You won't be disappointed!

I don't have all the words right now but this film is a work of art.

This is a small, humorous movie in some ways, but it has a huge heart. What a nice experience.

One of the most extraordinary films you will see this year. Take that as you want.

Gorilla at Large is directed by Harmon Jones and jointly written by Leonard Praskins and Barney Slater. It stars Cameron Mitchell, Anne Bancroft, Lee J. Cobb, Raymond Burr and Charlotte Austin. Out of Panoramic Productions and filmed in Technicolor, the music is by Lionel Newman and cinematography is by Lloyd Ahern.An amusement park/circus is rocked when a freshly sacked employee is found brutally murdered inside the cage of the star attraction, Goliath the Giant Gorilla. The evidence points to it being the short tempered beast, but many of the human employees also had reasons to commit the crime...Well it sounds like a Z grade picture, both in title and synopsis, and with it originally released in 3D during the short lived 3D boom of the mid 1950s, it was hardly going to be the Citizen Kane of Schlocky Horrorville. Yet it's a picture that is far better than it has any right to be, oozing a fun vibe coupled with the "who done it?" mystery element, pic doesn't lack for effort or genuine intrigue. Yes it's unintentionally funny at times, and there was never going to be a time when a man in a Gorilla suit (George Barrows) wasn't going to be corny, but it's a very good production (lovely Technicolor) and boasts a super cast of actors into the bargain. Is it scary? Well no, not really, that is unless you suffer from Agrizoophobia? Yet there's enough suspense and iffy character shenanigans to more than lift this above the ridiculous.Anne Bancroft spent the rest of her career denouncing the film, like many others who were tied into studio contracts back in the day, thus "having" to do films they would rather not do, she forgot that this type of film still had many fans. She looks a picture here, very slinky and shapely, OK so she's not pulling up any acting trees as the central lady character, but it's a nice performance that sits well with the tone of the story. Burr files in for one of his imposing "possible" villain roles, and Mitchell is at home in the genre. There's much fun to be had with Cobb's performance as cigar chomping Detective Sergeant Garrison, mainly because he seems to be the only male actor taking it seriously! Unlike Lee Marvin, who in a secondary supporting cop role plays it with tongue in cheek and appears to be enjoying himself into the bargain. Nice to see the chiselled features of Warren Stevens (Forbidden Planet) on board as well.Filmed at Nu Pike Amusement Park in Long Beach, California, Harmon Jones (The Pride of St. Louis) makes good use of the funfair location. With rides and stalls colourfully forming the backdrop, there's a big sense of fun and adventure as the bustling public carry on about their business oblivious to the murder, love ratting and suspicion that's going on behind the scenes. It also allows the director to slot in some staple (good) funfair sequences, namely the Room of Mirrors and the Roller Coaster. While Newman's score isn't found wanting as it builds up a head of steam for the more dramatic periods. As for the outcome of this murder mystery? Well it's a doozy, nigh on impossible to figure out because it's suitably bonkers. And that's just one of the many beauties of Gorilla at Large. 7/10

It's a sad fact that once the technical problems offsetting the impact of 3-D were solved, the public just weren't interested any more. Gorilla at Large is case in point. Here's a film, beautifully photographed in Technicolor and processed by the Technicolor laboratories (not Deluxe DeLousy) with images as sharp as the proverbial pin, with plenty of 3-D thrills provided by both the intriguing murder thriller plot and its colorfully atmospheric circus background, with excellent acting from a top-flight cast, neatly directed and most entertainingly produced, — yet seemingly everyone hates it.Why? Two reasons: (1) Anne Bancroft has spent her whole life rubbishing the film; (2) A technically inept TV presentation in murky color in the United States in the 1980s has given the movie bad word-of-mouth.When I saw the movie on its first release, the audience loved it, despite the fact that we seeing the picture in a flat version in which the 3-D thrills were robbed of most of their impact.Gorilla at Large does not pretend to be some pompous dissection of American life along the lines of The Man in the Gray Flannel Suit, but a simple slice of entertaining escapism with some interesting characters (forcefully enacted, as said, by a first-rate cast, including the much self-maligned Miss Bancroft) caught up in a fascinating, pacily directed thriller with A-1 production values.What more can a movie-lover ask?If I had a choice between seeing Gorilla at Large and any Fox film (except The Gunfighter) featuring the studio's number-one star, Gregory Peck, I'd unhesitatingly say, "Bring on the gorilla!"

It's not so much that there's more than meets the eye as it is whatdoes meet the eye that makes this picture worth a look-see.Sure, if you want to be all serious, then you could easily object to arather predictable plot, or some wooden performances (though I'dhave something to say about that), or a delightfully inept gorilla suitthat looks more like an animated swatch of shag carpet (the eyesare so...human!). You could moan and groan about the film'sportrayal of women, etc., etc. You could call it a bad movie.But you shouldn't! Firstly, it does offer the sorts of thrills thatB-movie fans relish: the lurid carny life, cartoonish violence,trapeze artists in skimpy costumes, emotions writ large andunambiguously (at least ostensibly).In fact, I'd say that many of the performances are great, notbecause they are especially moving or "realistic," but rather,because the conventions of the genre frame them in such a wayas to be quite effective, and not least of all, gratifying. AnneBancroft smolders magnificently as a trapeze artist with quite ashady past. Raymond Burr's controlling, yet ambiguous carnivalmanager never fails to intrigue. Lee Marvin is great as a feckless,blow-hard police officer. And perhaps most compellingly, there isLee J. Cobb, as a no-nonsense, cigar-chomping gumshoe. Youreally get a sense of what an entirely watchable performer he is inthis picture, and personally I think he's better here than he is in "Onthe Waterfront" (gasp!).Camp values aside, the technical aspects of the film arebreathtaking. The picture's technicolors blast out of the screen,aided by 3-D that is so sharply defined and brilliant that you feellike you are watching some sort of moving ViewMaster reel. Arestored print has recently been struck and you'll be blown away ifyou have a chance to see it. I'd say that its use of technicolor and3-D are perhaps more impressive than even "House of Wax," andcertainly more accomplished than such unnecessarily 3-D'dfeatures such as "Dial M for Murder" or "Miss Sadie Thompson."Color, violence, a beautiful girl and a gorilla--and in not one, nortwo, but THREE dimensions. What's not to like?

This movie was an annual tradition for many years in Boston, and I remember, as a kid, getting my 3-D glasses at the supermarket weeks in advance. "Gorilla at Large" is, in my humble opinion, a cult classic in every way. SEE THIS MOVIE!!! If you can get the 3-D version, definitely do that!