Gorilla At Large (1954)

At a touring carnival, several mysterious deaths occur. The blame appears to be focused on a gorilla who escaped from his cage. But is the gorilla a fall guy for something much more human? The reason for this "B" movie's existence is the 3D craze that briefly caught hold of the movies around 1953 and 1954 before doing a quick fade (though it's been resurrected in recent years). In 3D, there were a few cheap thrills (a gorilla's paw reaching out toward the audience) but without the 3D it's a fairly silly and ordinary movie. That the "gorilla" is so obviously a man in an ape suit destroys the possibility of any actual suspense. On the plus side, it's actually kind of fun watching some excellent acting talent reduced to a rather cheesy movie like this. The cast includes Anne Bancroft (in the kind of role that sent her screaming to the New York stage), Lee Marvin, Lee J. Cobb and Raymond Burr! It's actually highly watchable in a loopy sort of way. Directed by Harmon Jones. With Cameron Mitchell, Warren Stevens and Peter Whitney.