortunately the performances in "The Gorilla" are pretty much average, as while there are displays of brilliance among some members of the cast, others are simply unremarkable at best. The Ritz brothers have a bit of both sides, as they aren't really bad performers, but while some of their jokes are good (Harry Ritz was indeed talented), most of the times they all feel out of place in the movie. Edward Norris and Anita Louise are pretty average in their performances, with Norris being a very wooden actor in this film. Classic horror star Lionel Atwill plays his character with great skill, but it's not really one of his best roles. The highlights of the film are Patsy Kelly and Bela Lugosi, with the legendary horror star showing that he also had an underrated talent for black comedy as Peters the butler.

As written above, this movie is not exactly an excellent film, as while the original stage play was a witty mix of genres, this version ends up as a poorly built mishmash of styles: it wants to be a proper mystery (and has enough to be one) and a spoof at the same time. Sadly, the addition of the Ritz brothers to the mix doesn't really help anything, as while they weren't really a bad comedy team, their style simply isn't well adjusted to the movie. And it's not really the brothers' fault, as with some more work the script would had been perfect (apparently, the quality of this script was one of the reasons the brothers left Fox). On a completely different subject, the low budget really hurt the film, as while director Dwan and his team did very well with what they had, it really looks pretty poor in some accounts (the Gorilla suit for example).

While definitely "The Gorilla" is far from being a classic on the level of earlier Lugosi films, it's by no means a completely bad film, and it's certainly unworthy of the bad reputation it carries today. Sure, it's hard to get used to the Ritz brothers' style of comedy, specially when it's badly written as it is here, but even when it's not comedy classic, "The Gorilla" does deliver good entertainment. It's worth a watch, if only to get a glimpse of a different side of Bela Lugosi. 6/10

This was my first encounter with The Ritz Brothers and, although I'll freely admit that their relentless mugging is an acquired taste, I found the film to be quite amusing at times; this variation on the "old dark house" theme has a good cast (the typically shady Lionel Atwill, our very own Joseph Calleia, a rather wasted Bela Lugosi and Patsy Kelly as a wisecracking maid) and some neat atmospheric lighting going for it...although it does tend to lose steam in its latter stages. Hopefully, one day I may also get the chance to watch The Ritz Brothers sinking their teeth into THE THREE MUSKETEERS (1939), also helmed by their GORILLA director, Hollywood veteran Allan Dwan.

Here is a good way to spend a pleasant time watching a movie. The Gorilla offers a good time and a bit of mystery as well. Patsy Kelly is especially good as the wise-cracking maid and just about everyone belives Bela Lugosi (the butler) is behind the crimes. But is he? See the movie and find out. The Ritz Brothers are mildly amusing and a trio of inept detectives. Had the Marx Brothers or The Three Stooges been cast instead, this would be a great film. However, all in all, "The Gorilla" is worth watching just the way it is.

I had gotten the impression from a fellow Marx Brothers fan that the Ritz Brothers also were funny, that "if like like the Marx Brothers, you'll like these guys, too."

Are you kidding? The Ritz Brothers aren't even close to the MB in humor and entertainment. These guys were not funny; just stupid. I know humor was different back in the late 1930s, but this was just plain dumb. Maybe the Ritz's are an acquired taste.

With a story that involves detectives battling sinister characters, an ape who had escaped from a carnival, secret passageways and hidden doors-in-walls in a haunted-type house environment, etc., this should have been a really funny and entertaining movie.....but these guys just aren't funny. They botched it up. The Marx Brothers, or the The Three Stooges, would have made this story hilarious.

When I saw this Bela Lugosi "Horror Classics" boxed DVD set at Best Buy for something like $4.99, I thought that I would be watching classic B-Horror fare (i.e. _The Devil Bat_, _The Ape Man_, and _Carnival of Souls_). The first title of the "11 hours of entertainment" was _The Gorilla_. Believe it or not, this would be the first Lugosi movie I would ever see outside of his small role in _The Wolf Man_. Yet, I was refused a good look at a non-Dracula/non-Universal Bela Lugosi. Instead I was introduced to the horrific comic stylings of the Ritz Brothers and Patsy Kelly. Upon first viewing, I said out loud, "Are these guys suppose to be funny?" (By the way, they are supposed to be a comedy TEAM, but from what I saw the one Ritz brother cracked all the jokes as the other two made faces.) Yes, I am aware that their slapstick humor would be extremely sweet with movie-goers of the 1930s ad 1940s -BUT- these guys are so very lame. And, Dear Lord, Kelly's screaming is a steak knife scratching over and over again on a plate. Regardless, out of all the movies in this set, I cannot stop watching _The Gorilla_. After a couple of screenings, I hate to admit it, but the Ritz Brothers have grown on me (sorry, Kelly hasn't). Not because they are funny, but because their performance is so ridiculously terrible, that it evolves into funny.

That is indeed a fine description for this film which stars The Ritz Brothers mixing their comedic hijinks with Horror icons Lionel Atwill and Bela Lugosi. A young Patsy Kelly is also on hand. The story concerns a villain known as The Gorilla, who may be a human criminal or really an escaped ape no one seems to know for certain one way or the other, threatening the life of one Walter Stevens (Atwill), who hires three bumbling detectives (The Ritz Brothers) to protect him. Lugosi meanwhile plays Stevens' butler Peters and generally appears just at the opportune (or is that inopportune) moment to scare the willies out of and arouse suspicion in The Ritz Brothers detective characters Mulligan, Garrity and Harrigan. Who is the Gorilla? And why does he want Walter Stevens dead? The answer may not be what you expect...honestly I thought this was harmless fun and much better than most make it out to be.

1939's "The Gorilla" was hardly the best choice for a Ritz Brothers vehicle, somewhat reduced in stature by a complete lack of song and dance patter. Much more at home in the old dark house setting is horror veteran Bela Lugosi, able to effectively prowl with equal amounts of seriousness and bemusement as the butler Peters. His employer, Walter Stevens, is played by frequent co-star Lionel Atwill, so at least the duo lend dignified stature to the lighthearted proceedings, made well before Bob Hope's more successful remake of a similar 1920s chestnut, "The Cat and the Canary." The Ritz Brothers are still an acquired taste, but here the talented trio are handicapped by the single setting and lack of decent material to work with, snappy verbal sparring all they can muster in this one. Contrary to what is often reported, this was not in fact the last straw for the brothers at Fox, doing one final feature for Sol Wurtzel's B unit, "Pack Up Your Troubles," a vehicle for pint sized Jane Withers, leading Harry Ritz to famously quip that their careers had gone "from bad to Wurtzel!" A subsequent move to Universal fared little better, departing after only four additional titles, ironically missing out on the mystery musical "Murder in the Blue Room," which at least would have allowed them plenty of room for dancing and singing, a far more suitable vehicle than the stifling confines of "The Gorilla," a decent horror comedy but hardly the brothers at their best (it is after all hard to upstage the scene stealing Bela Lugosi). Lon Chaney Jr. had earlier appeared with the Ritz Brothers in "Life Begins in College" and "Straight Place and Show," while John Carradine earned more prestigious roles in both "Kentucky Moonshine" and "The Three Musketeers."

This is a very fun comedy-horror film that is very much underrated. If you enjoy comedy-horror movies, Lionel Atwill, Bela Lugosi, The Ritz Bros. or Gorillas then look no further than this funny mystery horror classic.

All of this film is good right from the very beginning but I think my favorite part of the film is the "invisible butler" (Lugosi) carrying the trunk from upstairs to downstairs right in front of the Ritz Bros.

The biggest question or mystery in this film is "who or what is the gorilla"? This one may surprise you a bit towards the end.

This is a great matinée type of film and could easily be a double feature with a movie like "King of the Zombies (1941)" or "One Body Too Many (1944)"

8.5/10

The movie itself is not bad. Plenty of superficial scares. A really good thunderstorm that last for most of the movie. Sounds of the thunderstorm are as good as any movie I've seen. Unfortunately, The Ritz Brothers show up in their own movie. Without them being there, this movie would rank higher. Their effort to be funny is a great weakness. You are either funny or you're not. They are not. The movie is good. I typically watch it if a thunderstorm is in my area. Lionel and Bela are always good. Even when someone tries to upstage them. The house is great. Not too shabby. (Then the Ritz Brothers show up) You can purchase the DVD cheap. I got mine at Dollar Tree. It has "The Invisible Ghost" on it also.

This is a real stinker. And I say that as a fan of the Ritz Brothers.

It's the third filmed version of a play that must have already been stale back in the twenties. (The first is a silent, of interest only to the Charles Gillingwater fan club. The second is a very early talkie starring the vaudeville comic Joe Frisco. I haven't seen either of them, but they're in the IMDb.)

Before you descend to the low level of this disaster, I'd recommend "The Three Musketeers" or "Straight, Place and Show," which is in the rotation at TCM (in fact I'm watching it right now, having just suffered through "The Gorilla"), and which features a wonderful acting and singing performance from Ethel Merman.

Meanwhile, spare yourself this turkey, unless you enjoy wooden acting, incoherent narrative, and unfunny jokes, or you just LOOOOOOOVE the Ritz Brothers.

It barely earns a "2" from me, and only because of the fact that any movie with a guy in a gorilla suit gets extra points.

I've heard that the Ritz Brothers refused to do this film unless both their contract and the script were re-worked. The Studio should have let them walk. I admit this is only the first Ritz Bros. film I have seen so they could come off as comic geniuses in "Hotel Anchovy" and I wouldn't know it. However in this film, all they do is suck the oxygen out of the room while fellow "comic," Patsy Kelly, chews the scenery with a knife and fork. All I could think while watching this film was "poor Bela Lugosi." Reduced here to being the-guy-who-we-think-did-it (and a butler to boot), you can almost see his disinterest as he sleepwalks through yet another "creepy foreign guy" role. With a bit different casting, this could have been a funny film.

In spite of the off-the-mark gags and dental drill like screaming of Kelly, this film is not horrible. It will entertain you in spite of its shortcomings. Make it a drinking game. Take a shot every time someone says "Take that down, Garrity." Take two shots every time Garrity says anything at all, and take a shot of water whenever the word "gorilla" is spoken. Poor Bela Lugosi.

first let's say that this isn't a top 50 horror movie, with that mindset I watched this for pure enjoyment, laughs and such. Bela Lugosi had some funny lines, sure this wasn't his best performance by far but I thought that this movie was quite interesting,, u have an unknown killer for most of the movie going around writing notes saying that a certain character is going to die at midnight. not a bad premise,, the man hires 3 detectives and a slew of others to protect him while they try to discover the identity of the killer,, I thought that this movie was pretty good given the lack of scares that it presented, I thought that this was very funny and definitely had it's moments,, sort of a campy movie instead of a scary one.

"This Ritz Brothers vehicle features them as detectives hired to protect lawyer Walter Stevens (Lionel Atwell) from 'The Gorilla', a killer working under the guise of an escaped circus animal. Garrity, Harrigan, and Mullivan (Jimmy, Harry, and Al Ritz) discover that is really heiress Norma Denby (Anita Louise) who may be the target of the killer. To complicate things even further, a real escaped gorilla shows up to befuddle our trio of detectives," according to the DVD sleeve's synopsis.

Another in the long line of comedy in the haunted house capers, "The Gorilla" works well if you're familiar with the Ritz Brothers, and unfamiliar with the often filmed storyline. It will also help if you like movies featuring men in gorilla suits. Director Allan Dwan and photographer Edward Cronjager make it look all right. The cast is strengthened by a high-key performance from literary maid Patsy Kelly (as Kitty), and a low-key play by butler Bela Lugosi (as Peters); their names, "Kitty" and "Peters", are certainly amusing.

**** The Gorilla (5/26/39) Allan Dwan ~ Harry Ritz, Patsy Kelly, Bela Lugosi

There is a pecking order about comedians and comedy teams. It goes like this for most of us (you can alter the figures on top):

Best Comics and comic teams: Charlie Chaplin, Buster Keaton, Harold Lloyd, Harry Langdon, Stan Laurel & Oliver Hardy, W.C. Fields, The Marx Brothers, Burns and Allan, The Three Stooges, Danny Kaye, Ernst Lubitsch, Preston Sturgis, Ernie Kovaks, Woody Allen, Mel Brooks, Abbott and Costello, Martin and Lewis.

Worst ones: The Ritz Brothers, Wheeler and Woolsey

There is no way that taste can be universal. Some people can't stand Martin and Lewis, and like Wheeler and Woolsey. Yet I think that most people would agree to the split of comedy teams and comics as I've drawn them up.

I have tried, repeatedly, to enjoy the Ritz Brothers. However I have yet to find what is there to enjoy about them. Brooks and Kaye both thought Harry Ritz was one of the funniest men in the world. To me he mugs too much (a tendency his brothers shared). In one film clip of them that I saw there was an actual moment of fun - one of them is doing an energetic dance step while the other two are waiting for him to conclude (it is a nightclub act). When he finishes, he slaps his hand downward towards them as though a signal for them to follow up with their energetic dance steps. They smile, look at each other, and slap arms toward him, as though inviting him to repeat the whole mad dance number he has just completed.

THE GORILLA was a Broadway "Murder Mystery" from the 1920s that had been made into a film once or twice before. It's traditions are from Edgar Allan Poe's "THE MYSTERY OF THE RUE MORGUE", where a pair of murders turn out to be committed by an escaped orangutan. Here there is a variation as the criminal is human but calls himself "the Gorilla" and a real "Gorilla" shows up to confuse the investigation. The Ritz Brothers, three inept detectives, are hired by a wealthy man (Lionel Atwill) who has been threatened by the "Gorilla". They, naturally, fumble their assignment, but Atwill's niece's boyfriend does solve it in time.

It is dreary - there is no better term for it. When the villain does show up one quickly realizes who is the killer. There is no excitement in the solution to this mystery.

The best line in the film goes to Patsy Kelly, as a maid in the household, who is being attacked by the real gorilla, an animal named Poe. When told by his keeper that Poe dislikes women, a frightened Kelly says, "So does Kipling." That one bit was the only piece of humor that was worth recalling. For that bit (with Patsy Kelly) I'll give it a 2.

This film would have worked a lot better if they had played it straight and taken out the Ritz Brothers. There's a serial killer called The Gorrila who sends people threatening letters and then kills them within twenty-four hours of sending the message. Some rich insurer's just received such a message, so he's hired the Ritz Brothers to find out what's going on. They all meet at the rich guy's house. Also present is his daughter and her fiancé, butler Bela Legosi, and a maid who's voice could strip paint. There also does seem to be a gorilla present, plus a mysterious man who likes to hide in the secret passageways of the house.

I'd read bad reviews of this one, but luckily it's not quite as painful as people make out. The Ritz Brothers, however, are pretty bad, although I've never been a big fan of The Three Stooges either. The actress who plays the maid is even worse, just screaming at the top of her voice until you'll be wanting to shove your feet inside your ears. Or her mouth.

Terrible comedy aside, a film with a gorilla in it, set on a stormy night in a house full of secret passages, with Bela Legosi in it as a creepy butler, isn't a total failure. There's plenty of mystery, double crosses, and gorilla action that I couldn't but enjoy it. I just wish they had played it straight.

It was hard for me to believe that Darryl F. Zanuck was the executive in charge of Production of this way out murder mystery with the Ritz Brothers. Allan Dwan was the producer of "The Gorilla" who had produced over four-hundred films and mostly B Films with some great films later in his career. Lionel Atwill is threatened by a Serial Killer called the Gorilla and he hires a detective agency operated by the Ritz Brothers who made this film a complete disaster. Anita Louise was a great actress and the only actress who was outstanding having to put up with a crazy cast of actors. I almost forgot Bela Lugosi who added his charm to this film after making a great success of his Dracula Film. Do not recommend viewing this film, it is Horrible.

The Ritz Bros. were ending their contract with this studio, and this film was the last in the contract. Most reviewers say this is their WORST film but, having seen most of their films, I TOTALLY disagree.

It is their BEST film!

Why? First of all, the Ritz Bros. were under the (false!) impression that they are singers & dancers. This film mercifully contains NONE of that!

A creepy old house, with a killer known as "The Gorilla" running loose, attempting to murder Lionel Atwill at the stroke of midnite.

Bela Lugosi lends some creepy (& comic!) moments, and Patsy Kelly is HILARIOUS!

Even tho the plot doesn't make too much sense, this is an extremely enjoyable "Old House" comedy.

Norm

This enjoyable enough romp is based on a stage play, and the film certainly has the feel of live theater. The Ritz Brothers (a comedy trio who were never as celebrated as the Three Stooges or Marx Brothers) star as hapless detectives hired to investigate a death threat made against a wealthy man. The threat is from none other than "The Gorilla," a mysterious killer the newspapers are always fretting about. Can our heroes save the day, or will this King Kong wannabe fulfill his hunger for blood?

Despite the theme and the fact it is often lumped together with low-grade schlock films, "The Gorilla" is actually an early horror-comedy, and a pretty good one at that. The story is interesting enough, and with a running time of just over an hour, there aren't many opportunities to be bored. The film isn't always fondly remembered because of its stars, who viewers today will look at as ripping off the Stooges. Are the Ritz Brothers comedy geniuses? No. Is the film laugh-out-loud funny? No again. But "The Gorilla" is fun enough to make it worth your while. Bela Lugosi is great as the butler.