Bela Lugosi Meets a Brooklyn Gorilla (1952)

Wonderful character development!

So much average

Good movie, but best of all time? Hardly . . .

Not sure how, but this is easily one of the best movies all summer. Multiple levels of funny, never takes itself seriously, super colorful, and creative.

Wretched "comedy" starring blatant Martin & Lewis rip-offs Duke Mitchell and Sammy Petrillo. I don't even like the real Martin & Lewis, so you can imagine how much a couple of imitators must grate on my nerves. The only reason I even subjected myself to this is that it's one of the few Bela Lugosi movies I've never seen. Now I wish I could unsee it. Sammy Petrillo is the worst! Loud, talentless, incessantly trying for any laughs, desperately grabbing for them like a drowning man looking for a lifeline. He never lets up. I was sick of him by the end of his first scene. I'm shocked the cast and crew didn't assault him. As for Bela, he looks gaunt and sickly. His presence here is just depressing. Best part about the movie is eye candy Charlita. I don't ever want to see this again. I'm not surprised this is the only film Duke & Sammy made. I'm also not surprised Jerry Lewis did his best to keep Petrillo from working. Normally, I would think that's not a good look for Jerry but in this case I think he did humanity a favor.

Okay, having just watched the first 6 of Martin & Lewis' films, I thought I'd take a break and see something else. Something that starred their impersonators. Something called Bela Lugosi Meets a Brooklyn Gorilla! That title was supposedly made up by the producer's kid and by giving it that name, Mr. Lugosi didn't have to worry that anyone would forget who the star is. Yeah, I'd say he's probably the main attraction, then and now, since he's the only one anyone would recognize here except, like I just said, there's two other people that look like a popular comedy team that had emerged during this era, only their names are Duke Mitchell & Sammy Petrillo. Now Duke does sing a couple of songs of which I thought the first was lame (and he really looked like he was mouthing to, I assume, his own recordings) and the second was okay though he really doesn't resemble Dean in looks or voice but his attitude is the same. And Sammy does resemble Jerry both in looks and attitude but the lines he's given were alternately a little amusing and mostly lame though I did like it when they did a bit about having seen Lugosi before. Oh, and unlike Lewis at the time, Petrillo does mention some Jewish terms. As for their leading ladies, Charlita as Nona, Dean's girl is sexy enough while Muriel Landers as Saloma (who Sammy sometimes refers as "Salami"!) has a pleasingly plump figure that doesn't completely drive Sammy away. There's also a monkey who was borrowed from the Tarzan movies that's good for some cuteness and a couple of men in gorilla suits that provide the amusingly lame climax. And Lugosi himself, despite being reduced to appearing in many of these low-budget productions late in his career, still provides some moments worth watching especially when he parodies his career reputation with Duke & Sammy. So on that note, Bela Lugosi Meets a Broklyn Gorilla is worth a look for anyone curious about this one-shot chance with these Martin & Lewis impersonators. P.S. I have to note that Ms. Landers was another performer from my birthtown of Chicago, Ill.

Okay, if you can look past the fact that the "comedy team" (a term used very loosely here)is just a rip off of Dean Martin and Jerry Lewis, and the fact that Lugosi is only here because he was taking any and every role he was offered at this point, it's actually almost funny on it's own, even though most of the time I laughed at the parts that weren't supposed to be funny, and groaned at the parts that were trying to be funny, but were ultimately just embarrassing. There were a few funny bits and pieces here and there...if you can forgive the duo for being carbon copies of Dean Martin and Jerry Lewis. Plus Lugosi can make anything watchable, if not respectable. Basically the story, if you can call it a story, is about the aforementioned "comedy team" crash landing on an island inhabited by mad scientist... I'm not even going to tell you who it is, it's so obvious by the title, who wants to turn a man into an ape. The characters run around like idiots for awhile, and the movie ends with a great, disappointing cop-out, presumably because the filmmakers couldn't figure out a better way to end it. It's really sad when your second best actor behind Lugosi is a monkey from the Tarzan movies named "Cheeta".

It's easy enough to take pot-shots at a movie like this, especially if you try stacking it up against other stuff. It's a long way from the best or worst I've ever seen. Of course, Bela Lugosi can do no wrong. Just watching him laugh, or hearing the line, "What an unusual cranium." makes the movie worth a look. Obviously, Petrillo did an excellent take on Jerry Lewis, and his repetition of Lugosi's line about the "unusual cranium" was my biggest laugh in the movie. Duke Mitchell's task of imitating Dean Martin has taken a lot of hits, but it had to be harder to do Martin without going "over the top" than it was to do Lewis, where going "over the top" was exactly what was called for. Personally, I could care less whether I was listening to Martin or Mitchell sing, but that brings up another point. For decades Hollywood mindlessly insisted that movies include musical numbers and romantic sub-plots that nobody could possibly care less about, as anybody who's ever watched a Marx Brothers movie can relate to. OK, it's not great, but it's fun.