This Mexican poster for La novia del gorilla, aka Bride of the Gorilla, is chockful of interesting elements, from the massive simian at top, to the snake hanging in a tree, to star Barbara Payton being borne away by a second gorilla, and co-star Carol Varga in her classic “native” two-piece. There’s a line early on: “White people shouldn’t live too long in the jungle. It brings out their bad side—jealousies, impatience.” That sums up the thrust of the plot, the subplot, and the underlying themes, because it’s a one-note psychological suspense flick about northerners out of place in the humid global south.
In brief, Raymond Burr runs a rubber plantation for colonial boss Paul Cavanaugh, and has the hots for his wife Barbara Payton. He kills Cavanaugh, thanks to a serendipitous lethal snake that’s slithering by. He gets away with the murder, but he can’t fool the withered old crone who runs the plantation house. She uses the pe de guine—the so-called plant of evil—to place a curse on Burr. It’s slow to act, but by the time he marries the widowed Payton he comes to think he’s changing into a beast. Is it in his mind? Is he suffering the effects of slow poisoning from the pe de guine? Or is he really a monster?
Bride of the Gorilla, while a middling and basically inconsequential cinematic effort, is well remembered by Hollywood buffs for its extracurriculars. Barbara Payton was being surveilled via detective by her husband Franchot Tone, and passed on the unfortunate news that Payton was enjoying sweaty horizontal interludes with Woody Strode. He was one of the best looking guys you can imagine, so it’s no wonder the highly sexed Payton got hot and bothered. It was one in a series of affairs for her, but this one harmed her career because Strode was black. She would later suffer one of the more infamous downward spirals in celebrity history.
In any case, the question is should whether you give Bride of the Gorilla a screening. Hmm… well, owing to the good cast, we think so. Chaney and Burr are quality talents even when overrmatched by substandard screenwriting, and Payton had been an acclaimed actress in earlier roles and is certainly decent here. But keep your expectations in check. It’s watchable, but it’s still pure b-movie schlock. It was originally released in the U.S., and opened in Mexico today in 1951
