THE
BRIDE AND THE BEAST (1958)Director: Adrian Weiss
Retromedia
THE
BRIDE AND THE BEAST (1958)Benefiting(?) from a screenplay
by Edward D. Wood Jr., THE BRIDE AND THE BEAST was conceived after producer/director
Adrian Weiss acquired a ton of stock footage from various jungle movies. Big-game
hunter Dan (Lance Fuller from THE SHE-CREATURE and VOODOO WOMAN) and lovely
new bride Laura (Charlotte Austin from GORILLA AT LARGE and FRANKENSTEIN 1970)
are spending their first night together in his cozy home. Dan shows Laura his
pet gorilla Spanky(!!!) that he keeps locked up in a cage in the basement, as
he plans to sell him to the local zoo.
The gorilla (played by Steve Calvert) is a typical Hollywood costumed ape (a creation of Harry Thomas), only he has sloppily applied blonde sideburns (probably to differentiate him when the same costume is used for another ape later in the film). You'll expect Slip Mahoney and Sach Jones to drive up to the house for some comic antics--that never happens. What does happen is that Spanky bursts out of his cage, wanting to play with Miss Laura, but her hubby shoots the poor beast before he gets too frisky.
After
Spanky's death, Laura becomes disturbed and is visited by a hypnotist friend
of her husband. The hypnotist reveals that she is actually the reincarnation
of a gorilla and was "Queen of the Gorillas" in a previous life. This
also explains Ed Wood's... I mean Laura's fetish for fury things. Thinking she's
well enough, Dan takes Laura on a safari in Africa. It's here that we see lots
of stock footage of various animals being captured and Dan being assaulted by
a tiger. He comes out of it with a few bruises and his clothes torn up ala a
victim in a "Looney Tunes" film. Laura is taken away by some gorillas
that live in a cave, so she's seen fainted and carried around enough to even
satisfy the hard-to-please Herman Senerchia.
With an exotic score by Les Baxter
and enough monkeying around to fill out its 78 minutes, THE BRIDE AND THE BEAST
is watchable 50s trash if you enjoy Wood's other films, even though he didn't
direct this one. The full frame transfer has been taken from a clean black and
white film source. The image is a tad soft at times, but is overall very acceptable
and the mono audio is clear and free of any noticeable problems. 
Extras include the original 35mm trailer and a nice photo gallery (with some color-touched lobby cards). There are also some strange video excerpts from David "The Rock" Nelson--the connection being that he is hailed as some kind of modern Ed Wood (even Ed Wood would be spinning in his grave if he could see what he's being likened to!). Nelson's camcorder-shot, technically awful short, "Mummy A.D. 1993" is an inept monster tribute, bad beyond belief. Nelson plays most of the parts, including an oatmeal-faced, crepe paper-bandaged mummy that terrorizes the neighborhood. There's also footage of a demented Nelson rambling about himself into his camera, as well as a trailer(?) for something called "Man From Plan 9" with Conrad Brooks and his two elderly brothers. Hopefully "Man From Plan 9" will never be completed or lengthened, because it makes "Mummy A.D. 1993" look like PLAN NINE FROM OUTER SPACE in comparison--if you catch my drift! (George R. Reis)