Personally, I'm not a very big fan of the comical style of the Ritz' brothers and I never looked at them as being much more than a poor man's Three Stooges or Abott & Costello. They never really achieved much in cinema and if you know that 'The Gorilla' is by far their greatest movie, you wonder why on earth they ever enjoyed the popularity status. In this low-budgeted comedy/thriller they play a trio of clumsy (on the verge of idiotic) private detectives hired by the wealthy Walter Stevens because he received a warning note that a murderer at large will kill him within 24 hours. The three are in Stevens' house when the time arrives, along with the niece, her fiancée and two servants, but still they can't prevent that the killer  known as "the Gorilla" strikes at midnight. The basic plot has quite some potential as a murder-mystery, but naturally everything revolves on the grimaces and unfunny lines of the Ritz' brothers. This regretfully results in a total lack of tension and credibility while it COULD have been a compelling thriller story. There's way too much talking going on and the hectic performances game me a severe headache. I personally thought that the maid was a lot funnier than the 3 brothers all together and it really hurt to see how a true horror-icon like Bela Lugosi is shamelessly downgraded to the insignificant supportive cast. The actual revelation of the killer's identity is almost too silly for words.