Cyrus Miller (Raymond Burr) runs a seaside carnival where his wife, trapeze artist Laverne (Anne Bancroft), shares top billing with Goliath the Gorilla. When a recently-fired carny (John Kellogg) is found murdered, Goliath becomes the obvious suspect, though a police detective (Lee J. Cobb) suspects otherwise after learning of Cyrus and Laverne's shady past. The gorilla escapes, or is let out of his cage, and heroic barker Joey (Cameron Mitchell) works with Laverne, ape trainer Kovacs (Peter Whitney) and the cops to capture the simian while hunting the killer - a human sporting a gorilla costume!
Gorilla at Large is a strange beast, a modestly-budgeted indie film shot in color (and 3D) but released by 20th Century Fox. The script (credited to Leonard Praskins and Barney Slater) seems more interested in sketching the various circus melodramas than the title gorilla: Cyrus and Laverne feud over an accident involving a past-partner, while Joey courts fellow employee Audrey (Charlotte Austin) and aspires for a promotion, going from barker to man in a gorilla costume! It's all rather silly, and Gorilla never really aspires above the functional level of a midlevel detective show. Each character has motive, opportunity and access to a gorilla; each has broad personality traits to make them nominally distinct. It's a mystery strictly for the grade school set.
Harmon Jones' direction seems geared towards milking the most out of the 3D effects. The film repeats shots of Goliath (stuntman George Barrows in his usual suit) lunging towards the camera, an image unlikely to scare anyone over the age of two; Laverne swings on her trapeze, carnival rides go berserk, police chase the killer through a house of mirrors. The climax, borrowed from Mighty Joe Young, features Goliath carrying Laverne to the top of a Ferris wheel, while Joey and the cops shoot fireworks to gain his attention. Gorilla's one inventive scene shows Goliath roaming through the carnival, baffled by a band of animatronic chimps playing jazz. This scene shows humor and cleverness, something sorely lacking in the rest of the movie.
Possibly Gorilla's strangest aspect are the name actors on display; it's practically an all-star cast for a '50s B Movie. Cameron Mitchell is stern and studly, Anne Bancroft pretty, Raymond Burr glowers and Lee J. Cobb chomps a cigar. Their roles can't have been very taxing, but at least they don't embarrass themselves. Lee Marvin has a dues-paying bit part as a dopey cop; Charlotte Austin has an appealing supporting role, four years before her star turn in the wickedly weird The Bride and the Beast.
It's hard to hate Gorilla at Large, a silly movie that doesn't aspire to be more than it is, and its 92 minute length makes it a painless watch. But it's hard to recommend, either. That is, unless you're an impressionable three year old, easily spooked by onscreen apes, in which case it's a traumatic cinematic experience.