The Gorilla

The Gorilla (1939)

A Ritz is afraid of nothing ... but ... THIS ... IS ... SOMETHING!

When an escaped circus gorilla appears to have gone on a murderous rampage, a threatened attorney calls on the detective trio of Garrity, Harrigan and Mullivan to act as bodyguards. In short order, we discover that there is more to the attorney than meets the eye, and the ape may be innocent after all. When a pretty young heiress faces peril, it's up to our heroic trio to save the day.

Date of release
1939-05-26
TMDB
4.8 / 10 (29)
Runtime
1h 8m
Genres
Comedy, Mystery, Crime
Director
Allan Dwan

Casting

Interesting facts

  • Based on: The Gorilla

The Gorilla is a 1939 American comedy horror film starring the Ritz Brothers, Anita Louise, Art Miles, Lionel Atwill, Bela Lugosi, and Patsy Kelly. It was based on the 1925 play of the same name by Ralph Spence.

Production

By October 1938, 20th Century-Fox bought the rights to Ralph Spence's play The Gorilla. Fox wanted production on the film to start in January, which would be when the Ritz brothers finished their tour. The studio wanted Kane Richmond to play a part in the film, but Richmond was replaced by Edward Norris after Richmond signed on for the film Charlie Chan in Reno. Fox signed on Bela Lugosi for the film as the butler.

The death of the Ritz Brothers' father caused production of the film in January to be delayed. Fox placed a $150,000 suit against the Ritz brothers for a breach of contract, as the film was stated to start production on January 30, but was halted when the Ritz brothers did not show up. They were reluctant to appear in a B picture. By March, the film began shooting again with the Ritz brothers returning to the film.

Read on Wikipedia · Text from Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0. Data from Wikidata.

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