The Bride and the Beast (1958)

Horribly predictable, 11 October 2019

Things take a weird turn for newlyweds Laura and Dan when Laura finds herself strangely mesmerized by - maybe even attracted to - a gorilla.  It seems that Dan keeps a gorilla in a cage in his basement like it’s the most normal thing in the world. Oh, and he forgot to mention his basement gorilla to Laura prior to the wedding.  Nice surprise! Through hypnosis, Laura learns she was a gorilla in a previous life. As the newlyweds head off to Africa for a honeymoon, it’s pretty easy to see where this thing is headed.  It’s that predictable.  

Beyond being predictable, The Bride and the Beast meanders it’s way through about an hour of runtime with little to advance the main plot.  Instead, the movie gets sidetracked into a story about tigers loose in Africa (don’t ask). By the time we get back to the gorillas, I’d almost completely forgotten what the movie was supposed to be about.  And when it’s not dealing with the silly tiger plot thread, the runtime is filled with some wonderfully dull padding. Wandering through the jungle, stock footage of animals, and watching Dan rub his face - that’s part of the excitement of The Bride and the Beast.  

In short, The Bride and the Beast is a mess of a film.  It wasn't much of a surprise to discover that the schizophrenic plot was at least partially written by Ed Wood.  It’s that incompetent.  

2/10