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Le Gorille

Original title: The Gorilla
  • 1939
  • Approved
  • 1h 6m
IMDb RATING
4.8/10
1.8K
YOUR RATING
Al Ritz, Harry Ritz, Jimmy Ritz, and The Ritz Brothers in Le Gorille (1939)
Watch Trailer
Play trailer3:05
1 Video
11 Photos
ComedyHorror

After a wealthy man is threatened by a killer known as The Gorilla, he hires the Ritz Brothers to investigate. A real escaped gorilla shows up at the mansion just as the investigators arrive... Read allAfter a wealthy man is threatened by a killer known as The Gorilla, he hires the Ritz Brothers to investigate. A real escaped gorilla shows up at the mansion just as the investigators arrive.After a wealthy man is threatened by a killer known as The Gorilla, he hires the Ritz Brothers to investigate. A real escaped gorilla shows up at the mansion just as the investigators arrive.

  • Director
    • Allan Dwan
  • Writers
    • Ralph Spence
    • Rian James
    • Sid Silvers
  • Stars
    • The Ritz Brothers
    • Jimmy Ritz
    • Harry Ritz
  • See production info at IMDbPro
  • IMDb RATING
    4.8/10
    1.8K
    YOUR RATING
    • Director
      • Allan Dwan
    • Writers
      • Ralph Spence
      • Rian James
      • Sid Silvers
    • Stars
      • The Ritz Brothers
      • Jimmy Ritz
      • Harry Ritz
    • 67User reviews
    • 31Critic reviews
  • See production info at IMDbPro
  • Videos1

    Trailer
    Trailer 3:05
    Trailer

    Photos10

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    Top cast13

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    The Ritz Brothers
    The Ritz Brothers
    • Defective Detectives
    Jimmy Ritz
    Jimmy Ritz
    • Garrity
    Harry Ritz
    Harry Ritz
    • Harrigan
    Al Ritz
    Al Ritz
    • Mulligan
    Anita Louise
    Anita Louise
    • Norma Denby
    Patsy Kelly
    Patsy Kelly
    • Kitty
    Lionel Atwill
    Lionel Atwill
    • Walter Stevens
    Bela Lugosi
    Bela Lugosi
    • Peters
    Joseph Calleia
    Joseph Calleia
    • Stranger
    Edward Norris
    Edward Norris
    • Jack Marsden
    Wally Vernon
    Wally Vernon
    • Seaman
    Paul Harvey
    Paul Harvey
    • A.P. Conway
    Art Miles
    Art Miles
    • Poe the Gorilla
    • Director
      • Allan Dwan
    • Writers
      • Ralph Spence
      • Rian James
      • Sid Silvers
    • All cast & crew
    • Production, box office & more at IMDbPro

    User reviews67

    4.81.7K
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    Featured reviews

    unclerussie

    Pleasant and entertaining

    Here is a good way to spend a pleasant time watching a movie. The Gorilla offers a good time and a bit of mystery as well. Patsy Kelly is especially good as the wise-cracking maid and just about everyone belives Bela Lugosi (the butler) is behind the crimes. But is he? See the movie and find out. The Ritz Brothers are mildly amusing and a trio of inept detectives. Had the Marx Brothers or The Three Stooges been cast instead, this would be a great film. However, all in all, "The Gorilla" is worth watching just the way it is.
    8Tera-Jones

    A Worthwhile Comedy

    This is a very fun comedy-horror film that is very much underrated. If you enjoy comedy-horror movies, Lionel Atwill, Bela Lugosi, The Ritz Bros. or Gorillas then look no further than this funny mystery horror classic.

    All of this film is good right from the very beginning but I think my favorite part of the film is the "invisible butler" (Lugosi) carrying the trunk from upstairs to downstairs right in front of the Ritz Bros.

    The biggest question or mystery in this film is "who or what is the gorilla"? This one may surprise you a bit towards the end.

    This is a great matinée type of film and could easily be a double feature with a movie like "King of the Zombies (1941)" or "One Body Too Many (1944)"

    8.5/10
    jshaffer-6

    Gorilla Gargantua the Great

    In reading the other reviews of this movie, I became aware that there was something else that needed to be said. The reason gorillas became such a horrifying idea and spectacle was not really the Murders in the Rue Morgue. Back in 1937, a floundering Barnum and Bailey, Ringling brothers circus was about to go bankrupt. That year they came in to possession of a gorilla, who had been damaged by having acid thrown in his face. He was called Buddy, and became a pet to some people who after 7 years sold him to the circus, after waking up during a thunder storm to find Buddy in bed with them. The publicity that the circus used was mind-boggling, and since his face was scarred from the acid, he looked the part. I saw him myself, and admit that he was a frightening sight, shut in his tiny cage. He was billed as Gargantua the Great, man-killer, etc. He saved them from bankruptcy. He died in 1949 at the young age of 20 of pneumonia, primarily because everyone was afraid to approach him. The autopsy showed that he also had decayed and impacted teeth. It's hard to find information on him today, in spite of the fact that he was the headliner for 12 years.
    6Bunuel1976

    The Gorilla (1939) **1/2

    This was my first encounter with The Ritz Brothers and, although I'll freely admit that their relentless mugging is an acquired taste, I found the film to be quite amusing at times; this variation on the "old dark house" theme has a good cast (the typically shady Lionel Atwill, our very own Joseph Calleia, a rather wasted Bela Lugosi and Patsy Kelly as a wisecracking maid) and some neat atmospheric lighting going for it...although it does tend to lose steam in its latter stages. Hopefully, one day I may also get the chance to watch The Ritz Brothers sinking their teeth into THE THREE MUSKETEERS (1939), also helmed by their GORILLA director, Hollywood veteran Allan Dwan.
    doc_hartman

    I don't hate the film, in spite of the Ritz's

    I've heard that the Ritz Brothers refused to do this film unless both their contract and the script were re-worked. The Studio should have let them walk. I admit this is only the first Ritz Bros. film I have seen so they could come off as comic geniuses in "Hotel Anchovy" and I wouldn't know it. However in this film, all they do is suck the oxygen out of the room while fellow "comic," Patsy Kelly, chews the scenery with a knife and fork. All I could think while watching this film was "poor Bela Lugosi." Reduced here to being the-guy-who-we-think-did-it (and a butler to boot), you can almost see his disinterest as he sleepwalks through yet another "creepy foreign guy" role. With a bit different casting, this could have been a funny film.

    In spite of the off-the-mark gags and dental drill like screaming of Kelly, this film is not horrible. It will entertain you in spite of its shortcomings. Make it a drinking game. Take a shot every time someone says "Take that down, Garrity." Take two shots every time Garrity says anything at all, and take a shot of water whenever the word "gorilla" is spoken. Poor Bela Lugosi.

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    Storyline

    Edit

    Did you know

    Edit
    • Trivia
      The role played by Bela Lugosi was originally intended for Peter Lorre.
    • Goofs
      When Harrigan dismisses the other Ritz Brothers from the kitchen, he walks back over to Kitty and a camera shadow falls across her.
    • Quotes

      Kitty: Why couldn't all of this have happened tomorrow?

      Norma Denby: What difference would that make?

      Kitty: Tomorrow's my day off!

    • Connections
      Edited into Dark Jungle Theater: The Gorilla (2015)

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    Details

    Edit
    • Release date
      • May 26, 1939 (United States)
    • Country of origin
      • United States
    • Language
      • English
    • Also known as
      • The Gorilla
    • Filming locations
      • 20th Century Fox Studios - 10201 Pico Blvd., Century City, Los Angeles, California, USA(Studio)
    • Production company
      • Twentieth Century Fox
    • See more company credits at IMDbPro

    Tech specs

    Edit
    • Runtime
      • 1h 6m(66 min)
    • Color
      • Black and White
    • Aspect ratio
      • 1.37 : 1

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