The 3 Jan 1927 FD announced The Gorilla as a forthcoming feature from independent production company Asher-Small-Rogers, based on Ralph Spence’s 1925 play of the same name. Paul Schofield had been hired to write the adaption at that time, but he did not remain with the project. The following day, FD reported that Asher-Small-Rogers would produce the film for First National Pictures, Inc., as the second of a three-picture deal with the company, the first of which was McFadden’s Flats (1927, see entry).
       On 25 Feb 1927, Motion Picture News named Alfred Santell as the director and noted an expected production start date in Mar 1927. However, the 27 May 1927 issue reported an anticipated Jun 1927 start of filming, and announced the casting of co-leads Charles Murray and George Sidney.
       Although the 5 Jul 1927 FD announced that principal photography would begin on 1 Aug 1927, and the 10 Aug 1927 Var stated that filming began on 9 Aug 1927, several news items throughout Aug 1927 indicated that production had not yet begun. Var noted that Fred Kelsey would team with Murray in the picture, and not Sidney, as previously reported. According to the 12 Sep 1927 FD, production had recently begun at the First National Studios in Burbank, CA.
       Raymond Turner , Dorothy Revier, John Kolb, and Wade Boteler were added to the cast, as announced in the 19 Aug 1927 Motion Picture News, the 12 Sep 1927 and 14 Sep 1927 FD, and the Nov 1927 Photoplay. The 18 Sep 1927 and 11 Nov 1927 FD named Henry Johnson and Gene Towne as comedy writers on the film, and the 6 Oct 1927 issue listed Eddie Adams as the film editor.
       By early Oct 1927, production was nearly completed, according to the 5 Oct 1927 FD. The 16 Oct 1927 edition reported that titling was currently underway by Sidney Lazarus.
       According to the 19 Oct 1927 Var, producer Edward Small “decided that additional scenes had to be made” after Santell completed filming, but Santell had begun another production. Edward F. Cline was hired to direct the additional scenes.
       The 4 Nov 1927 Motion Picture News announced that the editing and titling had been completed the previous week, and a Nov 1927 release was anticipated.
       The 28 Oct 1927 Motion Picture News printed conflicting national release dates of 13 Nov 1927 and 15 Nov 1927. The 11 Nov 1927 issue stated that the film would premiere simultaneously in three cities on 5 Nov 1927 in Cleveland and Toledo, OH, and St. Louis, MS. On 15 Nov 1927, FD noted a west coast premiere scheduled for 17 Nov 1927 at the Million Dollar Theatre in Los Angeles, CA. Finally, the New York opening was held on 21 Nov 1927 at the Mark Strand Theatre, according to that day’s FD.
       The 2 Nov 1927 Var and the 18 Nov 1927 FD announced that Asher-Small-Rogers had dissolved their partnership with the completion of the follow-up film to The Gorilla, Ladies’ Night in a Turkish Bath (1928, see entry). The production company had been established in 1924 specifically to produce films for Corrine Griffith for First National. Following Griffith’s departure from First National, Asher-Small-Rogers made four films including The Gorilla, the aforementioned McFadden’s Flats and Ladies’ Night in a Turkish Bath, and The Cohens and Kellys (1926, see entry).
       The 13 Nov 1927 FD deemed the picture a “winner,” stating that “the thrills and the laughs in ‘The Gorilla’ will send the audience into an uproar.”
       Spence's play was remade as a “talkie” by First National in 1930, with a new cast and crew, with the exception of Walter Pidgeon, who appeared in both pictures as different characters. The story was adapted again by Twentieth Century-Fox Film Corp. in 1939, directed by Allan Dwan and starring the Ritz Brothers. Both pictures were also called The Gorilla (see entries).
       A 95-minute version of Alfred Santell's The Gorilla, recently discovered at the Cineteca Milano in Italy, was screened at the 2024 San Francisco Silent Film Festival on 14 April 2024.