The Gorilla ** (1939, Jimmy Ritz, Harry Ritz, Al Ritz, Anita Louise, Patsy Kelly, Bela Lugosi, Lionel Atwill, Joseph Calleia , Edward Norris, Wally Vernon) – Classic Movie Review 5661

Despite all his fame and popularity, or because of it, Bela Lugosi often received star billing at Universal Pictures for what amounted to a supporting part, or dismissively loaned out to other studios. 20th Century Fox’s The Gorilla (1939) has him playing creepy straight man to the Ritz Brothers, Anita Louise and Patsy Kelly.

Playing crazy detectives, the Ritz Brothers, Jimmy Ritz, Harry Ritz, Al Ritz, enliven director Allan Dwan’s acceptable 1939 slapstick horror comedy mystery thriller.

Called in by Walter Stevens (played by Lionel Atwill) when he receives a threatening note from the notorious gangster and killer known as The Gorilla, the Ritz Brothers face a lot of trouble at Stevens’s mansion until they finally succeed in solving the crime.

A real escaped gorilla that turns up at the mansion, a sinister butler at the household and a chain of unforeseen events keep the action fast, the comedy amusing enough and the tension fairly high.

Infuriatingly, however, Bela Lugosi doesn’t have enough to do as Peters the sinister butler and Lionel Atwill is sidelined too as Walter Stevens.

Written by Rian James and Sid Silvers, and based on a 1925 Broadway play by Ralph Spence, it was first filmed as a silent in 1927 and again in an early sound version in 1930 with Joe Frisco and Lila Lee.

Also in the cast are Patsy Kelly as Kitty the maid, Joseph Calleia as the Stranger, Anita Louise as Norma Denby, Edward Norris as Jack Marsden, Wally Vernon as a seaman, Paul Harvey as A P Conway and Art Miles as Poe the Gorilla.

© Derek Winnert 2017 Classic Movie Review 5661

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