Bela Lugosi Meets a Brooklyn Gorilla

1952 "A horror film that will stiffen you with laughter!"
3.7| 1h14m| en| More Info
Released: 04 September 1952 Released
Producted By: Jack Broder Productions Inc.
Country: United States of America
Budget: 0
Revenue: 0
Official Website:
Synopsis

The Singer Duke Mitchell meets Sammy Petrillo in this parody of Martin & Lewis. They arrive on a jungle island, where a mad scientist played by Bela Lugosi makes human experiments.

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Reviews

Interesteg What makes it different from others?
Incannerax What a waste of my time!!!
Supelice Dreadfully Boring
Teddie Blake The movie turns out to be a little better than the average. Starting from a romantic formula often seen in the cinema, it ends in the most predictable (and somewhat bland) way.
dougdoepke Unfortunately, it's not a campy movie, instead it's plain bad. And here I thought nothing could get stupider than Jerry Lewis; that is, until I got a load of Petrillo. Good thing the wife moved throwable things away from my chair. That way, my TV survived his whiny idiocy. Between him and the equally skinny Duke Mitchell, I kept hoping somebody would feed them. Actually, for a cheap-jack production, it's pretty well mounted. Looks like every potted palm in Hollywood was used for the jungle scenes. Even better, none fell over. And get a load of half-clad Charlita who almost makes the mess worth it. (I think I'm on my way to the South Seas.) Then too, the acting's not that bad, despite the central idiot. Note too that Lugosi has little more to do than stand around with an occasional line. An easy payday for an old trouper. Of course, the real star is Ramona, who's a lot more entertaining than the rest. I hope they paid her double in bananas or whatever. Anyway, I'm flummoxed by the ending, especially by what happens to Petrillo. It comes out of the blue and is totally out of sync with the movie's remainder, dream or no. But what the heck. Too bad the producers didn't scrap the 10-cent Martin and Lewis. Then the movie would have been just bad, instead of annoyingly bad.
ctyankee1 Samuel Perillo is Sammy in this movie, the skinny guy. I thought he was Jerry Lewis. I did a Google search and did not find anyone named Samuel Perillo or a picture that looked like Sammy this guy. Sammy in the movie talks, looks, laughs and dances like Jerry Lewis.Now I can see where Sasha Cohen (Borat) gets his dance steps from. The other man Duke Mitchell sings but looks nothing like Dean Martin. When I search the net with "Duke Mitchell" the only picture that comes up is this one Bella Lugosi Meets a Brookly Gorilla and it has "Samuel" Perillo" and "Duke Mitchell". Does anyone know if Jerry Lewis ever used the name "Samuel Perillo"? This is a black and white movie 1952 That I watched for free on Classic Cinema On Line. http://www.classiccinemaonline.com/1/index.Please tell me if you know. Thanks
JoeB131 This is actually a much better movie than its reputation. The shorthand is that it's a cheap movie with a couple of Martin and Lewis imitators. This is true, Duke Mitchell and Sammy Petrillo attempted to cash in by doing a imitation of Dean and Jerry, (and were sandbagged by Lewis who didn't like the competition). Combine that with a director notorious for never shooting second takes, and Bela Lugosi in his downward spiral of his career, and it should be a complete disaster. However, it is well shot, and the performances are tolerable.Lugosi plays his stock character of a mad scientist doing some weird experiment with apes and evolution, with an unhealthy crush on a native girl who looks way too white. When Mitchell charms her, Bela decides to make him the subject of his new serum that turns people into apes.How often did Bela have to do movies with guys in Ape Suits? And why was that such a cool thing in the 30's and 40's? It's watchable. The most grating part is Petrillo's imitation of Jerry Lewis, but then again, the real Jerry Lewis was equally annoying.
Michael_Elliott Bela Lugosi Meets a Brooklyn Gorilla (1952)* 1/2 (out of 4)Dean Martin and Jerry Lewis wannabes Duke Mitchell and Sammy Petrillo fall out of a plane on land on an island where a mad scientist (Bela Lugosi) is doing bizarre experiments on monkeys. Pretty soon the two friends have sisters in love with them and all sort of other weirdness.BELA LUGOSI MEETS A BROOKLYN GORILLA is an awful movie from start to finish. Again, I repeat. This is an awful movie in just about every way imaginable. With that said, I also find it to be incredibly entertaining and quite often when I'm looking for a low- budget bad movie to watch, I come back to this one. While it's not as entertaining as something like PLAN 9 FROM OUTER SPACE it's still a highly enjoyable film.Perhaps I should repeat that the film is awful so no one goes in expecting something good or somewhat good. The entire idea of the film is rather routine, clichéd and stupid but there's just something weirdly entertaining about watching Mitchell and especially Petrillo do their act. It's reported that Jerry Lewis sued Petrillo and it's really no shock because it's pretty much an exact copy only much more annoying. The comic back-and-forth here isn't funny yet it's so unfunny that you can't help but be entertained.Then there's the Lugosi element. I know many people put down his roles in the Ed Wood movies but this had to be one of the lowest points for the actor. He pretty much does what he can with the role but he's basically just standing or sitting around and screaming or talking with the monkey. If you're a fan of Lugosi you're probably going to feel sorry for him appearing in this but at the same time it's still rather fun to see him surrounded by all the craziness.As a comedy this film is quite horrible but it remains entertaining to me. I don't know, perhaps I enjoy torturing myself but sometimes films are just so bad or different or strange that you can't help but be drawn to them. BELA LUGOSI MEETS A BROOKLYN GORILLA has a very silly title but it perfectly matches what you're going to be seeing in the picture.