If only it said
TIM CONWAY.
Have you ever come out of a test thinking you failed it, and were elated when you got a ‘C’, instead?
That’s how I felt about Bride Of The Gorilla (1951). Going in, the poster looked awful, and it didn’t get off to a great start. And, yet, there was unexpected nuance, such as the police commissioner, half European, half native, who attended University and then returned to the area of his youth to serve, and finds himself torn between his training and his Amazonian instincts.
Or the fate that befalls the casual racist at the heart of this sordid tale. Barney is his name (I kept thinking Barney Fife, but this Barney is played by Raymond Burr! Barney is not a good name for anyone), and he’s the supervisor on the Amazonian plantation of the elderly Klaas Van Gelder, and his youthful wife, Dina. She’s faithful to her husband, despite the presence of the handsome, rugged Barney, but Klaas and Barney are nevertheless in a fraught relationship, which terminates one night when Barney tells Klaas he’s leaving his employ, and Klaas, using a few choice words, socks him one. Barney’s return shot throws Klaas next to a poisonous snake, and Barney, perhaps a little overwrought, declines to save Klaas from the creature’s bite.
The next day, Klaas’ body is found, and the local doctor, himself a Dina devotee, performs the inquest, where he ascribes death to a heart attack and snake poison. All clear for Dina and Barney.
Except for the old, native crone, Al-Long, who, unknown to Barney, witnessed the death. But she has no tolerance for European ways; hers is the way of witchcraft. But does she turn Barney into a gorilla, as the poster suggests?
No!
This is more subtle. She curses Barney into thinking he’s turning into a gorilla, while everyone else just sees Barney. Barney Fife? No, no. Just Barney!
Soon enough, the marriage of Barney and Dina is falling apart, as Barney is staying out late, drinking from ponds and staring at himself, listening to things he’s never heard before, and, generally, being a pain in the ass.
Like I said, this is a ‘C’ all the way, but so much better than expected. The acting is professional, some of the cinematography was quite good, and if the story sometimes seems over the top, it could have been far, far worse.
All in all, a morality tale – not quite believable, but better than expected.
