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Gorilla At Large
[20th Century Fox]
1954; color
Directed by Harmon Jones
Starring: Cameron Mitchell, Anne Bancroft, Lee J. Cobb, Raymond Burr & Lee Marvin
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I don't know about those of you in the audience but I was totally excited when 20th Century Fox revived the Midnight Movies imprint last year. Since we're not on their promo list, and they don't seem to stock a lot of the series at our local video store, I can't honestly say I've seen all of their newer releases (although if, say, someone wanted to send them to me I would be happy to watch them & report back to you) but I have definitely enjoyed the few I have seen. To employ a really bad attempt at humor I believe I already employed once on this website (not surprisingly, in my review of Konga), Gorilla At Large may be my favorite of the bunch. Speaking of Konga, I'm not sure that this film has actually unseated that one as my favorite monkey movie but it's definitely looking like a tie. What's not to like about a murder mystery set on the midway though, am I right? Add in an impressive cast of characters (Cameron Mitchell, Anne Bancroft, Raymond Burr, Lee Marvin), vivid Technicolor, Anne Bancroft's high-waisted red shorts, the occasional midget, not to mention a gorilla - at large no less - and you've got the recipe for a classic B movie. Oh and guess what else? It was released in 3-D! Actually, according to the film's Wikipedia page, both a "2-D" and 3-D version were released. I'm gonna assume the version on this DVD release is of the non-3-D variety, but you can kinda sorta tell that there are some special effects afoot; or at least you wind up assuming there's something going on because why else would they spend so much time focused on objects moving towards the camera. (Much like the DVD release of Friday The 13th Part 3.) I learned a number of other interesting tidbits about this film from the aforementioned Wiki page but I will spare you from mentioning them all here. Well, except this one - apparently Anne Bancroft was rather ashamed of this particular entry in her filmography. I wonder why. (It couldn't be the costuming; those shorts are awesome.) Seems to me that ability to play a somewhat trampy trapeze artist and a woman who teaches uppity blind children to use sign language would signify a large range but I suppose some actresses just favor certain roles. You can watch the two for yourself and see which you think is a better film. Personally, I've never seen The Miracle Worker in entirety but I've already made up my mind.
—Bunny
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