Jack Broder Productions

Two nightclub entertainers, Duke Mitchell and Sammy Petrillo, parachute into a Pacific jungle island where they meet a sarong-clad island princess and a mad scientist named Dr. Zabor, played by Bela Lugosi in full Dracula regalia. Jealous of Duke's romance with the princess, Zabor decides to use his evolution experiments to turn his rival into a gorilla. Mitchell and Petrillo were a comedy team built to imitate Dean Martin and Jerry Lewis, and Jerry Lewis reportedly sued to shut the production down. William Beaudine, a veteran of silent comedy, directed with the workmanlike speed that earned him the nickname "One-Shot." The film is a strange collision of horror parody, knockabout slapstick, and stock jungle footage. It entered the public domain because no copyright was ever filed.

Comedy · Horror

A 1951 jungle horror film written and directed by Curt Siodmak, the screenwriter of The Wolf Man. On a rubber plantation deep in the Amazon, foreman Barney Chavez (Raymond Burr) kills his employer and takes his beautiful wife Dina (Barbara Payton) — but a witch's curse condemns him to transform into a gorilla, stalking the jungle while the police commissioner (Lon Chaney Jr.) closes in. Essentially a loupe-garou tale transplanted to the tropics, it is a minor-key cult item with a remarkable cast for its budget. The film is in the public domain.

Horror

Two nightclub entertainers, Duke Mitchell and Sammy Petrillo, parachute into a Pacific jungle island where they meet a sarong-clad island princess and a mad scientist named Dr. Zabor, played by Bela Lugosi in full Dracula regalia. Jealous of Duke's romance with the princess, Zabor decides to use his evolution experiments to turn his rival into a gorilla. Mitchell and Petrillo were a comedy team built to imitate Dean Martin and Jerry Lewis, and Jerry Lewis reportedly sued to shut the production down. William Beaudine, a veteran of silent comedy, directed with the workmanlike speed that earned him the nickname "One-Shot." The film is a strange collision of horror parody, knockabout slapstick, and stock jungle footage. It entered the public domain because no copyright was ever filed.

Comedy · Horror