09.02.09 | Dr. Strangefilm | From the Files of Dr. Strangefilm...Print this Post
Tags: Bela Lugosi, classic horror movies
If there is one disease afflicting moviedom that your good doctor would like to see eradicated in his lifetime, it would be misleading film titles, a bane to audiences around the world. By way of a few examples: The Squid and the Whale was not the deep sea beatdown you’d expect from its name; the little Swedish kid in My Life as a Dog never turned into a dog; in Abbott and Costello Go to Mars, Bud and Lou actually went to Venus; Friday the 13th: The Final Chapter wasn’t; and don’t even get me started on How to Make an American Quilt.
By these standards, I am pleased to report that the 1952 horror/jungle action spoof Bela Lugosi Meets a Brooklyn Gorilla (also known as The Boys from Brooklyn) does indeed live up to its name(s). Yes, Bela Lugosi is in fact in the picture, and he does have an encounter with a gorilla that is apparently from Brooklyn.
However, the erstwhile Count Dracula and his primate pal are not the true stars of the movie. No, that “honor” instead belongs to the less-than-renowned comedy duo of Duke Mitchell and Sammy Petrillo, who were headlining nightclubs with a blatant imitation of the then-hot team of Dean Martin and Jerry Lewis. Mitchell was an easygoing leading man/singer who didn’t necessarily look or sound like Martin, but Petrillo (who was only 17 at the time), was a spot-on doppelganger for Lewis in voice, look and mannerisms. So spot-on, in fact, that Petrillo actually appeared with Jerry on TV as his son in a skit the year before. The familial camaraderie, though, didn’t extend to the making of this movie, more on which later.
Now, about said movie… After some pre-credits stock footage of dangerous animals in the African jungle, the opening scene takes us, naturally, to the South Pacific, where New Yorkers and USO performers Duke and Sammy accidentally parachuted out of their plane (Off-screen, of course. That stock footage cost money). Fortunately (for them), the fellas landed on the remote island of Kola-Kola, which is inhabited by some rather non-Polynesian-looking natives (including a beautiful, college-educated girl for Mitchell to woo and her chubby sister to chase after Petrillo) and mad scientist Lugosi, whose “experiment in evolution” apparently lets him turn monkeys into apes and vice versa. Mitchell’s new squeeze also moonlights as a lab assistant for the smitten Bela, who decides to eliminate his romantic rival by abducting Duke and using his serum to transform the crooner into a gorilla (hence the title). Meanwhile, poor Sammy has monkey trouble of his own when a lovestruck chimp keeps locking them up together in her cage and throwing away the key. Can the boys find a way to restore Mitchell to normal? If not, will USO audiences accept a singing gorilla? Will Bela’s evil scheme be foiled? Or will the movie simply peter out with one of the most clichéd of endings?
Unevenly mixing elements fromThe Ape Man and Ghosts on the Loose, two creaky Lugosi entries from 1943 (and both helmed by this film’s director, the infamous William “One Shot” Beaudine), with some wildly frenetic and inane mugging from its would-be leading men, Bela Lugosi Meets a Brooklyn Gorilla is notable mainly for being the first and only screen appearance for the Mitchell/Petrillo duo, thanks to threats of legal action from the real Jerry Lewis (so much for father-son closeness). It was downhill for the “Boys from Brooklyn” after this not-too-scary, not-too-funny flick, but poor Bela had a truly scary fate awaiting him…a fetchingly-dressed young filmmaker by the name of Edward D. Wood, Jr.
This movie is, in a word, "unwatchable."
The sad thing is it ISN'T Lugosi's worst by a long shot!!!
I actually bought this movie from the dollar bin.
I, too, managed to find this gem in the dollar bin, and I think I paid too much for it. However, it IS one of those "so bad it's almost fun to watch" movies.
This movie is unjustly maligned. It certainly isn't a top comedy but it isn't as bad as some have made it out to be and it's much better than most of the dreck the Three Stooges were cranking out at that time. It IS watchable and it does have funny moments. Just as Wally Brown and Alan Carney have been unfairly compared to Abbott & Costello, Mitchell & Petrillo (both deceased) worked well together and are amusing (especially Petrillo) though not up to par with Martin & Lewis (but, again, Petrillo comes very close). Lugosi shows again that he had a flair for comedy just as he did in a the similar jungle romp ZOMBIES ON BROADWAY. Herman Cohen produced this movie and years later kind of remade it in his schlock ape thriller, KONGA (check it out, you'll see - there are similar themes).
Actually I liked Abbot And Costello meet the Mummy. Niagara Falls , slowly he turns step by step.But the early Stooges are the best.
[...] movie genre be without our favorite classic horror movie actors Boris Karloff and his contemporary Bela Lugosi? Well, possibly not as scary. If you dare, take a peak at Dr. Strangefilm's article that looks at [...]