Let's make one thing clear: Ed Wood Jr was a fellow who loved making movies, and that love shows in nearly everything he had a hand in. But he also had no real talent nor any patience for learning the craft of making movies, so watching an Ed Wood movie tends to be similar to biting into a wax apple.
A friend who watched this with me put it better: You remember those "prop" TVs and stereos that furniture stores put on their entertainment centers and stereo stands? "Bride Of the Monster" is like one of those prop TVs: it takes up the size and the shape of a movie, it shows you what an actual movie would look like if you were watching a real movie, but the insides are cardboard and plastic instead of working movie parts.
I'll say this for Bela Lugosi: he works hard to sell his character (Dr. Vornoff) and he manages to deliver the only real good piece of screenplay writing in the whole movie ("I have no home..."). Also surprisingly good is Harvey B. Dunn, who apparently draws on his experience as a professional clown (no, really!) to deliver an understated performance that at least doesn't hurt me to watch. He could probably walk into almost any community theater casting call and get some kind of part as a character actor.(That's a compliment.)
Tor Johnson is here in his usual role as a special effect. He's got a grand total of two expressions and three gestures, but he actually sort of works in the context of the energetic silliness going on here.
As for the rest of it; continuity errors, logic holes in the plot and the screen play, special effects that betray the threadbare budget and third rate talent at work, and some aggressive non-performances that will make you smile indulgently at the poor actor-wannabees who had such hopes and were in so far over their heads.
But Bela's performance and the unusually high energy level of the antics on screen make this Wood's most watchable film. I wouldn't watch it again without some serious alcoholic reinforcement (unless it was the MST3000 version), but it was a fun piece of cheesy cinema history.
A friend who watched this with me put it better: You remember those "prop" TVs and stereos that furniture stores put on their entertainment centers and stereo stands? "Bride Of the Monster" is like one of those prop TVs: it takes up the size and the shape of a movie, it shows you what an actual movie would look like if you were watching a real movie, but the insides are cardboard and plastic instead of working movie parts.
I'll say this for Bela Lugosi: he works hard to sell his character (Dr. Vornoff) and he manages to deliver the only real good piece of screenplay writing in the whole movie ("I have no home..."). Also surprisingly good is Harvey B. Dunn, who apparently draws on his experience as a professional clown (no, really!) to deliver an understated performance that at least doesn't hurt me to watch. He could probably walk into almost any community theater casting call and get some kind of part as a character actor.(That's a compliment.)
Tor Johnson is here in his usual role as a special effect. He's got a grand total of two expressions and three gestures, but he actually sort of works in the context of the energetic silliness going on here.
As for the rest of it; continuity errors, logic holes in the plot and the screen play, special effects that betray the threadbare budget and third rate talent at work, and some aggressive non-performances that will make you smile indulgently at the poor actor-wannabees who had such hopes and were in so far over their heads.
But Bela's performance and the unusually high energy level of the antics on screen make this Wood's most watchable film. I wouldn't watch it again without some serious alcoholic reinforcement (unless it was the MST3000 version), but it was a fun piece of cheesy cinema history.