The Gorilla starring the Ritz Brothers is a wacky haunted house-like yarn from the silent days of film when such films as The Bat were popular and later again in 1930 in the earliest days of sound. Neither of those efforts survive leaving only this version. This 1939 variant sports a nifty cast with Lionel Atwill in fine form and Bela Lugosi doing what he did best, giving the whole shebang an eerie feeling.
This story has all the earmarks of a Scooby Doo yarn. A rich guy (Atwill) is threatened by his backers and seeks a way out of his dilemma and invites his niece over, a girl he just happens to share interest in a valuable piece of property with. He is seemingly threatened by "The Gorilla", a murderer who has terrorized the city in recent weeks and everyone is concerned.
He hires the Ritz Brothers who in this instance play a trio of detectives known as "Garrity, Harrigan, and Mulligan". They are as hapless as you'd expect and there are other mysterious figures and such. Patsy Kelly as a maid who keeps trying to leave but with no success.
The ambles along after Atwill's disappearance and all through the melee there is the resolute Bela Lugosi as a butler who seems weirdly unaffected by any of the odd goings on in the house. His straightforward portrayal plays nicely against the hectic Ritz Brothers and actress Patsy Kelly. I've seen a lot of people pan this movie, but I rather liked it for what it was and by the way there is actually a gorilla in it.
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