Mark of the Gorilla

This film begins with LOTS of stock footage--much like other cheap African films of the era. In addition, like these other cheap films, it intermingles footage of BOTH African and Asian animals! So, you'll see African and Indian elephants as well as lions and tigers! It makes no sense at all to anyone with passing familiarity with these animals and it's obvious they were cramming in any film they could find--whether it made sense or not.

The plot involves rogue gorillas doing evil things. It's obviously some guys in gorilla suits and they look little like gorillas. The only saving grace of this is that you learn that these are supposed to be guys dressed up like gorillas in order to fool the natives. But, judging by their outfits and Jungle Jim's difficulty noticing how phony they are, you must assume all these folks are amazingly stupid. But why? Why dress up like gorillas and kill people coming into this territory? What are these wicked men looking for and exactly who are they? Well, the answer is a bit silly--at least in regard to who they are. Tune in to this silly little film if you care....though I must admit that I really didn't the more I watched "Mark of the Gorilla".

All in all, this film is exactly what most jungle films were of this time--badly written adventure films that were made on a shoestring budget. Clearly these Johnny Weismuller films are NOT the same quality of his better Tarzan films. Aside from lousy stock footage, some very uneven acting and a remarkably silly plot sink this one.