Quantcast
Channel: Hollywood Gorilla Men
Viewing all 138 articles
Browse latest View live
↧

A Rare Treat !

March 9, 2012, 2:25 pm
$
0
0
One thing you'll find as an ardent admirer of all things gorilla , is that trying to find
a detailed article about gorilla men can be darned difficult....Well, outside of this blog that is !
I found on ebay recently, a 3 page article on gorilla man and creature creator Janos Prohaska.
It was featured prominently in the pages of TV Guide is the Jan. 25th-31st, 1969 issue.
The TV Guide was purchased for the Prohaska article, but as I flipped through the pages, I was transported to an awesome time when Lost In Space, Bonanza, Time Tunnel ,Batman, etc. were the current prime time programing. It was quite surreal looking into the past, the ads were especially insightful to the current fads and cultural habits of the time.
The cigarette ads would be banned from publications a few years later, but were fascinating never the less.
But I digress, so without further ado, here is the article...ENJOY !!!
Click here for larger views.
↧
Search

Calvert and Corrigan doin' the jungle boogie !

March 18, 2012, 4:30 pm
$
0
0
Our friend Doctor Kiss has outdone himself with his amazing discovery of stock footage reels of Steve Calvert, and possibly Ray Corrigan ( or at least Corrigan's ape suits), doing pass after pass in front of the cameras from either Jungle Jim's, Mark of the Gorilla , or the Lost Tribe.
It becomes humorously apparent that the two monkey men are running in a circle around the camera, in the first clip.
While the second clip features Calvert VS. a lion in a fierce battle to stay awake long enough to get the shot.
The poor lion even lies down after his first sniff of Calvert's suit.
Old Leo mustered up enough energy to prop himself up on furry adversary to get some semblance of combat.
It goes to show how skilled film editors can turn a feline snooze fest into a terrific battle !
The truly amazing thing about these clips, is the clarity of the film.
I've never seen such clear footage of these masters of monkey menace !
The gorilla footage in the first clip start at approx. the 6 min. 28 second mark.
http://www.archive.org/details/PET996_R-4B?start=386.5

http://www.archive.org/details/PET996_R-5A

Both these incredible clips are found on Internet Archive, and can be downloaded from there.
↧
↧

Beast Wishes Premier!

March 25, 2012, 11:01 am
$
0
0

The long awaited documentary chronicling the exploits of Bob and Kathy Burns is finally here !
Co- producers Frank Dietz and Trish Geiger,have done an amazing job on this labor of love for a great many of the fans and friends of Bob and Kathy.
They are having the premiere screening at the ArcLight Cinema in Hollywood on April 12th. Tickets are available at www.creaturefeatures.com.
Frank and Trish will provide info for DVD sales as soon as it is available.
The special guests are a veritable who's who in Hollywood, featuring some of the finest the movie industry has to offer. See above for a few of the guests.
Besides being the most beloved gorilla man ever, Bob is the worlds foremost historian of cinematic simians.
Gorilla man and myself have have invaluable information of the historic gorilla men given to us by Bob, and through Bobs generosity, we pass the information on to you, the readers of this humble blog.
A huge thanks to Frank and Trish for making this awesome film happen !
↧

Hey Kids ! Get your very own Hollywood Gorilla Man !

April 16, 2012, 7:56 am
$
0
0


Hey Gorilla Gang !
The fine folks at Moebius Models and Cult TV Man ( Steve Iverson ) have teamed up to bring you the official Bob Burns' KOGAR the Gorilla collectible model kit.
the basic KOGAR kit will be available through both the sites mentioned above and most Hobby retailers.
The deluxe set, exclusive to CultTVmanShop.com will also have a Kathy Burns kit included.
This amazing kit features 3 different heads, you get "KOGAR", Bobs original mask, "Tracy"
from the classic Ghostbusters TV series ( with separate propeller beanie), and last but not least, the man himself Bob Burns !
The Kogar kit is sculpted by uber talented Jeff Yager, with box art by Vincent DeFate.
The Kathy Burns kit features a sculpted likeness by Ray Santoleri
These kits are 1/12th scale, the same as the classic Aurora Monsters of the Movies, and Monster scenes kits.
For more information and additional photos, go to http://culttvman.com/main/?p=21927
Also, please visit http://www.moebiusmodels.com/ to see the other exciting models they produce, including the full line of Monster Scenes kits !
↧

Topstone Savage Gorilla !

May 1, 2012, 3:00 pm
$
0
0


As you read this blog celebrating the great gorilla men of the past,you may find your self wondering, "why would anyone want to specialize in dressing up like a gorilla  ?"
Well, the easy answer would be brain damage, but it's actually a little more complex than that.
for me it kind of started when I was about 12 years old, while reading comics and monster magazines.
 I was always seeing a fantastic ad for"The Savage Gorilla" mask.
Gorillas were a favorite movie subject for me, so naturally I thought it was the coolest thing ever !
The drawing illustrating the mask was incredible, a really monstrous looking thing .
It was shortly thereafter that I realized that, " with this mask, I can Rule the World ! mmmwwwaaahahahahaaaa !!!
Several weeks worth of allowance later ,the order form was hastily clipped out,and those hard earned few dollars were sent off to buy the stuff dreams are made of !
Back then, this type of purchase could take anywhere from 3 to 6 weeks till you got your goodies.
The first few weeks were spent meticulously drawing  the mask I had ordered.
Then, after 5 weeks af checking the mail with no results, it finally arrived !
At first I was puzzled as to how they were able to get the Savage Gorilla into that small Manila envelope.
I tore open the flap and saw a large hunk of black hair attached to it.
The glue on the flap had bonded to the "hair" on the mask .
After carefully removing the wad of paper thin latex goodness, I was immediately disappointed because this wasn't at all what I'd imagined.
The wrinkled mess that I held, looked nothing like the illustration in the comic book.
It was molded in a pale tan  (almost white) latex, with red and black detailing that looked like it had been applied with a can of spray paint . On top of the mask, was the remains of the mat of shaggy fiber hair.
After what seemed like an eternity staring at it in despair, I finally went to a mirror and put the thing on.
I don't know exactly how it happened, but once it was on, the wrinkles flattened out and the mask started to actually look somewhat like a gorilla. The smell of the latex cast its spell on me, as I watched in the mirror and moved my mouth and face and the mask did the same.
I tested the range of motion, smirking, grimacing, making all manner of faces and the Savage Gorilla matched me in my every move.
The more the mask moved around, the more creases and wrinkles worked out of it.
I was actually having fun with the goofy thing !
My mom got a huge kick out of me making a complete fool of myself with all manner of gorilla noises coming from inside the mask.
I knew It wasn't the mask I had imagined but it no longer mattered to me.
That goofy little mask was literally worn to death.
After several years of a well played with life, the Savage Gorilla started to fall apart.
I still have a fondness for that goofy little monkey mask,as it was the first gorilla mask I ever had, and miss having it.
Thankfully, because there are collectors of Topstone masks, the makers of the gorilla and other great characters, they will live on, documented for posterity !
I want to thank Ray Castile for the use of his photos of the Savage Gorilla !
Ray is one of the foremost collectors of Topstone masks, and an expert in vintage monster toys as well. I highly recomend his great website The Gallery of Monster Toys !
http://thegalleryofmonstertoys.com/

This is more like what the mask looked like while being worn.

                   This photo shows a thick casting that captures the look of the original sculpt.
As you can see, the sculpture is very good.
Well, there it is. This goofy little wad of rubber and hair was all it took to warp my young mind forever,and I've been dressing up as a gorilla ever since ! 


↧
↧

George has a Date with the Angels

May 9, 2012, 4:11 pm
$
0
0

The great George Barrows shows up for more hairy hi-jinx on the not so classic series Date with the Angels.
The series starred Betty White as Vickie Angel and Bill Williams as Gus Angel .
The stories revolved around the newlywed Angels, and their day to day adventures in their all-American middle class neighborhood.
In this episode, the Angels return home from vacation to find a stuffed gorilla in their bedroom,
victims of Gus's practical joking co-workers at his insurance offices.
Gus decides to up the ante by hiring gorilla impersonator, Mr.Kelly (George Barrows).
Needless to say, all doesn't go quite as planned, and hilarity ensues....well , OK, maybe not hilarity exactly, more like a few chuckles, but you get the idea.
George really gets to show his comedy skills here and you get to see a lot of him with the mask off !
Truly a rare treat if ever there were one !



Date with the Angels ran from 1957-58, and lasted a  33 episodes.
↧

Wacky Packages Monkey Fun

May 25, 2012, 6:36 pm
$
0
0
Here are some beautiful examples of products we all need...especialy us knuckled draggers.










Why GI TOE you ask ?
Look what he's beating up on the side of the box !

Wacky Packages are a great example of parody at it's best !
Collect them all !
↧

Perilous Primate Hijinx !

June 2, 2012, 4:25 pm
$
0
0
One of the goofiest gorilla gags in films I've seen in a long while, was in the classic  spoof "Perils of Pauline" 1967.
The set up is the classic "confusing a real gorilla for a guy in a suit".
The confusion is only the beginning, the ensuing chase that follows is completely nuts !
Rather than try to describe this lunacy, you can see it right here, all cued up and ready to go.
The gorilla action starts a minute or to into the clip and runs to the end. You can watch the entire movie if you are so inclined by clicking the various chapter tabs in order .

The guy in the "fake" monkey suit is veteran British comic actor Terry Thomas.
The "director" is played by character actor Vito Scottie.
As for the "Real" gorilla ? here's a few points of interest;
The costume was made by the famous Don Post Studios, makers of the greatest masks ever !
The head of this furry fellow was sculpted by the incredible Marcel Delgado .
If his name doesn't ring a bell, Marcel is the artist who sculpted and fabricated the 1933 King Kong stop motion puppets !
To say Mr. Delgado knows apes in an understatement.
Here is were it gets a little weird....originally, the ape in Perils of Pauline was to be a white gorilla.
As bad luck would have it, it was decided after the suit was finished that they changed their mind and would rather it were a traditional dark gorilla.....The next morning !
 Here is the tale as printed in the pages of Famous Monsters of Filmland.
The sculpted gorilla truly is an amazing piece. It was later reproduced in latex rubber and sold by Don Post studios as part of their catalog.
The Delgado gorilla as it's come to be called was used for studio rental suits and appeared in this famous pose with the stunning Raquel Welch as Blonde Venus !

↧
Search

Ingagi gets fired up !

June 11, 2012, 4:57 pm
$
0
0
One of the more odd bits of film promotion comes from the film INGAGI.
To spread the word, the theater owners had specially printed match books as give aways to attending audiences brave enough to see the ape-ic film INGAGI !
Matches were a sure bet as the film was geared towards an adult audience, with nudity, and implications of simian bestiality. The film was shot in a documentary style, and the producers originally tried to pass off legendary gorilla man Charles Gemora as a genuine gorilla.
But the problem was that the gorilla happened to have a bad habit of dragging naked native women into the jungle and ravaging them.
As a result of the uproar due to the subject matter, the producers were forced to disclose that it was indeed, a work of fiction, and that the gorilla was actually a man in a suit.

 The matches vividly illustrate the basic premise of the film, with beautiful comic style artwork, complete with topless native girl.
This is a great collectible for this nearly lost film.
I say nearly lost because I believe there are only two prints of INGAGI known to exist.





We were alerted to these fantastic pics by the great, George" E-Gor" Chastain!
↧
↧

Tokyo King Kong

June 24, 2012, 1:39 pm
$
0
0

Ya gotta love a city that has such a love for giant monsters, that this type of decoration is commonplace!
↧

Watch a monkey movie for FREE !!!

June 29, 2012, 6:10 pm
$
0
0
Hey gorilla gang,
 Bongo here inviting you to watch me do my gorilla thing in "Nyoka the Jungle Girl Rides Again !".
You can see the movie in glorious black and white for a limited time at ; http://www.cultretro.com/
Please feel free to leave comments about the film , and any criticism's are welcome too.
I think you'll like it, so grab some popcorn and a soda and enjoy !
Tell 'em Bongo sent ya !
↧

Art Miles, in the funnies !

July 14, 2012, 9:15 am
$
0
0
Gorilla great, Art Miles actualy received a little press for his gorilla efforts in a Sunday Funnies newspaper strip called  " Seein' Stars" by collumnist Feg Murray.              
The strip was the entertainment equivelant of the popular Ripley's Believe it or Not ! sindicated newspaper strip.
The artwork, was excelent, and captures Art Miles amazing gorilla in a pose patterned after
 one of the promo shots for the Ritz Brothers Classic, "The Gorilla ".




You can see Art, pitting his formidable gorilla skills against the Ritz Brothers here !

↧

The Littlest Gorilla Men

July 22, 2012, 3:26 pm
$
0
0
I have to admit to having a special place in my heart for those who have come to known as "little people".
I can't help but be fascinated,because I've had several relatives who fell into this particular category,
and if not for medical science, my youngest son would have also been small.
So when I saw the two gentlemen seen here, I was immediately intrigued, because they were little gorilla people.
The two fellows here, Tulsi (sans mask) and his twin brother Basant,( holding puppy) worked as clowns in the Great Famous Circus, in Calcutta India, seen here in 1989.
They are dressed in comedic gorilla attire for one of their performances.
That's a show I would have loved to have seen !
↧
↧

Beastly Bobble-Head !

July 29, 2012, 2:18 pm
$
0
0
Actress Greta Thyssen and her giant headed primate pal !
Sometimes you just gotta wonder....
↧

The Ape 1940

August 3, 2012, 11:10 am
$
0
0
The Spanish Herald mini poster promoting The Ape in Spain !

The Ape 1940 
I thought it might be nice to revisit one of the classics in simian cinema, Monogram Pictures, The Ape, starring Boris Karloff.
This is a really touching film..Boris Karloff stars as a lonely country doctor, who has lost his wife and daughter to polio.
Doctor Adrian ( Karloff), is on a  guilt ridden search to find the cure, the result of a broken heart at having lost those he loved to this vile disease.
A young girl in town, (Maris Wrixon) also suffers from the dread disease, and Doctor Adrian is
  damned and determined not to let the disease take another innocent life. the key to the cure, he hypothesise, is the introduction of human spinal fluid into the spine of the patient.
The only drawback is the spinal fluid must be extracted from a live donor.
As luck would have it, this causes the donor to die, thereby cutting down the list of potential volunteers.
In a series of fortunate events, a traveling circus happens into the little town the good doctor lives in.
One of the exhibits is a huge gorilla,( Ray Corrigan).
The poor beast is horribly abused by his trainer.
Then one evening, after viciously flogging the crap out of the poor gorilla, the A-hole trainer makes the mistake of getting to close to the vengeful behemoths cage.
Then the gorilla does a little flogging of his own. (YAY !) 
One dropped cigar later, and the circus is now on fire, with part of the cage burned through, the ape
escapes into the night
The circus folk find the mangled body of the trainer, still somehow alive !
The trainer is taken to old Doc Adrian (Karloff) to try to save him.
The monkey did a thorough job of whipping his ass so the trainer's well on his way to a dirt nap.
Old Doc figures since the guy's on the way out, a donation to the spinal fluid bank won't hurt him any way.(since to extract it is always fatal.)
After getting the secret sauce, old Doc injects the young girl he's trying to cure and sees a glimmer of hope in the treatment.
Meanwhile, as Doc's returning to his office, the mean old gorilla has come sniffing for the trainer's scent.
As luck would have it, the trainers blood stained jacket is still in the office and old Magilla can smell it !
It breaks through the window scaring the hell out of the Doc!
But rather than run away, the old Doc busts a bottle of chloroform over the enraged critters snot locker !
Then when the monkey was two sheets to the wind, Doc jumps the monkey with a knife and stabs the hairy intruder though the heart, from behind.
Then , in a moment of mad inspiration, he skins it, and makes a costume out of it, and set out to get as much spinal fluid as he needs to cure that poor girl.
I do want to point out, that for the most part, Doc was taking it from local scumbags.( who probably deserved it)
I also want to say, that Docs motives were to help the girl, and by virtue, mankind as a whole through finding the polio cure.
This is polar opposite to Lugosi (in the Ape Man) killing for spinal fluid to cure his own selfish butt! ( after having messed him self up in the first place !)
But, back to the Karloff flick.
The Ape costarred Ray "Crash" Corrigan as both the real gorilla, and Doc Adrian in disguise.
This was necessary as Kaloff could barely stand in the heavy costume, much less move in it.
Karloff wore the suit for one scene only, as a reveal of the culprit.
This film marked the last time Ray's original gorilla costume ( Bonga) was ever used, as it was falling apart.
When the gorilla is looking through the windows of Docs office,
you can see the monkeys teeth through horizontal rips in the upper lip.

You can also see a steel wire sticking out from the lower lip that was part of the mechanism to make the mouth move.
After the Ape, Crash retired the old suit, and had a new suit constructed, that was even more menacing.
But at any rate, I like this little film, because it truly shows old Boris giving a heck of a performance as the painfully conflicted Dr. having to kill, to save lives.
See it here my, Mighty Monkey Movie Minions !
Have fun ! Have popcorn !

 
↧
Search

The Ape man

August 12, 2012, 5:31 pm
$
0
0

The Ape Man....A true classic of Simian Cinema ! 
The Ape Man....A masterpiece of Monkey Movie Madness !
The Ape Man.... A powerful...er..amazing....well...awww crap !...It's got a gorilla in it !
If your the hard boiled gorilla man fans I know you are, then you've hopefully seen it !
If not...What are you waiting for ?!!
Be forewarned, my mad monkey minions, there are spoilers ahead !
So if you haven't seen the Ape Man yet, skip now to the bottom of the post and watch it...Go ahead..we'll wait. After you've watched it, read on , and well have a good laugh at it.
 

The plot; apparently for some reason, Dr. Jonathan Brewster (Lugosi) felt the need to inject himself
in the spine with the spinal fluid of a gorilla. Why you ask? Who the hell knows !
It's a damn well weird thing to do to yourself !
I would assume the fluid was taken from the gorilla Brewster keeps lock away in his basement laboratory. (Emil VanHorn )
The results of this bizarre experiment, are a bad case of poor posture, an Amish beard and a hairline that starts at his eyebrows. Dr. Brewster is so horrified by his ape-like appearance, that he hides out, making the world think he's dead.
Enter, Agatha Brewster ( Minerva Urecal), the nutty Doctors even nuttier sister. The old battle axe's arrival is tipped to a reporter by a loony halfwit tipster named Zippo,(Ralph Littlefield) that keeps popping in and out of the story periodically.
The reporters the goofball Zippo tips off , are none other than Jefferson B. Carter (Wallace Ford) and his cutie side kick photographer, Billie Mason.(Louise Currie)
In a quest to interview the loony old Brewster sister, they wind up at Dr. Brewster's creepy mansion. Before their arrival, old Agatha had gotten the shock of her life to find her brother she thought dead, to be very much alive...though more than a little messed up !
When the reporters arrive outside the old house, they hear the Docs gorilla raising hell, and decided to investigate.
Agatha, (not wanting to disclose her Brothers secret, covers for the noise by claiming it was a recording of ghost sounds from some old castle she was at. ( she's a medium, you see.)
As luck would have it , Billie Mason snaps a photo of the old bag for the article they are writing, just as the ape faced Bela pears through a window behind her.
He sneaks off, not being noticed, and the reporters leave...Very suspicious of the goings on in the old house.
Meanwhile Bela, decides the only chance he has to get cured is to inject human spinal fluid into his back.
The fact that it needs to taken from a live host, and it will kill them to extract it, is inconsequential.
So old Bela and his trained Hench gorilla set out to go on a murderous rampage in a macabre scavenger hunt to collect the fluid.
Bela's friend and fellow physician,Dr. George Randall, (Henry Hall) is approached to do the injections.
Horrified at how he intends to acquire the stuff, George refuses at first, but relents after Brewster has his gorilla kill his butler.
The shot does the trick and they all live happily ever after...NOT.
The cure only works for a short while, so off the hairy duo go to procure more of the secret sauce.
After several more killings, Bela figures he has enough to reverse the curse permanently.
Now all these hairy murders haven't gone unnoticed by the dynamic newspaper duo ,and after yet another tip from the Idiot Zippo, they follow the clues back to the Brewster mansion.
Can you guess what they discovered on the photo of the old hag Agatha, that Miss Mason took...You guessed it, old monkey face Bela himself! The cops have determined that the killing were done by an ape, because of the crushed bones in the victims, and here they find an ape staring at them in the photo. So after a few more words of wisdom from the moronic Zippo, off to the Brewster place the intrepid duo fly.
Meanwhile old George is brought out to the old house to do the honors with the injections.
In a fit of morality, George refuses his friends request and breaks the vial of the good stuff.
Bela doesn't take this lightly and kills him out of spite.
Before long, the girl reporter winds up captured by Brewster and sis, and Carter winds up face down on the floor with a vase busted over his head.
( a classic still, beautifully colorized by artist Mark Thompsen)

Meanwhile, back in the lab, old Brewster's pet gorilla takes a liking to the pretty Miss Mason.
Brewster menaces the poor girl, whilst Jeff Carter, having regained consciousness, is frantically trying to get into the lab with the cops.
Bela is closing in on the dame when she accidentally releases Magilla from his cage.
Not wanting to see his little girlfriend sullied by the Dr.'s grimy paws, the gorilla attacks old Bela, and proceeds to kill the crap out of him.
With Brewster pushing daisies, Magilla turns his affections toward Billie Mason who ain't to happy about that.
Just then Jeff Carter and the cops burst in with guns blazing and turn the poor monkey into hairy Swiss cheese.
As if on cue, the to reporters fall in love and all is happy....Even the idiot Zippo, who wrote the crazy thing.
Is The Ape Man a great movie ? I'd be a damned liar if I said yes.
But it is a fun movie...Wallace ford is likable as the wise cracking reporter, and Louise Currie ain't too hatefull to look at.
Bela is as over the top as I've ever seen him in any movie !
There is some nice atmosphere in a lot of the shots, and the story moves along at a pretty good pace.
.One thing that's funny is Minerva Urecal could pass for the Man from Planet X in drag. No kiddin...She looks just like him.
So on behalf of Emil VanHorn, enjoy the movie...and have a good laugh at the expense of...
The Ape Man !

↧

Kentucky Fried gorilla man !

August 28, 2012, 5:49 pm
$
0
0
Kentucky Fried Movie, is a crazed, zany, and raucous example of frat boy humor gone wild !
This exercise in lunacy is a collection of  adult oriented skits, like "Catholic Schoolgirls in trouble", and " A Fistful of Yen" strung together with snippets of madcap hi jinx, and fart jokes.
One such snippet is a running gag, featuring a news program with a guest from the local zoo.
One of the animals the zookeeper introduces is Dino, a mountain gorilla. ( Rick Baker)
It seems Dino, has been unsuccessful in the zoo's breeding program, and the discussion regresses into details of Dino's sex life.
The poor gorilla is suitably embarrassed by this, ( brilliantly acted by Baker),
and proceeds to express his dissatisfaction by destroying the TV studio.
Dino continues to pop up periodically throughout the movie, and always with hysterical results.
Kentucky Fried Movie, was directed by a young John Landis.
Landis was no stranger to the rigors of being a primate, after having played the ape man in "Schlock",
and also a background chimp in" Battle for the Planet of the Apes."
Landis befriended Baker during the Schlock production, as Rick created the Ape suit that Landis wore.
For Kentucky Fried Movie, Landis wrote in the gorilla role for Baker, as a way for Rick to get his comedic revenge at the poor treatment he had received while playing the title role in 1976's King Kong.
To accomplish this, it was decided to name Rick's gorilla character "Dino" after Kong producer Dino Delaurentis.
To ad to the insult , it was decided that Gorilla "Dino", despite his great size and strength, would be impotent. (hence the breeding problems.)
I do want to say that the suit Rick made for KFM is brilliant !
It's a great looking beast, and possessing a beautifully expressive face.
The mechanisms were a upgraded version of the classic gorilla framework.
The main factor in the expressiveness of this amazing ape, is the incredible display of body English by Rick Baker !
A true gorilla man, Rick used the teachings of his gorilla mentor (and mine) Bob Burns, to turn in an outstanding performance as a poor humiliated gorilla gone wild.
Ricks eye expressions, created a realism that has never been achieved with the newer styled gorilla suits with the animatronic eye movement.
So if you're looking for some nice, mindless, comedy gold, watch Kentucky Fried Movie !

↧
↧

King Kong VS......Laverne and Shirley ?!?!?

September 9, 2012, 5:37 pm
$
0
0
If you attended a public school in the US in the 70's, you will have no doubt seen
Dynamite !  magazine by Schoolastic Books.
I remember bringing home the order forms for the latest selection of books.
After the usual begging and promises of good behavior, my mom would always cave in
and give me the money to order the next great issue of Dynamite !
This particular issue featured the unlikely pairing of King Kong ( the Delaurentis version currently in theaters at the time) and Laverne and Shirley, (a top rated TV series at the time).
It makes no sense at all, but that was part of the coolness of Dynamite !
↧

a picture is worth a thousand....

September 22, 2012, 3:49 pm
↧

Look out ! There's a...Gorilla at Large !!!

October 7, 2012, 5:15 pm
$
0
0
After several requests from members (thanks Mark and DonHo57) prompted a historical search of this humble blog, I came to find that one of the greats of gorilla movies had gone uncovered.
 Gorilla at Large is truly an important moment in simian cinema, and in 3-D yet !!!
The film is chock full of some of the great actors and character actors of the 50's,
including a VERY young, Lee Marvin as a cop who is a thorough imbecile.
Gorilla at Large (GAL) stars Raymond Burr, Cameron Mitchell, and a scorching hot Anne Bancroft.

The supporting cast features the great Lee J. Cobb, Charlotte Austin, and Warren Stevens.
The film takes place in a travelling carnival, featuring a trapeze act with Anne Bancroft
swinging over the enclosure of the savage gorilla Goliath ! ( George Barrows).
The carnival owner (Burr) plans to spice up the act by having her fall and be caught by Goliath...
Or so it would seem. Enter Cameron Mitchell as a carnival worker chosen to substitute for Goliath while the lights are dimmed during the show.
Of note here, is the gorilla costume worn by Mitchell was a rental costume manufactured by the famous Western Costume of Hollywood.
This rental suit was actually used as real gorillas in very low budget potboilers in the 40's and 50's,
but it looked painfully pathetic next to George Barrows amazing suit !
This was a long standing gag in Hollywood, to feature an actor who wears crappy gorilla suit,
to be mistaken for a real gorilla ( pro Gorilla Man !)
The obvious difference in quality between the suits helps to sell the idea that the pro Gorilla Man is indeed a real ( reel) gorilla. Many times this is used to comedic effect, but here it is used for high drama.
It seems that a slimy carnival worker who was blackmailing the owner ( Burr) winds up murdered in Goliaths cage.
At first it appears that Goliath may have killed the blackmailer, but police investigator Lee J. Cobb isn't convinced.
He looks toward Mitchell as a suspect due to the fact that, he dresses like a gorilla !  ( of course)
Suspicions then spread from person to person when subplots are introduced involving Burr, Bancroft, and Bancroft's hulking ex-husband, and Goliath's keeper Kovacs. ( Peter Whitney )
To further ad to the fun, Goliath escapes from his enclosure and begins rampaging through the carnival.
It wouldn't be a true gorilla man classic if the beastie didn't grab up a beautiful girl and go climb something, and GAL does not disappoint !
An interesting thing to look for,( and at times fairly obvious), is the use of a light weight rubber replica of Anne Bancroft for Barrows to lug around.
As a guy who wears a gorilla suit, I can tell you from experience, that being a gorilla man is brutally hard work ! My suit weighs a little over 45 lbs, but George's colossal suit weighed nearly 60 !
Just moving effectively with that amount of weight is hard enough, but you also are usually well over
100 degrees hot inside, and you can't really get adequate airflow in the mask.
Now after your nearly dead from just wearing the suit, you have to act...usually with a lot of action and energy. Now to finish you off, we need you to carry a 130lb woman and climb up a roller coaster with her in your arms. It sounds like the tortures of the damned, but it all in a days work for a gorilla man !
Back to the movie, George Barrows does carry the lovely Miss Bancroft around, as well as her rubber duplicate for the more dangerous scenes. What those scenes are, I won't tell as I don't want to spoil the fun.
Needless to say, Gorilla at Large is a really fun movie with fantastic 3-D effects !

 Awe come on lady...My back is killing me !


 You've got lo love the effects of gravity !



 Camron Mitchell attacks !

 Watch those paws Cameron !

 Does this big ape take care of the gorilla ?


 Holy crap ! Lee Marvin !


 A very cool scene in 3-D !!!


 Beware of gorillas in submarines !


Another great shot when seen in 3-D !!!
 
 
Here for you, my monkey minions, are a slew of screen caps I hand selected for you as well as some incredible promo shots from the collection of Bob Burns !
And when you get a chance , Be sure and watch Gorilla at Large ! and don't forget your 3-D glasses !



↧
Viewing all 138 articles
Browse latest View live
Search