The Gorilla (1939)
A wealthy man who has been warned he will die at midnight by a killer known only as the Gorilla hires three inept detectives to guard his stormbound mansion. As nervous guests, a sinister butler, and a real escaped ape prowl the dark house, no one can tell which threats are human and which are not.
Twentieth Century-Fox handed the Ritz Brothers this creaky old-dark-house farce, the third screen version of Ralph Spence’s 1925 stage comedy, with Bela Lugosi as the suspicious butler and Lionel Atwill as the master of the house. The Gorilla underperformed and is often blamed for hastening the end of the Ritz Brothers’ Fox contract; it has long been in the public domain.
Background
Twentieth Century-Fox made The Gorilla as a vehicle for the Ritz Brothers, the comedy trio known for its fast, slapping stage style. It was directed by Allan Dwan and adapted from Ralph Spence’s 1925 Broadway comedy, which had already been filmed twice before this version. Bela Lugosi plays the sinister butler and Lionel Atwill the master of the house, a casting that leaned on the horror-comedy pairing common in old-dark-house films of the period. The picture underperformed at the box office, and its weak returns are sometimes cited as a factor in the end of the Ritz Brothers’ contract with Fox. The film has long been in the public domain.
What to watch for
Watch the way the film stages its old-dark-house shocks. Three inept detectives are hired to guard a stormbound mansion against a killer called the Gorilla, and the nervous guests, the suspicious butler, and an actual escaped ape move through the dark corridors, so the audience is never certain which threats are human. Lugosi’s menacing presence sits awkwardly beside the Ritz Brothers’ rapid-fire clowning, and that tension is the film’s main source of interest. At about 66 minutes it moves briskly, and its mix of mystery and gags shows the comic trio working in a form Hollywood had leaned on since the early sound era.
