Thu 8 Apr 2021
Reviewed by Dan Stumpf: THE GORILLA MAN (1943).
Posted by Steve under Horror movies , Reviews , Suspense & espionage films[3] Comments
THE GORILLA MAN. Warner Bros., 1943. John Loder, Ruth Ford, Marian Hall, Richard Fraser, Lumsden Hare, Paul Cavanagh, John Abbott, Mary Field and Charles Irwin. Written by Anthony Coldeway. Directed by D. Ross Lederman.
Maybe I’m old-fashioned, but it seems to me that if you watch a movie titled The Gorilla Man, you should expect to see at least one Ape Suit in the picture. Imagine then, my disappointment to learn that the eponymous anthropoid is just the nickname hero John Loder got from fellow-soldiers in recognition of his climbing skills on a commando raid.
Well, life is full of disappointment, especially for those of us looking for cheap thrills. But in fact, Gorilla Man does offer a modicum of shivers, thanks mainly to character actor John Abbott, who plays a particularly sadistic henchman to mildly-mad doctor Paul Cavanagh.
The whole thing gets a bit over-complicated, thanks mainly to writer Coldeway’s efforts to turn a then-topical spy story into a monster movie, but here goes:
Doctor Cavanagh runs a sanitarium on the channel coast, where he gets secret orders from Berlin. You see he’s really one of those respectable-looking Nazi spies, who seem to have overrun England in wartime movies like this. Anyway, he’s warned by radio signals that Loder and his men are en route back home from a raid, and that Loder has vital information that must at all costs be kept from Army Brass. Quick as a button, henchman Abbott greets the returning raiders as they land, finds Loder slightly wounded, and spirits him off to Cavanagh’s phony hospital.
Bwa-(as they say)-ha-hah!
But Loder does get Germany’s secret invasion plans to the General, so Cavanagh switches to Plan B — there’s always a plan B in these things — which involves making Loder look crazy, so he won’t be believed. To this end, they release Loder and follow him around, killing helpless young ladies he comes into contact with, a task that psycho Abbott is just tickled plumb to death to carry out.
Add a dubious General into the mix, stir in a sneering Police Inspector, a jilted girlfriend who meets a grisly end, and you have an hour that moves briskly enough, served up with Warners’ usual polish. And as I say, John Abbott is really quite creepy, lurking about with google-eyed glasses and a sick grin.
But damn, where’s a Gorilla Suit when you need one!
BIOGRAPHICAL NOTE: I had a nickname in my unit too, where my comrades affectionately called me “that sorry sunuvabitch.†But I digresss….
April 8th, 2021 at 5:50 pm
Loder had a strange career in England and the US, BRIGHTON STRANGLER and the remake of THE MOST DANGEROUS GAME. He played a handful of villains too.
April 8th, 2021 at 6:23 pm
Loder had classic film star potential, and nearly got there, but in Thirties Britain pictures, check out Lorna Doone, King Solomons Mines (not better but more faithful to Haggard), and Non-Stop New York opposite Anna Lee, another attractive and talented player born for a stardom that slipped by her. Both did well in How Green Was My Valley, becoming Ford favorites, but Loder ended up treading water in films like The Gorilla Man, and eventually returned to Great Britain, where the parts was at the same level, but not the money.
April 10th, 2021 at 5:34 pm
I had thought that with a title like THE GORILLA MAN, there’d be more comments than this.
I guess, though, Dan, you let the cat out of the bag too soon. What’s to say about a movie with a title like that when there’s no Man in it wearing a Gorilla suit?