This week’s mystery movie was the 1954 film Gorilla at Large, with Cameron Mitchell, Anne Bancroft, Lee J. Cobb, Raymond Burr, Charlotte Austin, Peter Whitney, Lee Marvin, Warren Stevens and John G. Kellogg.
Written by Leonard Praskins and Barney Slater.
Color by Technicolor. Consultant Leonard Doss.
Musical direction by Lionel Newman.
Photographed by Lloyd Ahern.
Art direction by Lyle Wheeler and Addison Hehr.
Set decorations by Al Orenbach.
Editorial supervisor Paul Weatherwax.
Edited by George A. Gittens.
Wardrobe direction by Charles Le Maire.
Costumes by Renie.
Makeup by Frank Westmore.
Sound by E. Clayton Ward and Harry M. Leonard.
Assistant director Charles Hall.
Produced by Robert L. Jacks.
Directed by Harmon Jones.
Further information on Gorilla at Large is available from the AFI Catalog.
Gorilla at Large is available on Region 2 DVDs, incompatible in the U.S., and streaming from Amazon.
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I was searching again for movies about temptresses when I came across Gorilla at Large with Raymond Burr, and I’m a sucker for any Raymond Burr movie that features a gorilla, as in the 1951 Barbara Payton vehicle Bride of the Gorilla, written and directed by Curt Siodmak with Lon Chaney Jr. and Tom Conway. I was sure that I had Bride of the Gorilla as a mystery movie, but I can’t locate it in the archives.
I’m even more of a sucker for films that were shot on location at the Pike in Long Beach, such as Half Angel, a mystery movie in 2019.
Cyclone Racer in Half Angel Part 1 | Cyclone Racer in Half Angel Part 2 | Cyclone Racer in Half Angel Part 3
Gorilla at Large was a 3-D movie and the film features the usual gimmicks in which objects are thrown at the screen or “fall” toward the audience. Several members of the Brain Trust remembered buying cheap (and ineffective) glasses to watch a 1982 TV broadcast in 3-D. The film was universally shrugged off and never aired again in 3-D. For a novelty film with a slim plot, the movie features a surprising number of actors who would go on to far greater projects.
I would expect Bosley Crowther to fob this off on an “alphabet critic” or ignore the whole thing.
Oh my. Bosley reviewed it himself. And he really, really hated it. (The New York Times, June 12, 1954):
The low-budget picture department of Twentieth Century-Fox, over which the non-CinemaScopic Leonard Goldstein presides, enjoyed one minor triumph on Broadway yesterday. It had two of its color pictures open in facing theaters. At the Globe, it was represented by an ape film, Gorilla at Large, and at the Palace the Panoramic entry was a dime-store dazzler called Princess of the Nile…. the triumph of Panoramic ended there. For Gorilla at Large, to cite the first case, is a straight scoop of melodramatic muck about murder and other odd distractions at an outdoor amusement park. Virtually everybody in it is made a suspect, including the ape. But the killer is easy to figure before the picture is halfway done. Indeed, there is something almost evil about the content and structure of this film. It is such an evident pander to unintelligence. The menace is animalistic and the notion that a person might don the costume of a gorilla and go around killing is as high as it goes.
For Monday we have a mystery guest!
Update: This is George Barrows as Goliath the ape.
For Tuesday, we have a mysterious roller coaster.
This is the Cyclone Racer, the Pike’s famous twin-tracked roller-coaster.
Brain Trust roll call: Stacia (mystery movie and mysterious primate, plus recollections of watching the film in glorious 3-D), Anne Papineau (mystery movie and mysterious ape) and Allie (mystery movie).
For “Hm Wednesday,” we have a mysterious fellow.
Update: This is Charles Tannen.
And two more mysterious guests.
Update: This is Lee Marvin, left, and Lee J. Cobb.
Brain Trust roll call: Sylvia (mystery movie and mysterious roller coaster), Sheila (mystery movie), Mary Mallory (mystery movie and mysterious gorilla), Megan and Thom (mystery movie and mysterious gorilla), Greg (mystery movie), Anne Papineau (mysterious amusement park), Suz n Chaz (mystery movie and mysterious stars), Mike Hawks (mystery movie and enigmatic ape), Sylvia (mysterious roller coaster and memories of not riding it), L.C. (mystery movie and mysterious cast), Funky PhD (mystery movie).
Note: Several people recall buying 3-D glasses for TV broadcasts of this week’s mystery film in the spring and summer of 1982. Apparently the 3-D effects were less than optimal. I don’t have stereo vision, so 3-D movies are wasted on me, although I could almost watch Captain EO, if you remember that.
For “Aha Thursday,” we have a mysterious roller coaster. Also mysterious actors.
Update: This is the Cyclone Racer. Also Cameron Mitchell and Charlotte Austin.
Brain Trust roll call: Mary Mallory (Wednesday’s mysterious guests), Sylvia (Monday’s mysterious ape and Wednesday’s mystery guests), Chrisbo (mystery movie and Wednesday’s mysterious guests), Mike Hawks (Wednesday’s mystery guests) and B.J. Merholz (mysterious movie).
For Friday, we have a mysterious trio.
Update: This is Raymond Burr, Anne Bancroft and Goliath the Ape.
Bonus points for this mysterious amusement park ride.
Update: This is the Laff in the Dark ride, where the mummified body of outlaw Elmer McCurdy (d. 1911) was discovered in 1976 by a crew preparing to film The Six Million Dollar Man.
Brain Trust roll call: Anne Papineau (Wednesday’s and Thursday’s mystery guests), Mary Mallory (Thursday’s mystery guests), Sylvia (Thursday’s mysterious guests and mystery roller coaster) and Mike Hawks (Thursday’s enigmatic guests).
ladailymirror.com 
Oh my gosh, you are not going to believe this, but I recognized it immediately: GORILLA AT LARGE, a 3D movie that regional PBS stations showed in I think about 1983 as a fundraiser. You could buy cardboard 3D glasses to watch it and it raised money for Public Broadcasting. My dad was a cheapskate and didn’t buy glasses, but he dug out some ancient glass 3D round specs he’d held on to for decades, I would assume they were 30 years old at the time (I still have them around here somewhere). Watched this on Springfield, MO station Channel 21 KOZK. My parents HATED it. I was just confused! I think HOUSE OF WAX was on the same night but my parents wouldn’t let me stay up for that.
Oh, a TCM fan on Facebook said this was on July 26, 1982! Over 43 years ago, holy guacamole.
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Typed all that and forgot to guess the Mystery Gorilla. The IMDb says it’s George Barrows, who played gorillas several times! And he was in SEVEN SINNERS. A curious development!
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Charles Gemora in the monkey outfit.
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An excellent guess! But alas, I’m afraid not….
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The King Kong outtake from The Lady from Shanghai.
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Oh wow, talk about a distinguished cast, topped by George Barrows as “Goliath, ‘world’s largest gorilla…cost the lives of 1,000 men before his capture.'” Wunnerful, wunnerful. “Gorilla at Large”
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Gorilla at Large (1954)?
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Looks like a hall of mirrors, so perhaps a circus or carnival.
Gorilla at Large 1954?
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‘Gorilla at Large’?
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GORILLA AT LARGE. George Barrows Monday.
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Our movie is Gorilla At Large with George Barrows.
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Gorilla at Large, 1954.
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On Tuesday, the Nu-Pike amusement park in Long Beach, California
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1954’s Gorilla At Large with Raymond Burr and Lee Marvin?
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George Barrows in GORILLA AT LARGE.
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Tuesday is the rollercoaster from the Long Beach Pike!
I wonder if it’s the same one from my high school and early college years. If it is, I fondly remember NOT getting on to it. I would wait below for my coaster loving friends as they rode it.
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Gorilla at Large (1954) w/Anne Bancroft, Cameron Mitchell, Lee J. Cobb, Raymond Burr, Lee Marvin, Peter Whitney, Warren Stevens, Charlotte Austin, George Barrows (gorilla)…
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Gorilla at Large, which I saw on television in the early 1980s with utterly useless 3-D glasses I got at 7/11.
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Charles Tanen, Lee Marvin, and Lee J. Cobb.
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The gorilla is played by George Barrows, who apparently made the costume himself.
Wednesday – Charles Tannen, I think. A very busy guy in the Biz. Lee Marvin and Lee J. Cobb
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Hmm… Charles Tannen, Lee Marvin and Lee J Cobb in Gorilla at Large
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Charles Tannen, Lee Marvin and Lee J. Cobb.
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Gorilla at Large
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Whatta cast! Charles Tannen, Lee Marvin and Lee J. Cobb.
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Cameron Mitchell and Charlotte Austin.
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Thursday – more of the Long Beach Pike rollercoaster in the BG.
Almost lawyer, Cameron Mitchell and Charlotte Austin with Kewpie doll. For some reason it makes me laugh that Mr Mitchell’s character is studying law while working at the circus. I’m sure that happened all the time in the 50’s.
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Cameron Mitchell and Charlotte Austin.
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Cameron Mitchell, Charlotte Austin and a knockoff Kewpie doll
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Raymond burr and Anne Bancroft.
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Friday – Raymond Burr, Anne Bancroft and George Barrows, I think.
Image 2 is the Long Beach Pike’s Laff in the Dark ‘fun house’. I don’t remember it, but I think it was there in my high school years (since it appears in a number of TV shows from that period), and it would have been another one I bypassed.
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When Raymond Burr slimmed down to become a leading man. Lesson learned.
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Raymond Burr, Anne Bancroft and Mr. Gorilla.
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The two more “mysterious guests” look like Lee Marvin and Lee J. Cobb. Do I see Cameron Mitchell in front of the roller coaster? And that is definitely Raymond Burr staring at the caged gorilla. Not sure what the movie is, though.
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Raymond Burr, Anne Bancroft and George Barrows. Give them the “Joan Crawford Trog Award” for keeping a straight face throughout.
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