Customer Reviews

Bride of the Gorilla

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Klaas Van Gelder plantation owner loves his wife Dina (Barbra Payton). She is also loved from afar by the family doctor, Dr. Viet (Tom Conway). Yes and she is loved by the hired hand, Barney Chavez.

Barney seizes an opportunity to bump off old Klaas and take Dina for him self. In the process he jilts the daughter of a sorceress. Yes, the same sorceress that observed Barney's treachery from the bushes. This is too much so the sorceress cursed Barney and turns him into a gorilla by night.

Will Barney survive?

Does Dina love hairy leading men?

This 1951 movie may have been inspired in part by "The Cat People" (1942), as it is just as much a psychological thriller as a revenge monster movie.

This film has many major actors such as [Raymond Burr as Barney Chavez] (From "Godzilla" 1956); he was not bad looking in his youth. Then there is [Paul Cavanagh as Klaas Van Gelder] (from "The Kennel Murder Case" (1933); he is barley recognizable after 20 years. We even have the master at conversion [Lon Chaney Jr. as Commissioner Taro] (our favorite wolfy); this time he plays a perfectly normal person who is torn between two cultures.

I didn't enjoy this film as much as I thought I would. I didn't have high expectations for this movie, but I thought with Curt Siodmak and Lon Chaney, Jr., there would be more entertainment here than there really was...

Written and directed by Curt Siodmak, writer of such films as The Wolf Man (1941), Frankenstein Meets the Wolf Man (1943), and Son of Dracula (1943), all three which also starred Lon Chaney, Jr., come together to bring us this bargain basement entry into the occult horror drama genre that was popular in the late 30's and 40's.

Bride of the Gorilla starts out with promise, but soon gets mired in too much melodrama for my tastes. The story goes an older plantation owner dies through the actions of one of his hired hands, Barney Chavez (Raymond Burr), as the hired hand covets the man's younger wife, Dina (Barbara Peyton). Commissioner Taro (Lon Chaney, Jr.) investigates, but due to lack of evidence, can't bring a case against Barney. Where modern law fails, the law of the jungle takes over as an elderly servant woman, who witnessed the death of her boss, and who is also somewhat of a voodoo witch of sorts, extracts poison from the leaves of a rare plant and secretly feeds it to Barney, causing him to turn into a gorilla at times, mostly during the night.

I thought Raymond Burr did alright, when he wasn't chewing up the scenery with his sometimes over the top performance, and Barbara Peyton also played her character serviceably well, even thought she seemed a bit dense at times, I supposed due to a love for Barney that I couldn't quite fathom, as he was quite the jerk. Lon Cheney, Jr. seemed out of place and miscast as police commissioner Taro, a man of the jungle with a college education who often, through his often-awkward dialogue, struggled with his modern, educated side, and his more primal jungle upbringing. The dialogue was a bit disjointed at some points, and the use of stock footage a bit too liberal, as it really only served to take me out of the story due to the fact it was so obvious. And then there was the gorilla suit...for the time, I guess it worked, but I couldn't help think of it looking like one used in a Three Stooges short. We really didn't get to see it a lot, but when we did, it didn't really convey a sense of danger or suspense, but more of a guy in a fake gorilla suit.

I did like the scenery, as it helped achieve the feel of being in the jungle, surrounded and trapped within a living, breathing entity, and Barbara Payton certainly was attractive to look at whenever she appeared on the screen. It's unfortunate her career was cut short at the age of 39 due to a combination of heart and liver failure, as her personal life spiraled out of control due to abusive relationships and addiction to alcohol. She did manage to put out a tell all biography of her life in 1963 titled, "I Am Not Ashamed" that detailed her struggles and misery of her life as a Hollywood screen actress.

Mercifully, the movie lasts only 66 minutes, as the end brings about no great surprises. The print here is pretty good, but it does have a number of noticeable flaws as the picture loses a frame here and there. There is a trailer at the very end of the movie, but nothing else in the way of special features. I wasn't expecting a masterpiece here by any means, but I was hoping for a little more given all the talent involved.

There are two DVD releases of BRIDE OF THE GORILLA - is there any difference in print quality between them???

Jungle plantation foreman Barney Chavez (Raymond Burr) allows a poisonous snake to bite his boss so he can marry the boss's wife Dina (Barbara Payton). This angers the housemaid who wanted Barney for herself so she goes to the wizened old crone who supervises the house and who witnessed the murder. The old woman concocts a hoo-doo potion from a mysterious and illegal shrub and begins slipping it to Barney along with a curse that he will become an animal of the jungle. On Barney's and Dina's wedding day, the curse goes into effect. Barney takes to the jungle at night as a gorilla leaving Dina perplexed at his behavior. Soon animals and humans alike are found ripped to shreds. Police chief Lon Chaney Jr. suspects native superstitions are true about a "beast that walks like a man" and that Barney killed his boss and warns Dina. But she loves Barney no matter what and sets out to confront him herself. This is pure campy hokum and great fun to watch. Eons away from "Bride and the Beast" and played relatively straight, the film introduces Payton as Dina in a strapless cocktail dress and sexy ankle strap shoes dancing to Latin music. So you know right from the start that this is heading for the twilight zone of bad movie heaven. And since you know the title, you wouldn't have it any other way. The acting is just barely above par and Curt Siodmak's direction keeps things moving smoothly despite low budget restrictions. The print from Image is decent enough and the sound is fine. So for a cheesy early 50's flick about a man turning into a gorilla from a jungle curse and the woman who loves him anyway, this ain't bad.