GORILLA AT LARGE (1954)
Article #598 by Dave Sindelar
Viewing date: 11-3-2002
Posting date: 3-29-2003

Murders are being committed on the grounds of a circus, and there is some suspicion that the murderer may be the fierce gorilla from one of the acts.

That a 3-D murder mystery involving a gorilla (played by George Barrows) which features Cameron Mitchell and Raymond Burr exists really doesn’t surprise me much; what does surprise me is that the cast also includes Anne Bancroft, Lee J. Cobb, and Lee Marvin (as a comic-relief Irish cop). It’s more of a murder mystery than a horror movie, and actually not a bad one; there are several very good suspects, and you’re really not sure who is responsible, and there are enough good twists to keep things lively. Actually, if anything really saves the movie, it is the solid acting throughout to balance out the basic silliness, and Barrows gives one of his better performances as a gorilla in this one. I enjoyed this one much more than I suspected.