Gorilla Ship

GORILLA SHIP is a misleading title, causing visions of men in ratty go-rilla suits romping around at sea. Fortunately, that's not the case.

This is a drama / thriller about three people rescued at sea, and taken aboard a ship run by Capt. "Gorilla" Larsen (Ralph Ince), and his band of scurvy sea dogs. Once aboard, these new arrivals soon discover that being guests on this Captain's ship is no yachting holiday!

Larson is an ill-tempered, surly sot, who certainly lives up to his nickname! Adding to the fun, the trio of passengers have some secrets of their own, especially Phil (Wheeler Oakman), who just might be worse than his irascible host!

A couple of nice twists help to make this a keeper...

Gorilla Ship is a Sea Wolf very light where the brutal captain has the nickname of an animal. Ralph Ince plays Captain Gorilla Larsen no doubt related to Jack London's Wolf Larsen. But believe me very distantly.

Instead of Jack London's prose we get a brutal schooner captain who loves clocking his crew if they don't move fast enough. On a voyage to the South Seas he spots first a man in a lifeboat and then a man and woman in the water clinging to wreckage. They all get picked up and all become amusing toys for his lord and master on the schooner.

The husband is veteran western heavy Wheeler Oakman who was in the lifeboat and is a most jealous man, the two in the water are his wife Vera Reynolds and Reed Howes. It's your standard triangle.

Once they're all on the Gorilla Ship all the fun and games on Ince's part start.

Not much to say here other than this is a poverty row melodrama with a rather unbelievable twist of fate.

I hadn't watched GORILLA SHIP for over a decade when I dug it out and re-watched it this weekend, and it's a nice little poverty row feature that surely kept the depression-era b-movie audience entertained. The film opens with about 12 minutes of domestic drama between husband Wheeler Oakman (veteran Western heavy and pimp in some exploitation classics), wife Vera Reynolds (star of many silent features, she starred in indie films of the early sound era and retired from the screen after making one more film for director Frank Strayer, TANGLED DESTINIES, which I've reviewed on the IMDb), and friend of the family Reed Howes (dashing lead of many silent light-action films and early-sound poverty row features, and then a reliable character actor for decades--singled out for praise in Ed Wood's book Hollywood RAT RACE as a true professional). Then we are introduced to the seedy ship of Captain "Gorilla" Larsen, played by actor-director Ralph Ince (brother of Thomas Ince), who plays the role like Sterling Hayden after a long and brutal weekend. The two stories come together in a surprising way, and then we find out that the Captain is not unknown to one of the three characters from the mainland. What happens after that is not entirely expected, and the film contains many clever touches. The always reliable George Chesebro takes a break from Western badguy roles to play the first mate, and he's as ornery as ever. Howes has a charming screen presence and also a certain "aw-shucks" quality that reminds me, say, James Garner. If Ben Affleck is able to mature over the years and acquire a certain gravitas in his screen persona, he could one day resemble Reed Howes. Overall, a fine way to kill an hour, and a reminder of how many great little b-movies were made on poverty row in the early 1930's. With cast and crew recruited from the late silent period, films such as GORILLA SHIP still can entertain and excite audiences 75 years after they were made.

How could I pass up a movie called Gorilla Ship (1932)? Vera Reynolds (in her penultimate screen appearance) and Wheeler Oakman are married, but he is increasingly jealous of their longtime friend, Reed Howes. He suggests they go on a cruise on his yacht, and he blows up the ship. They are each eventually rescued by a passing trader skippered by Ralph Ince, known in this movie as 'Gorilla' Larsen -- he's the brother who used to beat up Wolf for being a namby-pamby.

I'd never before noticed Ralph M. Like Productions, although my records show I've seen a couple of them. This one shows all the hallmarks of being an ambitious Poverty Row production with some skilled individuals making the best they can out of a derivative script, which nonetheless has a few actual surprises. Under the direction of Frank Strayer, it's watchable because Ince is pretty good as the larger-than-life Larsen.

The visuals are hard to appreciate in the poor copy I got to look at, but the other performances seem to be all right. With George Chesebro and Lafe McKee.

Wheeler Oakman and Vera Reynolds are a married couple, Philip and Helen, having some rocky times. Phil is jealous of Helen and her friendship with best friend "Dave", played by Reed Howes. They all decide to take a yachting trip, but the yacht ends up on the bottom of the sea. After being picked up by a fishing boat, they realize Captain Gorilla is well named, and their troubles are just beginning. Earlier, we watched Gorilla either kill someone, or knock him out... it's not really made clear. Sound and editing are just miserable, but we get the idea. This one is only 59 minutes, so it was probably a "B" film, shown after the main event. Ralph Ince (Gorilla) died at age 50... car accident in London. Directed by Frank Strayer... had directed all the "Blondie" films. This one is all right. Love triangle... or more like a love octagon!