Well folks, never let it be said I don’t review the best in high brow entertainment. This week it’s the 1952 film BELA LUGOSI MEETS A BROOKLYN GORILLA. A film that has made fifty worst movies of all time lists yet at the same time, I can’t think of a better time to review this one than now. For the month of October, I wanted to do nothing but horror related comedies and since the Bud and Lou ones have already been tackled, I’m taking a month off from them. So this one fits the horror comedy bill. Then add to the fact last week was a Martin and Lewis film and it was obvious this had to be the movie I reviewed next.
What, no Martin and Lewis, you say? Technically, you’re correct, but in spirit, you’re wrong. This film, in addition to starring Bela Lugosi (obviously), stars the comedy team of Duke Mitchell and Sammy Petrillo. They are flat out Martin and Lewis impersonators to the point where Lewis felt threatened - so this is their only film. Whatever you may think of the comedy, there is no denying the jaw dropping accuracy of seventeen year old Sammy Petrillo’s Jerry Lewis impersonation. In look, sound and manner, he’s more Jerry Lewis than Jerry Lewis. So that alone is enough for me to hold my interest.
But there’s more. Paul Payne, if you want to turn away after what I say, I don’t blame you. There’s a mad scientist, played by Lugosi, turning a comic (Duke Mitchell) into a gorilla. This is because Lugosi wants the leading lady for himself and turns her love interest into a gorilla so he can have her. So what if he can be her Grandpa? But yes, we see Petrillo playing charades with the gorilla, totally bringing to mind a lower but fun Stooge or Bowery Boy type moment.
Speaking of Stooge, Lugosi’s henchmen? Played by Mickey Simpson, A.K.A. the husband who tears telephone books in GENTS IN A JAM. But that’s nothing compared to Petrillo’s love interest. None other than Muriel Landers from SWEET AND HOT. So if you’ve ever watched SWEET AND HOT and thought you wanted to see her chase around a loud Jerry Lewis impersonator in an unrequited big girl/skinny guy love plot - here’s your chance!
What really brought me to this film, though, is Bela Lugosi, who I’m a huge fan of. By 1952, Bela was washed up. This is his second film in the four years since ABBOTT AND COSTELLO MEET FRANKENSTEIN and first in the U.S. Bela’s career down turn is for two reasons. One is he was a hard to employ alcoholic and morphine addict. Secondly, his style of film, the gothic horror, was no longer being made and wouldn’t return until, as Bella’s typical bad luck would have it, in 1957 - the year after he died. Bela really isn’t given much to do here. The only scenes of note are his first meeting with the comedy team where they totally play up his Dracula image. The other part is when Bela, in that unmistakable Hungarian accent, gets a mini monologue explaining a lot of scientific jumbo jumbo.
The director of this film is the notorious William “One Shot” Beaudine. He made very good movies in the silent era, Mary Pickford’s SPARROWS amongst them and also W.C. Fields THE OLD FASHIONED WAY. After that, he was a poverty row mainstay, including a few of the Lugosi Monogram films of the early forties.
No deep plot to dissect in this one or extended comedy gags. This is simply a film for me that has a jaw dropping Jerry Lewis impersonator, Bela Lugosi close to the end (this would be his last film before Ed Wood), and some of the lower brow aspects of Stoogedom sprinkled in for good measure, namely the ape stuff. Fun for me because there are enough links to other things I like, but to somebody who doesn’t watch black and white who has no reference for this kind of thing, I imagine this film would not be the ideal intro.
