Not copyright by Jack Broder Productions, Inc. U.S. release through Realart Pictures: 8 October 1952. New York opening: 4 September 1952. Never theatrically released in Australia. 74 minutes. SYNOPSIS: A good-natured spoof of jungle pictures and horror movies, starring Bela Lugosi as a mad scientist turning men into monkeys on a remote Pacific Island.NOTES: Negative cost: $50,000. Movie debut of Sammy Petrillo. His partner, Duke Mitchell had a small part in the Martin and Lewis movie, Sailor Beware (1952).COMMENT: Here's a movie, scripted and played with all tongues firmly in their cheeks by a cast headed by Bela Lugosi, the lovely Charlita (love her sarongs!) and a couple of not-so-talented Martin and Lewis imitators. Despite the short shooting schedule (two weeks) and the minimal negative cost ($50,000, the movie's production values actually look quite lush, thanks to William Beaudine's surprisingly skillful direction and Charles Van Enger's attractive and really stand-out cinematography. AVAILABLE on DVD through Alpha. Quality rating: Ten out of ten.

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.

This is awful. The ending is awful. 3 is a pretty bad ratting. But this is such a bad movie that 3 is overrating. It is a 1. Do not waste your time. Do not waste your money do not see this movie. It could have been a great classic if not for the ending. It just ruined it. In this movie Bela Lugosi play a mad scientist who turns a man from Brooklyn into a gorilla. This was close to being a classic. It is so badly written. Do not see this movie. See Abbot and Costello meet Frankenstein. That is a lot better then this. This does not deserve a 3 it is to awful. I like most Bela Lugosi's film. Dracula is one of the favourite horror movies. I was very disappointed with this movie. I am a 33 year old man who like old monster movies and I did not like this.

BELA LUGOSI MEETS A BROOKLYN GORILLA barely qualifies as a proper film, although it is a madcap rip-off of a popular comedy series pairing up Dean Martin and Jerry Lewis. This one stars the exceptionally irritating Sammy Petrillo (who looks just like Jim Carrey in DUMB AND DUMBER, except this time it's for real) and his buddy Duke Mitchell who travel to a remote Pacific island to live it up with the natives.The whole film consists of their various encounters with jungle flora and fauna, from dancing native girls to chimpanzees (a welcome cameo from Tarazan's Cheetah) and even a gorilla or two. Inevitably the action is silly and the humour even sillier, although horror fans might be interested to see Bela Lugosi here, as reliable as ever in support as a sinister mad scientist type, forever conducting weird experiments. Lugosi hams it up a treat and is really the only reason to bother sitting through such a dated and otherwise pointless film. It's no surprise director William Beaudine directed around 350 movies when they were of this calibre.