423 - BRIDE OF THE MONSTER
(5/11/1955; NR; 69m)

a.k.a. BRIDE OF THE ATOM (pre-release)
a.k.a. MONSTER OF THE MARSHES (working)
a.k.a. THE ATOMIC MONSTER (original screenplay)
a.k.a. LA NOVIA DEL MONSTRUO (Argentina)

prequel to NIGHT OF THE GHOULS (1958)
sneak previewed with THE END OF THE AFFAIR
co-billed with MACUMBA

Shown with Short: 423S-Hired! Part 1

Ad: "The Screen's Master of the Weird...
In His Newest and Most Daring Shocker!"

Ad: "More horrifying than
'DRACULA'...'FRANKENSTEIN!'"

Ad: "It'll Make Your Skin Crawl!"

Video Ad: "Ed Wood's Masterpiece of Horror!"

Plot: A mad scientist, his huge lab assistant, and his giant octopus terrify anyone entering the swamp near his house.

Exec: Donald E. McCoy
(father of star; owner of meat packing plant)
Prod/Dir/Scr/Sto: Edward D. Wood Jr.*
Scr/Sto: Alex Gordon
(prod/808-The She-Creature; H01-The Day the World Ended)
Cin: William C. Thompson
(610/*613; 109-Project Moon Base; 616-Racket Girls)
Cin: Ted Allan (Frontier Woman; A Life at Stake)
Camera: Bert Shipham (Glen or Glenda; Citizen Kane)
Ed: Warren Adams (1963's Flipper; Flipper New Adventure)
SFX: Pat Dinga (The House of Usher; The Pit and the Pendulum)
M/U: Louis J. Haszillo (509-The Girl in Lovers Lane)
M/U: Maurice Seiderman (Citizen Kane; God's Little Acre)
M/U: Harry Thomas (109/616*; 103-The Mad Monster;
320-The Unearthly; 602-Invasion USA; 618-High School Big Shot; 701-Night of the Blood Beast)
Asst Dir: Robert Farfan (Rebel Without A Cause)
Asst Dir: William Nolte (Jungle Bride; Souls in Pawn)
Props: George Bahr (Missile to the Moon; Submarine Base)
Sound Rec: Dale Knight (Plan 9; Jail Bait)
Sound Rec: Lyle Willey (107-Robot Monster; Wetbacks)
Sound FX: Mike Pollock
Tech Adv: Igo Kantor (ed/104-Women of the Prehistoric Planet; music ed/420-The Human Duplicators)
Score: Frank Worth (Street of Darkness; actor/415-The Beatniks)

Dr. Eric Vornoff / Bela Lugosi
(*105-The Corpse Vanishes; 203S-Phantom Creeps; Glen or Glenda)
Lobo / Tor Johnson
(*320; 621-The Beast of Yucca Flats; Plan 9 from Outer Space)
Lt. Dick Craig / Tony McCoy (backer's son) (The Naked Gun)
Janet Lawton / Loretta King*
Captain Tom Robbins / Harvey B. Dunn
(613; *404-Teenagers From Outer Space; Night of the Ghouls)
Prof. Strowski / George Becwar (319-War of the Colossal Beast)
Kelton / Paul Marco (same char/Plan 9 and Night of the Ghouls)
Detective Martin / Don Nagel (Jailbait; Night of the Ghouls)
Mac / Bud Osborne (Jailbait; Night of the Ghouls)
Jake / John Warren (Up the Creek)
Tillie / Anne Wilner
Margie / Dolores Fuller* (Jailbait; Mesa of Lost Women)
newsboy / William Benedict (Libeled Lady; one of the Bowery Boys)
drunk / Ben Frommer (Plan 9)
cop & suspect / Conrad Brooks*
Lugosi's double / Eddie Parker*
Lugosi's double / Red Reagan

Classic line: "He tampered in God's domain."

Trivia: The rubber octopus was originally used in the 1948 movie, Wake of the Red Witch. Ed Wood reportedly stole it from Republic Studios. Also, some of the film's exterior shots were done at Griffith Park.

EDWARD D. WOOD, JR. (1924-1978) was a WWII veteran who wore women's lingerie under his uniform. He was probably NOT Hollywood's worst director/producer/actor. (You know that because you've seen the films of Coleman Francis). As cheap and tacky as Wood's films were made, they all have a certain charm. Besides making industrial shorts and commercials (for Wesson oil!), Ed's early film work involved unsuccessful Western short pilots for television: The Sun Was Setting (1951); Crossroad Avenger (1953); and Final Curtain (1957). Two of the films which Ed directed were MSTed: 423-BRIDE OF THE MONSTER and 613-THE SINISTER URGE. He also wrote the script for 610-THE VIOLENT YEARS, hence the mention of a soft sweater. Ed also served as screenwriter only for 1958's turkey Bride and the Beast about an amorous gorilla, as well as 1963's Shotgun Wedding, 1965's Orgy of the Dead, and 1971's Fugitive Girls.

Ed Wood is most famous for directing the astoundingly inept Plan 9 From Outer Space (1956) and the amazing Glen or Glenda (1953). He also did Night of the Ghouls (1958), the pseudo-sequel to Bride of the Monster, and Jailbait (1954) starring a young Steve Reeves. As he fell on hard times and more into alcohol in the 1960's and 1970's, what little film work of his was soft-core porn like Take It Out In Trade and Necromania (both 1971). Sadly Ed Wood died at the age of 54, alone and broke, without knowing about the renewed interest in his career. But you can get an idea of Ed Wood in his heyday by seeing the great Tim Burton biopic Ed Wood (1994), in which Martin Laudau won an Oscar for his eerie portrayal of Bela Lugosi. The best source for reading about Ed Wood is Rudolph Grey's biography, "Nightmare of Ecstasy: The Life and Art of Edward D. Wood, Jr."

As portrayed as fact in the Burton's movie Ed Wood, the rumor that LORETTA KING put up $300 to be in BRIDE OF THE MONSTER was probably untrue. Having had a lead role in 1953's Glen or Glenda, DOLORES FULLER, Bride co-star and Wood's real-life girlfriend, probably repeated what Ed Wood told her. No doubt he said this to appease Fuller's complaints about not getting the lead part which King did get. Loretta King had actual stage acting experience and could remember her lines; this is why she got the lead, as she stated in a recent interview. Fuller would later go into songwriting; she wrote several songs for Peggy Lee, Nat King Cole, and Elvis Presley for his movie musicals!

CONRAD BROOKS, one of the cops here, seems to have spent his career seeking out Hollywood's bottom-rung directors. He also appears as knife-wielding Connie in Wood's 613-THE SINISTER URGE, and Coleman Francis' 621-THE BEAST OF YUCCA FLATS. Brooks was also in Ed Wood's Glen or Glenda, Jailbait, and Plan 9, and played a bartender in the movie Ed Wood (1994). Recent films with Brooks' appearances are: Vampire at Midnight and Death Row Game Show.

EDDIE PARKER (1900-1960), who was Lugosi's stunt double and octopus wrestler in this movie, was one of the stuntmen who played a Mutant monster in L02-THIS ISLAND EARTH! He also doubled for most of Universal Studio's horror stars, including the title role in 803-THE MOLE PEOPLE. Parker also had a bit part in the Season Four serial 406S-UNDERSEA KINGDOM. He did stunts in many films, including Spartacus and Tarantula.

Last Updated: 6/23/1999