The Bride and the Beast is a 1958 horror film in which a newly-wed wife takes a curious interest in her husband’s gorilla. It’s revealed through hypnosis that she was Queen of the Gorillas in a previous incarnation.
The movie was produced and directed by Adrian Weiss from a screenplay co-written with Ed Wood (Night of the Ghouls; Plan 9 from Outer Space; Bride of the Monster), based on a story by Weiss. Ed Wood was inspired by the real-life Bridey Murphy story currently in the headlines and worked in stock jungle animal footage from a Sabu movie into the storyline.
The strident soundtrack score was composed by Les Baxter.
Plot:
Dan Fuller, a big game hunter, is forced to kill his pet gorilla Spanky when it attempts to mate with his new bride Laura. The woman starts to experience strange urgings following the encounter and submits to hypnosis under the care of a psychiatrist.
She reveals to her shocked husband that she was actually a gorilla in a previous life. Slowly she reverts to her former bestial self and winds up eloping into the jungle with a male ape, with her cuckolded husband staring helplessly after them.
Choice dialogue:
Dan Fuller [Lance Fuller]: “A tarantula’s bite can be just as deadly as a lion’s fang or an elephant’s foot.”
Cast and characters:
Charlotte Austin … Laura; Lance Fuller … Dan; Johnny Roth … Taro; William Justine … Doctor Reiner; Jeanne Gerson … Marka; Gil Frye … Captain Cameron; Trustin Howard/Slick Slavin … Soldier; Bhogwan Singh … Native; Eve Brent … Stewardess (as Jean Ann Lewis); Steve Calvert … Gorilla; Ray Corrigan … Spanky (the wife-stealing gorilla); Bobby Small … Gorilla
Original working title:
Queen of the Gorillas
Theatrical release:
The Bride and the Beast opened in San Diego on January 29, 1958.
Trailer:
Free to watch online on YouTube [1058p]:
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