The studio, 20th-Century-Fox, responded by leveling a $150,000 lawsuit against the comedy team for violation of contract. First, the Ritz Brothers had to postpone filming to attend their father's funeral in early January. You would think that a one-set film like The Gorilla could be shot quickly in a matter of days. It also takes a comedic approach to the proceedings with The Ritz Brothers playing inept detectives and Bela Lugosi parodying his own sinister screen persona as the creepy butler, Peters. Similar to The Bat (1926) and The Cat and the Canary (1927), other entries in the "Old Dark House" genre, The Gorilla has fun exploiting all the expected horror cliches - a hairy hand reaches for the heroine's neck, a mysterious figure is seen hovering outside the windows, well-lit rooms go dark unexpectedly at crucial moments. Sound familiar? It should because The Gorilla (1939) is the third film version of the popular Ralph Spence play which was previously filmed in 19. A small group gathering for the reading of a will. A mansion with secret passageways and trapdoors. The detectives then discover that the agent is not a member of the SEC, but instead is the murderer known as the "Gorilla." After the detectives restrain the "Gorilla," Stevens admits that he manufactured the death threats and hired an actual gorilla from the circus in order to flush out the real human killer, whose crimes were destroying his insurance business.Ī dark, stormy night. To prove his point, the agent leads the detectives through the hidden doorways and catacombs of the mansion, where they find Stevens, who has been bound and gagged. Conway's accusation is supported by the appearance of an agent from the Securities and Exchange Commission, who claims that Stevens sent himself his own death threat in order to avert suspicion. As the lights flash on and off, Conway, one of Stevens' clients, arrives to accuse Stevens of manufacturing the entire scheme to embezzle his insurance company's funds. The hysteria mounts when the dreaded gorilla is spotted. As the clock strikes midnight, Stevens disappears, and the detectives begin a frantic search for the missing man. The detectives arrive at Stevens' mansion on the appointed night of the murder and proceed to interrogate all present: Kitty, the hysterical maid Peters, the sinister butler Stevens' niece, Norma Denby and her fiancé, Jack Marsden. Upon receiving a death threat from the "Gorilla," a crazed murderer, country gentleman and insurance broker Walter Stevens employs detectives Garrity, Harrigan and Mulligan to protect him.
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