Gorilla at Large (1954)

Director:

Harmon Jones

Writers:

Leonard Praskins (writer)
Barney Slater (writer)

Release Date:

May 1954 (USA)

Genre:

Mystery | Thriller

Tagline:

in 3-D!

Plot:

At a carnival called the Garden of Evil, a man is murdered, apparently by a gorilla...or someone in a gorilla suit.

Plot Keywords:

Gorilla | Carnival | Broken Neck | False Confession | Police Investigation

Cast

  (Complete credited cast)

Cameron Mitchell	...	Joey Matthews
Anne Bancroft	...	Laverne Miller
Lee J. Cobb	...	Detective Sgt. Garrison
Raymond Burr	...	Cy Miller
Charlotte Austin	...	Audrey Baxter
Peter Whitney	...	Kovacs
Lee Marvin	...	Shaughnessy--Policeman
Warren Stevens	...	Joe, Detective
John Kellogg	...	Morse (as John G. Kellogg)
Charles Tannen	...	Owens

Runtime:

83 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color (Technicolor)

Aspect Ratio:

1.66 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono (Western Electric Recording)

Certification:

Finland:K-16 | Sweden:15

Filming Locations:

Nu Pike Amusement Park, Long Beach, California, USA

Company:

Panoramic Productions

Goofs:

Continuity: When Shaughnessy is standing in front of the gorilla's cage door and is knocked out the gorilla walks out of the cage normally without stepping over a body.

Quotes:

Sgt. Garrison: You've always been this alert, Shaughnessy?
Shaughnessy: Always on my toes!
Sgt. Garrison: Well, get off 'em. You're a cop, not a ballet dancer.

Movie Connections:

Referenced in 1st Annual Mystery Science Theater 3000 Summer Blockbuster Review (1997) (TV)

Glorious Techicolor

It's not so much that there's more than meets the eye as it is what

does 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 a

rather predictable plot, or some wooden performances (though I'd

have something to say about that), or a delightfully inept gorilla suit

that looks more like an animated swatch of shag carpet (the eyes

are so...human!). You could moan and groan about the film's

portrayal of women, etc., etc. You could call it a bad movie.

But you shouldn't! Firstly, it does offer the sorts of thrills that

B-movie fans relish: the lurid carny life, cartoonish violence,

trapeze artists in skimpy costumes, emotions writ large and

unambiguously (at least ostensibly).

In fact, I'd say that many of the performances are great, not

because they are especially moving or "realistic," but rather,

because the conventions of the genre frame them in such a way

as to be quite effective, and not least of all, gratifying. Anne

Bancroft smolders magnificently as a trapeze artist with quite a

shady past. Raymond Burr's controlling, yet ambiguous carnival

manager never fails to intrigue. Lee Marvin is great as a feckless,

blow-hard police officer. And perhaps most compellingly, there is

Lee J. Cobb, as a no-nonsense, cigar-chomping gumshoe. You

really get a sense of what an entirely watchable performer he is in

this picture, and personally I think he's better here than he is in "On

the Waterfront" (gasp!).

Camp values aside, the technical aspects of the film are

breathtaking. The picture's technicolors blast out of the screen,

aided by 3-D that is so sharply defined and brilliant that you feel

like you are watching some sort of moving ViewMaster reel. A

restored print has recently been struck and you'll be blown away if

you have a chance to see it. I'd say that its use of technicolor and

3-D are perhaps more impressive than even "House of Wax," and

certainly more accomplished than such unnecessarily 3-D'd

features such as "Dial M for Murder" or "Miss Sadie Thompson."

Color, violence, a beautiful girl and a gorilla--and in not one, nor

two, but THREE dimensions. What's not to like?