Gorilla at Large

Plot synopsis:
Cyrus Miller's circus has come to the fairgrounds, where barker Joey Matthews invites the crowd to come see the great gorilla, Goliath.
Trapeze artist Laverne Miller flies over the gorilla's cage. She tells husband Cyrus that she wants a few changes made, demanding that the animal's handler, Kovacs, be fired, and that Joey join the act. Inside a gorilla costume, Joey would be waiting to catch Laverne when she drops from the trapeze, the crowd shrieking as it believes him to be Goliath.
Cyrus refuses to dismiss Kovacs, who is the only one able to control the gorilla. Going through with her new act, however, Laverne and Joey practice, incorporating some judo moves in their routine. Joey tells fiancee Audrey Baxter that the additional money he makes will help them raise enough money to be married and leave the circus life for good.
A concessionaire, Morse, is accused by Cyrus of robbing from the receipts. Morse is found dead near Goliath's cage with a broken neck and a gin bottle nearby. Detective Garrison of the police speculates that the victim got drunk and ventured too close to the dangerous gorilla. Cyrus' right-hand man, Owens, argues that Morse never drank alcohol due to an ulcer.
Joey becomes a suspect, having once threatened Morse for bothering Audrey. But it is Joey's hunch that Cyrus is behind this. He could be out to frame Joey, who has been the object of Laverne's flirtations. Or the killer could be Kovacs, who once was married to Laverne before an accident led to the death of Kewpie, her partner on the trapeze.
While cop on duty Shaughnessy falls asleep, Goliath is set free by someone in a gorilla suit. Audrey begins screaming. Cyrus and others rush to rescue her in the hall of mirrors. Owens says he knows who the killer is, but then he is found dead. Kovacs leads the gorilla away.
To the surprise of the police, Cyrus confesses to both murders. He says both men were involved in Kewpie's death. Joey is not convinced. He still feels Kovacs is the killer, believing Cyrus's lame arm made him incapable of breaking anyone's neck.
Laverne is about to do her drop from the trapeze, but expecting Joey in the costume, she falls to the real gorilla. It turns out Laverne is the killer. Using her own judo skills, she overpowered Morse, who was blackmailing her over Kewpie's death, then Owens, who had deduced her guilt.
Goliath carries a screaming Laverne to the top of the roller coaster. The gorilla dies in a hail of bullets, and the murderer is placed under arrest.

Tags: revenge, mystery

Review:
For one thing, it has an amazing cast: Anne Bancroft, Cameron Mitchell, Lee Cobb, Lee Marvin and Raymond Burr.
Men dress in garish suits in this one, and smoke cigars, and there is, as always seemed to be the case with films with a circus or carnival setting, the air of an alternate reality just around the corner, in a sideshow or a funhouse.
This picture was an oddity even when it was new, feeling at times more like an episode of Superman than a movie.
The gorilla looks exactly like what it is, a man in a gorilla suit, yet somehow this is acceptable, the way painted backdrops in silent movies are acceptable.
Method actors Mitchell and Cobb deliver fine B movie performances that give no hints that they were in fact classically trained, not to mention that they had once played together as father and son in the original Broadway production of Death Of a Salesman.
His occasional moments of smiling and bonhomie remind me a little of Peter Lorre at his most forlorn, as he comes off like a grim, serious man trying awfully hard to be a good sport, which in turn makes him a perfect red herring.
Lee Marvin plays a dumb cop named Shaughnessy, a good indication of the cleverness of the script.Yet the movie works on its own terms.
This sort of stylized, non-realistic movie was, like amusement parks, going out of fashion at the time it was made, and yet it has its virtues, notably a commitment to artifice rather than a representation of the real world, which freed the imaginations of the men behind the camera, allowing them to make little experiments with color, space and lighting.
Here's a film, beautifully photographed in Technicolor and processed by the Technicolor laboratories (not Deluxe DeLousy) with images as sharp as the proverbial pin, with plenty of 3-D thrills provided by both the intriguing murder thriller plot and its colorfully atmospheric circus background, with excellent acting from a top-flight cast, neatly directed and most entertainingly produced,  yet seemingly everyone hates it.Why?
Two reasons: (1) Anne Bancroft has spent her whole life rubbishing the film; (2) A technically inept TV presentation in murky color in the United States in the 1980s has given the movie bad word-of-mouth.When I saw the movie on its first release, the audience loved it, despite the fact that we seeing the picture in a flat version in which the 3-D thrills were robbed of most of their impact.Gorilla at Large does not pretend to be some pompous dissection of American life along the lines of The Man in the Gray Flannel Suit, but a simple slice of entertaining escapism with some interesting characters (forcefully enacted, as said, by a first-rate cast, including the much self-maligned Miss Bancroft) caught up in a fascinating, pacily directed thriller with A-1 production values.What more can a movie-lover ask?If I had a choice between seeing Gorilla at Large and any Fox film (except The Gunfighter) featuring the studio's number-one star, Gregory Peck, I'd unhesitatingly say, "Bring on the gorilla!".
From what little I can find on the internet about Gorilla at Large, it seems that Anne Bancroft viewed the movie with disdain and wasn't at all proud of her appearance.
You can look down on Gorilla at Large, but I'd rather watch it any day over either The Miracle Worker or The Graduate.
Call it cheesy, call it campy, call it whatever you want - bottom line, Gorilla at Large is one entertaining movie.
A Technicolor 3-D (though I saw it in 2-D) murder mystery where a gorilla is one of the prime suspects - how cool is that?
Two gorillas for the price of one - can't go wrong with that.In addition to the dismissive Anne Bancroft, Gorilla at Large has a very impressive cast.
The resolute Raymond Burr, the cigar-chomping Lee J.
Cobb, a baby-faced Lee Marvin, genre favorite Cameron Mitchell, and the most famous man in a gorilla suit, George Barrows, are all on hand for the fun.
Overall, I had a great time watching Gorilla at Large.
It's too bad Anne Bancroft never saw the fun in this movie..
I had heard about "Gorilla at Large" for years, but avoided watching it because of the campy title and brief clips I had seen, usually of the gorilla swinging on a vine.
To my surprise, I found "Gorilla at Large" to be an entertaining movie.
"Gorilla" has a very good cast and interesting story.
The sexy Anne Bancroft is the main star....although some might claim it is the gorilla..
The opening sequence of Raymond Burr walking through the carnival is some of the most effective 3-D photography I have ever seen.The story...yipes!
Anne Bancroft vamps up a storm in some scenes and Raymond Burr plods thru his role.
It's not so much that there's more than meets the eye as it is whatdoes meet the eye that makes this picture worth a look-see.Sure, if you want to be all serious, then you could easily object to arather predictable plot, or some wooden performances (though I'dhave something to say about that), or a delightfully inept gorilla suitthat looks more like an animated swatch of shag carpet (the eyesare so...human!).
Firstly, it does offer the sorts of thrills thatB-movie fans relish: the lurid carny life, cartoonish violence,trapeze artists in skimpy costumes, emotions writ large andunambiguously (at least ostensibly).In fact, I'd say that many of the performances are great, notbecause they are especially moving or "realistic," but rather,because the conventions of the genre frame them in such a wayas to be quite effective, and not least of all, gratifying.
Youreally get a sense of what an entirely watchable performer he is inthis picture, and personally I think he's better here than he is in "Onthe Waterfront" (gasp!).Camp values aside, the technical aspects of the film arebreathtaking.
I'd say that its use of technicolor and3-D are perhaps more impressive than even "House of Wax," andcertainly more accomplished than such unnecessarily 3-D'dfeatures such as "Dial M for Murder" or "Miss Sadie Thompson."Color, violence, a beautiful girl and a gorilla--and in not one, nortwo, but THREE dimensions.
Anne Bancroft, looking sensational in Technicolor, is as good as the script allows-meaning she manages to keep a straight face during the ridiculous contrivances that the movie presents.
Cobb also put in professional performances, although Lee must have been longing for the days of the Group Theatre during production of this lulu.
But with a cast including Anne Bancroft, Lee Marvin, Raymond Burr, Cameron Mitchell, Lee J.
But there is no question that shortly after this film all of them began to appear on a regular basis in more important roles and in more important films and television, the most successful examples being Anne Bancroft, Lee Marvin, Raymond Burr and Lee J.
And this film is a perfect example of Lee Marvin's early work where it was obvious he was emblazoned with "Star".
After having previously directed such notable efforts as, Paddy Chayefsky's "As Young as You Feel", the popular biopic "The Pride of St. Louis", "The Silver Whip", "The Kid from Left Field", and "City of Bad Men", Harmon's career seemed from then on to be destined for weekly television episodes.As for production values, script, suspense and action, the film is not bad.
Visually enjoyable in wonderful color, great nostalgia value centering around the old amusement park with the fun house, room of mirrors, dodgems, trapeze act and all the rest.
"Gorilla At Large" is a very good example of a 1950's 3-D film.
That's why.Having said that, 23 year old Anne Bancroft gives an interesting sex-pot performance.
Raymond Burr, known as a bad guy at this time, gives a very offbeat performance.
And a very young Lee Marvin is extremely funny as a cop who doesn't have a clue.The 1950's saw a great many 3-D films that are no longer available in that format.
It is really too bad we can't see "Gorilla At Large", "House Of Wax" and "Dial M For Murder" the way they were meant to be seen..
Although Goliath the gorilla in Gorilla At Large is not a monster like King Kong he does create a whole lot of mischief at the carnival he's a feature attraction at.
Cobb first suspects young Cameron Mitchell who is working at Raymond Burr's carnival for the summer.
Wife Anne Bancroft who is a trapeze artist wants to get Mitchell in the act and she eyes him like a slab of beef.
Her former husband Peter Whitney is the animal handler and the real friend of Goliath.Given the title I was really expecting some kind of schlock film, but Gorilla At Large is a very nicely done mystery with a really good cast of solid players.
Lee Marvin has an unusual part for him, he plays a really dumb uniform cop under whose watch the gorilla escapes and wreaks havoc on any and all.The ending is a surprise, I guarantee you will not suspect who it is..
GORILLA AT LARGE (Harmon Jones, 1954) ***.
I had originally watched this one a long time ago during my childhood days on a now-defunct Sicilian TV channel; in hindsight, it can now best be considered as a guilty pleasure and, besides, the fact that it isn’t really a bona-fide horror film (given that the murders are not actually committed by the titular beast but rather by somebody conveniently donning a simian costume) might perhaps endear it to those film buffs who normally shun the genre.The terrific cast is also a definite attraction here: Lee J.
Cobb and Lee Marvin are particularly fun to watch as, respectively, the cigar-chomping Police Detective heading the murder investigations under the Big Top and a loudmouth but sleepy-eyed cop left to guard the caged gorilla but, inevitably, ending behind its bars himself!
Cameron Mitchell, Raymond Burr and Anne Bancroft – who, arguably, never looked lovelier on screen than she does here as the star trapeze artist of husband Burr’s circus – all have good roles and gleefully enter into the fun spirit of the thing.
Interestingly enough, both Cobb and Burr were about to embark on their signature screen roles that same year in, respectively, ON THE WATERFRONT and REAR WINDOW!
The gorilla keeper (Peter Whitney) is also a noteworthy and malevolent presence, particularly when trapping a victim into his self-designed mirror maze and when offering to teach Mitchell how to raise ex-wife Bancroft over his head for the crowd's pleasure!
The belated identification of the real killer is a big surprise – which makes the sequence of Burr taking on the blame for the circus murders and his eventual revelation as a cripple by Mitchell in front of Cobb a moving one and the film’s highlight.
GORILLA AT LODGE is an oddity--a "B" picture with a distinguished cast of more than competent actors--CAMERON MITCHELL, ANNE BANCROFT, LEE J.
COBB, LEE MARVIN, WARREN STEVENS and RAYMOND BURR--and is filmed in excellent Technicolor using the gimmick of 3D which was just a passing fad at the time.It's a murder mystery with most of the action taking place in a colorful amusement park called "The Garden of Evil", all of the atmosphere fully taken advantage of by the color photography which accents the garish while the story accents the puzzling background of several suspects who might be involved in the shady doings.ANNE BANCROFT was at her physical prime in a part that requires more acrobatics than acting skill, but still there's a glimmer of the actress to be.
COBB is a gruff cigar smoking detective who treats everyone like a suspect, and LEE MARVIN is amusing as an Irish cop whose intelligence is questionable.
PETER WHITNEY (who played those amusing twin brothers in a screwball comedy from the '40s called MURDER, HE SAID), is creepy as the chief suspect and the Gorilla is obviously a man in a gorilla suit.But it's all meant to be strictly lightweight entertainment, a no brainer for the kiddies and nothing that puts a strain on anyone's thinking cap.
It stars Cameron Mitchell, Anne Bancroft, Lee J.
Out of Panoramic Productions and filmed in Technicolor, the music is by Lionel Newman and cinematography is by Lloyd Ahern.An amusement park/circus is rocked when a freshly sacked employee is found brutally murdered inside the cage of the star attraction, Goliath the Giant Gorilla.
Yes it's unintentionally funny at times, and there was never going to be a time when a man in a Gorilla suit (George Barrows) wasn't going to be corny, but it's a very good production (lovely Technicolor) and boasts a super cast of actors into the bargain.
Yet there's enough suspense and iffy character shenanigans to more than lift this above the ridiculous.Anne Bancroft spent the rest of her career denouncing the film, like many others who were tied into studio contracts back in the day, thus "having" to do films they would rather not do, she forgot that this type of film still had many fans.
There's much fun to be had with Cobb's performance as cigar chomping Detective Sergeant Garrison, mainly because he seems to be the only male actor taking it seriously!
Unlike Lee Marvin, who in a secondary supporting cop role plays it with tongue in cheek and appears to be enjoying himself into the bargain.
Nice to see the chiselled features of Warren Stevens (Forbidden Planet) on board as well.Filmed at Nu Pike Amusement Park in Long Beach, California, Harmon Jones (The Pride of St. Louis) makes good use of the funfair location.
3D Movie Going Ape. This film works out to be a mystery film wrapped around a fascination of Anne Bancroft getting pawed by a gorilla.
I mention these because these 3 films were part of a 3D film revival in the late 1980's on television which spurred some new 3D productions after.This film is Raymond Burr's second film with a gorilla.
Burr's next film would be Rear Window which has much more to recommend it than this one..
Apart from the hokie gorilla costume (there are places where you can see the fingers bend backward), it's a fun movie and worth watching.
A mere year younger than amusement park owner Raymond Burr.A delight for fans of Anne Bancroft to see her as a bit of posh tottie!
Great job!If you like Raymond Burr as Perry Mason, this film is a must see.
One of my all-time favorite "corny but great" movies.
****SPOILERS**** The movie "Gorilla at Large" is actually about three not one gorilla all played by human not primate actors.
There's of course the gorilla in the movies title Goliath the biggest gorilla in captivity played by George Barrows in a loose fitting monkey suite.
Then there's circus manager Cyrus Miller played by the gorilla like, before he lost 100 pounds for his role as Perry Mason Esq, Raymond Burr who in fact played a gorilla three years earlier in he movie "Bride of the Gorilla".
As things turn out a number of people working for the circus end up with the necks broken by someone with enormous strength that only a gorilla, not human, could have.
Cobb, to see if, by breaking out of his cage and killing someone, he's in fact the killer.With that going on full-time circus handy man and part time law student Joey Matthews, played by a bleach blond looking Cameron Mitchell, takes it upon himself to single handedly solve the murders in order to show up the police headed by Det. Sgt.
This has Joey uncontrollably fall for sexy trapeze artist Leverne Miller, Ann Bancroft, who's married to her boss Cyrus the manager of the circus as well as have been married to the other gorilla Kovacs whom she left for her trapeze partner the handsome Kewpie known as the human cannonball.
That's until Kewpie died in a tragic accident when the swing he was doing his act with Laverne snapped causing to fall to his death.****SPOILERS**** It turns out that everyone including Goliath are falling all over Laverne with Cyrus who was totally innocent in Kewpie death confessing, like in those Raymond Burr dealt with in the Perry Mason series, to his murder!
As for poor Goliath the innocent victim in all this he paid with his life for a crime or crimes that he didn't commit where at the end of the movie no one at all, but possibly his trainer Kovac, felt a bit sorry for!P.S Check out a young 30 year old Lee Marvin as the "Sleeping Policeman" Officer Shaughnessy who as luck would have it and without realizing it actually proved the very maligned gorilla Goliath totally innocent!
Here, it is future Oscar winner Anne Bancroft, looking absolutely gorgeous as a trapeze artist in a carnival run by Raymond Burr where murder is afoot.
Then comes in Cameron Mitchell (looking hysterically embarrassed with a bad yellowish blonde hair dye job!) who is to add some luster to Bancroft's trapeze act (swinging over the ape) by catching her for some added thrills to the audience.
The result of the film is a nice Thriller/Mystery that is a lot of fun, gorgeously filmed in breathtaking color (a filmmaking technique much missed!) and the chance to see one of our best actresses during the time she was much misused by the studio that didn't see her potential..
A huge and fearsome gorilla named Goliath (essayed with considerable growling'n'grunting gusto by veteran simian thespian George Barrows in a lovably obvious suit) with a bad temper becomes the key suspect after a murder occurs at the Garden of Evil carnival.
The lively acting from the tip-top cast rates as another major asset: Cameron Mitchell as the amiable Joey Matthews, a ravishing Anne Bancroft as sexy and enticing trapeze artist Laverne Miller, Lee J.
Cobb as the hard-nosed, cigar-chomping Detective Garrison, Raymond Burr as no-nonsense carny owner Cy Miller, Charlotte Austin as sweet ticket gal Audrey Baxter, Peter Whitney as Goliath's scruffy handler Kovacs, and a very young Lee Marvin as dumb, but eager flatfoot Shaughnessy.