The Bride and the Beast
Brief Synopsis
Cast & Crew
Adrian Weiss
Charlotte Austin
Lance Fuller
Johnny Roth
William Justine
Jeanne Gerson
Film Details
Technical Specs
Synopsis
Newlyweds Dan and Laura Fuller arrive at Dan's isolated mansion just as a thunderstorm breaks. Dan, a big game hunter, reveals he has a pet gorilla named Spanky whom he brought back from Africa and raised since infancy, and now plans to donate him to a zoo. Laura, who has grown up with animals, is fascinated and insists on meeting the animal. Despite Dan's warnings, Laura gets near enough to Spanky's cage for the gorilla to grab her wrist, but Laura calmly talks the animal into releasing her. Later that night, Laura is disturbed by dreams of the gorilla and, awakening, paces around the adjoining room. Meanwhile, Spanky escapes from his cage and makes his way upstairs. Hearing Laura, Spanky approaches the room and confronts Laura, who is unafraid. Dan awakens in time to see Spanky rip off Laura's nightgown and shoots the animal as Laura faints. Later, a revived Laura admits to Dan that she was completely unafraid of Spanky, and has a strange feeling she knew him before. Dan insists that Laura speak with a doctor the following day. Returning to sleep, Laura dreams of living long ago in a past filled with wild animals and awakens screaming, confessing to Dan that she has had this same dream for years. The next morning, Dan brings his friend, Dr. Carl Reiner, to examine Laura, and Carl suggests a hypnotic session to relieve Laura's tensions. Laura agrees and under hypnosis regresses into the past, revealing that in a previous life Laura was a gorilla. Dan remains skeptical, but Carl assures him that Laura believes in this vision, which he links to her disturbing dreams. Carl advises Dan to postpone their honeymoon trip to Africa, but Dan insists on going. Laura, Dan and his manservant Taro depart the following day for Africa, where Dan receives special permission from game warden Capt. Cameron to capture various animals for an American zoo. Over the next several days Dan hunts many animals, capturing a zebra, rhinoceros and giraffe. Laura is extremely happy and confides in Dan that she feels as if she has returned home. A week later, Dan is summoned by Cameron, who reveals that a shipwreck just off the coast has released two dangerous Indian tigers and the government requests that Dan help recapture them. Over the next few days, Dan, Taro and his other assistants get close to both tigers at different times, but are unable to reach them. When one of the camp servants, Marka, is mauled my the animals, Dan wounds one tiger. Later, Taro reports that the other tiger has fallen into one of the traps, and Dan knows the wounded tiger will eventually seek its mate and waits by the trap all night. Early the following morning, Laura awakens and, worried about her husband's continued absence, goes out in search of Dan. The wounded tiger corners Laura as she nears the trap and forces her off a small cliff. Dan attacks the tiger and kills it with a knife as Taro hastily returns the dazed Laura to camp. Taro goes for a doctor, as Laura dreams fitfully about her previous existence in the jungle. Later, Laura awakens and hears a gorilla call outside the tent. Although still stunned, Laura goes outside where a gorilla awaits her. When Dan tries to intervene, the gorilla knocks him down before carrying Laura away. Dan revives and tracks Laura to a cave filled with gorillas, but, still dazed, Laura does not respond to Dan's entreaties. Dan shoots one gorilla and sees Laura being carried away by the other gorillas before he is struck unconscious. Back at home several weeks later, Dan relates to Carl that despite a protracted search, he was never able to find Laura. Carl comforts Dan by offering his belief that Laura willingly returned to her origins.
Director
Adrian Weiss
Cast
Charlotte Austin
Lance Fuller
Johnny Roth
William Justine
Jeanne Gerson
Gil Frye
Slick Slavin
Bhogwan Singh
Jean Ann Lewis
Steve Calvert
Crew
Les Baxter
Emerson's Studio City
Gerald Endler
Harry Fraser
Harold Hanks
Bobby Jones
Monroe Liebgold
Diana Loomis
Don Lopez
George Merrick
Roland Price
Harry Rief
Edward Shiells
Keith Smith
Doty Steele
Harry Thomas
Weatherby's
Harry Webb
Adolph Weiss
Adrian Weiss
Adrian Weiss
Adrian Weiss
Louis Weiss
Samuel Weiss
Edward D. Wood Jr.
Film Details
Technical Specs
Articles
King Dinosaur/The Bride and the Beast
First out of the galactic gate is King Dinosaur (1955), a Jurassic-aged movie that should have been called Welcome to the Neighborhood!. Well, at least, that's what Earth should've said to the newest member of the Solar System, the planet Nova, and just left it at that. It seems that due to some sort of strange gravitational anomaly, Nova has scooted over so close to Earth that Man can now successfully journey to another planet. And indeed, before you can say "Jules Verne," America has already put together a crack team of scientists and doctors and a sturdy rocketship to withstand the weeks and months of interstellar space travel towards the strange, new world - all within the first 15 minutes! Director Bert I. Gordon, responsible for such sci-fi delights as Earth Vs. The Spider (1958), The Magic Sword (1962), and Attack of the Puppet People (1958), was not one to waste time.
The four explorers include William Bryant as Dr. Ralph Martin; Wanda Curtis as chemist Dr. Patricia Bennett; Douglas Henderson as Richard Gordon; and Patti Gallagher playing Nora Pierce. Once the foursome arrive on Nova, they encounter all manner of giant-sized creatures, most of which have been recycled from producer Hal Roach's One Million B.C. (1940). All sorts of reptilian riff-raff, from giant iguanas to giant crocodiles to giant gila monsters to, oddly enough, not-so-giant snakes, battle it out over feeding rights on the Earth-borne finger food. Of course, the four humans make their visit harder on themselves by acting a bit too aggressive against the natives and each other. The explorers seem to lack an innate curiosity about what makes these creatures tick, but they more than make up for it with trigger-happy sharp-shooting. Richard Gordon exhibits a severe temper when he twice shoves poor Dr. Patricia Bennett out of the way during a crisis involving an injured Dr. Ralph Martin. And of course, the team exits the planet with a unique, lasting gift from planet Earth: the detonation of an atomic bomb, with one team member claiming, "Well, we've done it. We've brought civilization to planet Nova."
Filling out the double-bill is The Bride and the Beast (1958), an Allied Artists production, from producer/director Adrian Weiss and a screenplay by none other than Edward D. Wood, Jr. Charlotte Austin marries handsome Lance Fuller and both look forward to living happily ever after, but once they arrive at his former bachelor pad, she discovers a pet gorilla named Spanky in his basement. (Seriously.) Soon Austin begins to feel a strange attraction to the gorilla. After Fuller kills the ape, Austin discovers through hypnosis that she was a gorilla in a former life, answering any questions about her peculiar infatuation with Spanky. "I still shudder at the strange sensation I had when the gorilla was trying to be tender," Laura says, while swathed in an Angora sweater. (The quality of the DVD image is sharp enough that you can actually see pieces of the Angora sweater flying around the set when Laura suddenly awakes from a disturbing nightmare.) While she and Fuller are on safari in Africa, another gorilla kidnaps Austin, seemingly with her acquiescence. Fuller tries to go "mammal y mammal" with the gorilla to rescue his wife, but he's defeated and Austin returns to her ancestral element.
Much of this disc's supplementary material is devoted to Ed Wood, or at least the spirit of Ed Wood. One extra is about David "The Rock" Nelson, a filmmaker who makes Wood look like a French-favored auteur. After viewing the truly bizarre interview with Nelson and his film Mummy A.D. 1993, plus a trailer for brilliant things to come, Man From Plan 9, one can happily admit that King Dinosaur and The Bride and the Beast aren't so bad at all.
For more information about Retromedia's Drive-in double feature of King Dinosaur/The Bride and the Beast, visit Retromedia Entertainment. To order King Dinosaur/The Bride and the Beast, go to TCM Shopping.
by Scott McGee
King Dinosaur/The Bride and the Beast
Quotes
Trivia
Notes
The working title of the film was Queen of the Gorillas.
Miscellaneous Notes
Released in United States Winter February 1958
Released in United States Winter February 1958