Bela Lugosi Meets a Brooklyn Gorilla (1952)

I’m the kind of guy who would LOVE to say that Bela Lugosi Meets a Brooklyn Gorilla is a good movie. However, life’s disappointments are many. This is Bela Lugosi’s all-time worst because it’s the worst kind of movie ever: a bad comedy. Bela is a mad scientist who plays third fiddle to the sad comedy team of Duke Mitchell and Sammy Patrillo, Martin and Lewis imitators so blatant you wonder how they sleep at night. Patrillo’s shrill mincing as a Jerry Lewis-like man-child is a particularly scarring experience. Lewis himself was so annoyed that he got Patrillo (who was only 18 when he made this) blackballed in show business. This major stinker of a movie no doubt did part of that job for him already, though.