Complete credited cast: | |||
The Ritz Brothers | ... | Defective Detectives | |
Jimmy Ritz | ... | Garrity | |
Harry Ritz | ... | Harrigan | |
Al Ritz | ... | Mulligan | |
Anita Louise | ... | Norma Denby | |
Patsy Kelly | ... | Kitty | |
Lionel Atwill | ... | Walter Stevens | |
Bela Lugosi | ... | Peters | |
Joseph Calleia | ... | Stranger | |
Edward Norris | ... | Jack Marsden | |
Wally Vernon | ... | Seaman | |
Paul Harvey | ... | A.P. Conway | |
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Art Miles | ... | Poe the Gorilla |
When a wealthy man is threatened by a killer known as The Gorilla, he hires the Ritz Brothers to investigate. A real escaped gorilla shows up at the mansion just as the investigators arrive.
I've heard that the Ritz Brothers refused to do this film unless both their contract and the script were re-worked. The Studio should have let them walk. I admit this is only the first Ritz Bros. film I have seen so they could come off as comic geniuses in "Hotel Anchovy" and I wouldn't know it. However in this film, all they do is suck the oxygen out of the room while fellow "comic," Patsy Kelly, chews the scenery with a knife and fork. All I could think while watching this film was "poor Bela Lugosi." Reduced here to being the-guy-who-we-think-did-it (and a butler to boot), you can almost see his disinterest as he sleepwalks through yet another "creepy foreign guy" role. With a bit different casting, this could have been a funny film.
In spite of the off-the-mark gags and dental drill like screaming of Kelly, this film is not horrible. It will entertain you in spite of its shortcomings. Make it a drinking game. Take a shot every time someone says "Take that down, Garrity." Take two shots every time Garrity says anything at all, and take a shot of water whenever the word "gorilla" is spoken. Poor Bela Lugosi.