1958's "The Bride and the Beast" was a three-time loser on Pittsburgh's Chiller Theater, long before the cult of Edward D. Wood Jr. took shape following his death in 1978. You can tell it's a Wood script, with its angora sweaters and bestiality theme, but any camp value is totally drained off by the interminable stock footage once the picture shifts to Africa 34 minutes in. Before that it's a riot, with a captive gorilla making advances toward Charlotte Austin's newlywed bride, passively taking it regardless of the 'stares' that other commentators have deemed sexy (more indicative of a bored actress given nothing to work with). The stakes get raised when a psychiatrist taps into her inner 'Bridey Murphy,' and deduces by regression that the girl was a hairy gorilla in a past life! Once the action enters safari country, we get endless big game hunting, none of which feature animals in scenes shot with the actual performers, nothing but stock footage of a leopard (referred to as a 'cheetah'), a black leopard, and at least TWO tigers (who find themselves on the wrong continent!) all getting dropped abruptly after 35 minutes for the dreaded climax, when the 'gorilla her dreams' pops up out of the blue to kidnap Miss Austin and take her back to his place for a rendezvous with three of his pals (I kid you not). Admittedly, Lance Fuller (previously victimized by another Bridey Murphy ripoff, "The She-Creature") was never the sturdiest of actors, but knowing how difficult it would be to keep a straight face while walking through a studio jungle, his bemused performance seems understandable (his character certainly did nothing to deserve his fate, even stripping off his shirt at one point). The worst thing an Ed Wood movie can be is boring, and this one pays the price for 78 minutes (even "Orgy of the Dead" is more exciting). Charlotte Austin looked like a decent actress in "Frankenstein-1970," but since that was her final film, she probably picked a good time to throw in the towel (think Virginia Leith in "The Brain That Wouldn't Die"). The three films that were paired with "The Bride and the Beast" on Chiller Theater were "Caltiki the Immortal Monster," "Phantom from Space," and "Doctor of Doom."

Laura Carson (Charlotte Austin) has just married big game hunter Dan Fuller (Lance Fuller.) On her wedding night she finds herself strangely attracted to Spanky, a gorilla gone bad that Dan keeps locked up in a basement cage. Before you can say "Ed Wood wrote this," there are gun shots, nightmares, hypnotism, and Dan's unhappy discover that bride Laura may be the reincarnation of a gorilla queen! Can you dig it? Now and then a bad movie becomes unintentionally hilarious, but most of the time bad movies are simply bad. BRIDE AND THE BEAST actually teeters between the two, and this is largely due to the two leads: even in the face of producer-director Adrian Weiss' obvious lack of talent, Austin and Fuller prove unexpectedly competent, and they actually manage to hold the worst of the dialogue at bay. What this means, however, is that BRIDE never self-destructs in the ludicrous way of such films as PLAN 9 FROM OUTER SPACE--and in consequence it isn't so much unintentionally hilarious as it is unintentionally amusing in a mild sort of way.The film is full of absurdities. Dan Fuller's basement, where the ill-fated gorilla Spanky is caged, has a refrigerator, but illumination is provided by torch. Servant Taro (Johnny Roth, in what seems to be his only film role) is very obviously a white man in bad "native" make-up; he runs around saying "Bwana" a lot. There is a lot of canned wild animal footage, shots of Africa that look suspiciously like shots of South America, and men in bad gorilla costumes. And Ed Wood being Ed Wood, he just can't resist writing references to angora sweaters into the script.The print is mediocre, but it is worth pointing out that it was probably never very good to begin with, and the DVD release comes with several bonuses of no interest. Fans of cult films, and especially die hard fans of Ed Wood, will enjoy it--and for their sake I give it three stars. But just about every one else should give it a miss.GFT, Amazon Reviewer

OK, don't laugh...I recommend this film to future actresses, directors and just plain viewers that want a good (unusual) time.Bottom line, the movie is a stinker, like so many things Ed Wood was connected with in his life. The whole middle of the film uses terrible stock footage that has little to do with the rest of the film. Fully 30-45 minutes of the middle of the film could have been left out.So, let's discuss the first 15-20 minutes and the last 10 minutes of the film--without giving away too much.First of all, one thing different about this film from most Ed Wood films is that the two leads are real actors. Lance Fuller had done many movies with big names and Charlotte Austin had small roles in films such as "How to Marry a Millionaire" where she rubbed shoulders with the likes of Monroe, Bacall and Grable. And--looks-wise--Austin held her own. She was a very sophisticated and attractive looking girl.But what makes this whole film work--for 25 minutes or so--is the fact that Austin plays the part straight. You really believe this beautiful, elegant model has a thing for gorillas.The part that every budding actress or director should really see, though, is Austin's close-up, facials as she looks with growing lust at 'the beast.'I'm a film buff myself, but I have NEVER seen any actress be able to convey so much with a few close ups as this woman did in the short sequence of her first gaze on the ape.I know, I know...it sounds crazy, but you have to view it. Nothing in erotic films--for all the modern explicitness--touches what this film actress does with a few close ups.It's a shame Miss Austin left movies shortly thereafter...she certainly had the looks and ability to have gone places in movies.Check it out and see if you agree!

"The Bride and the Beast" (1958 - 73 minutes), photographed originally in black & white, is a supernatural drama of terror and scientific fiction produced and directed by Adrian Weiss. The script is of the fantastic Edward D. Wood Jr, the known Ed Wood, director, writer, producer and actor, also called "the worst movie maker of all time" for carrying through cheap films of dubious quality and with amateur actors. The incredible thing is that, after his death, all his work had become "cult", turning him into one of the most acclaimed accomplishing of the sort. The film tells the history of Dan Fuller, a young and famous hunter and his pretty bride, Laura, that is strangely seduced by a gorilla. Dan keeps in captivity, in the basement of his house, an enormous gorilla that he brought from Africa. In the night of his honeymoon, the dangerous beast becomes very aggressive, escapes from its cage and goes up to the room to meet the young woman. Something very strange happens between the beauty and the beast and Dan has to kill the gorilla. From there, Laura starts to have terrible nightmares, making her husband calls a psychiatrist. When the doctor hypnotize Laura, he discovers that she was a gorilla in one of hers last life's. Dan has set appointments to a new safari in Africa and takes his wife with him. Nearest the wild animals, the couple will live moments of great tension when Laura is kidnapped by one gorilla. A classic trash movie.