Well Deserved Praise

one of my absolute favorites!

Absolutely Fantastic

I have absolutely never seen anything like this movie before. You have to see this movie.

The White Gorilla (1945) BOMB (out of 4)Ray Corrigan plays Steve Collins, a jungle adventurer who is sitting with another group of people as he tells them about his dangerous encounter with the mythical white gorilla. It turns out that the white gorilla was thrown out from his group due to his color and before long he is battling with the normal looking gorillas. Oh yeah, we've also got a guy trying to save a girl in the jungle.THE WHITE GORILLA is an extremely embarrassing and cheap exploitation movie that tries to pass itself off as something new when in fact it runs 62-minutes and I'd argue that maybe six of those minutes are new scenes. The majority of the footage comes from the 1927 serial PERILS OF THE JUNGLE. That serial is nearly impossible to see yet this trash movie is available on countless formats. Go figure.The biggest issue with this movie is that it's extremely cheap, laughable and there really wasn't any attempt to blend the new scenes with the old ones. What really makes the older scenes stick out is the fact that they're silent so obviously it's like you're watching two different movies. When the "new" footage does try to interact with the old, it too is rather embarrassing and especially since you can't get the current cast into the old footage and the poor editing job is just obvious.The footage from the 1927 film looks terrific. I will say that my interest in watching that film is certainly high thanks to this picture as there were all sorts of animals and it was great footage of them. With that said, it's hard to give THE WHITE GORILLA any credit for those scenes so the BOMB rating is certainly deserved here.

"A rare white gorilla is shunned by the rest of the gorillas due to its unique nature and is forced to live a life of solitude. The time alone makes the gorilla hate all other primates and turns it into a murderous monster. A final confrontation between the white gorilla and his former tribe's leader will decide the fate of all of Africa," according to the DVD sleeve's synopsis.Ray "Crash" Corrigan (as Steve Collins) extensively recalls seeing the 1927 serial "Perils of the Jungle", which had noting to do with "The White Gorilla" in his present form (as Ray Corrigan). To wit, Mr. Corrigan witnesses his "friend" Frank Merrill (as Ed Bradford) in the old silent serial. Mr. Merrill, who also played "Tarzan", must have got a kick out of seeing himself co-starring in a new movie, after almost 20 years of retirement from film. The opening credits promise an "All-Star Cast", but neither Bing Crosby nor Greer Garson appear in this movie. The 1927 footage is better than the newer parts.* The White Gorilla (1945) Harry L. Fraser ~ Ray Corrigan, Lorraine Miller, Frank Merrill

OK, you know how Star Wars re-released the original 3 movies with new cg effects, sound, color, etc? They were presenting a 20 year old movie to a fresh audience. That is exactly what The White Gorilla is; everyone on here has commented on how they used footage from this old silent film... COME ON!! They didn't just *use* the silent film, it *is* that old silent film! (with a few minor additions, the gorilla scenes and the narration). I haven't sat down and timed it out, but it's gotta be 75% old movie at the very least... probably more like 80-90%. I can't imagine what they DIDN'T show from Perils of the Jungle in this film. As far as the terrible commentary goes.. did anyone notice when he just stops narrating in mid-sentence? It's at the start of the scene where he (or someone) rescues the jungle-boy from the lions by lowering a vine, he says something like, "I started wondering again about the little jungle boy I'd seen earlier; little did I know-"...presumably little-did-he-know he was walking right up on him, but it just cuts off mid-sentence and he doesn't say a word until the next scene. Believe me, it's not intentional, like to add suspense or something. It's very unnatural, you can tell he kept talking. I've managed my way through about half this movie so far, can't wait to see how it ends! :P

The White Gorilla is a jungle movie shot in 1945 but it looks like it was made in the early thirties and often reminded me of the much older silent pictures. The reason for this is that this movie used stock footage that was available from films going back to the silent picture days. The main problem with this is that it just doesn't fit it well. Some of the old footage is put in at the wrong times. There are many times that the speed isn't even right. When watching this movie, it is very obvious that something is amiss here. This stock footage that was used just plain looks too old and out of place. It is a great detraction from what little plot there is to the movie. The stock footage that was used makes this look almost like a comedy. There just isn't too much going for this film. Being a low budget film is one thing but there just wasn't enough effort made in making this movie.