“THE GORILLA”

Sun (Auckland), Volume I, Issue 266, 31 January 1928, Page 15

“THE GORILLA”

AT PRINCESS, TIVOLI AND EVERYBODY’S ON THURSDAY Comedy is supposed to be closely afcin to tragedy. The greatest comedians and critics say the best comedy is that which is mingled with pathos, and if this is true, then Charlie Murray, who is featured in “The Gorilla,” has all the laughs coming to him. “The Gorilla” is the hilarious and hysterical mystery comedy coming to the Princess, Tivoli and Everybody’s Theatres on Thursday in which Murray, with Fred Kelsey, combine to form a new screen team. And one must not forget the gorilla himself. There is where Charlie Murray and his pathos and comedy comes in. It is comedy for the audience to see him playing around cliffs, cellars, etc., etc.,' with a nine foot four hundred pound ape man, but as for Murray, let the pathos speak for itself. Just place yourself in the same predicament and imagine the fun.

“The Gorilla” is an adaptation of Ralph Spence’s stage play vf the same name and combines all the elements of fun and chills that made the legitimate version so popular. The situations* in the motion picture have been enlarged over those in the stage play. It is reported to be a combination of the weirdest, spookiest mystery and the greatest comedy imaginable. Murray and Kelsey have the roles of the two dumb detectives. Mulligan and Garrity, whose greatest problem is to keep together. The gorilla is a whole melodrama in himself. His huge bulk and tremendous size present a ferocious aspect. A four hundred pound gorilla is menace enough for any picture. . _ , The remainder of the cast includes Alice Dav, Tully Marshall, Claude Gillingwater, Walter Pidgeou. Gaston Glass, Brooks Benedict, Aggie Herring and Syd Crossly.