Harmon Jones

Gorilla at Large

Cyrus Miller's carnival has come to town. Its chief draw is a big, bad gorilla named Goliath. Each night, Goliath is teased by a tantalizing trapeze artist named Laverne. She swings back and forth, just out of reach from the simian's upraised arms. Naturally, this frustrates Goliath, but audiences are thrilled. However, Miller thinks the act is getting old. So he promotes carnival barker Joey from pitchman to performer. Joey will don a black, hairy gorilla costume and become Goliath's replacement. The difference is this time Laverne will fall from the trapeze and into the arms of a grunting, bellowing Joey. The idea seems promising to everyone but Kovacs, Goliath's trainer, who's about to become unemployed. (Kovacs is also Laverne's ex-husband.) Joey has a fiancée named Audrey, and she's not happy either. She knows Laverne's a hot little number with a reputation to match, and the new act means she'll be working closely with her intended. Meantime, Morse, a concessionaire, is accused by Miller of robbing from the receipts. One evening, Morse is found dead near Goliath's cage with a broken neck and a gin bottle nearby. Detective Garrison of the police speculates the victim got drunk and ventured too close to the dangerous gorilla. But Miller's assistant, Owens, argues that Morse never drank alcohol due to an ulcer. Then Joey becomes a suspect when it is learned he once threatened Morse for molesting Audrey. But it is Joey's hunch that Miller, who's sweet on the luscious Laverne, is out to frame him, since he has recently become the object of Laverne's flirtations. At some point during all this, Goliath escapes from his cage. Later, Audrey's screams are heard from the Hall of Mirrors. Miller and others rush to rescue her. They discover Audrey is safe, but Owens, who once bragged of knowing the identity of Morse's killer, is found dead. To everyone's surprise, Miller suddenly confesses to both murders. But Joey is not convinced. He persuades Detective Garrison that Miller's lame arm is too weak to break anyone's neck. But the show must go on, and Laverne proceeds with her act. The only problem is the simian figure she's performing with is not Joey. It's actually Goliath. When the unsuspecting Laverne does her planned drop, she realizes too late that she is in the arms of Goliath, who carries a screaming Laverne to the top of the carnival's roller coaster. The gorilla dies in a hail of bullets. And the murderer? (Don't read further if you haven't seen the film.) It turns out to be Laverne, who reveals she was victim to one of Morse's blackmail schemes. Owens was added to the undertaker's list later in order to shut him up. In the end, Laverne is led away by the police as Joey and Audrey resolve to quit the carnival.