Home? I Have No Home…

 (imdb)

 

BRIDE OF THE MONSTER-1955- Mad scientist Dr. Eric Vornoff (Bela Lugosi) is so far unsuccessful in his attempts to create a race of atomic superman. In his cheapo lab where he fries victims’ brains, he has a stove, refrigerator and a giant octopus. In town, the deaths are blamed on “The Monster”. Police Capt. Robbins (Harvey B. Dunn), who has a pet parakeet, discusses the case with Lt. Dick Craig (Tony McCoy) and his fiancée reporter, Janet (Loretta King) who is investigating the monster story. The suspicious Prof. Strowski (George Becwar) thinks the monster might be like the one in Loch Ness. On her way to Lake Marsh, Janet has a car accident. She faints but is rescued by Lobo (the one and only Tor Johnson), Vornoff''s hulking servant. Craig and his partner Marty (Don Nagel) go to the lake to find Janet, who's kind of being held prisoner by Varnoff. Meanwhile, Strowski visits the bad doctor.

Turns out the professor is from an unnamed country that had exiled Varnoff years before. Strowski wants to take Varnoff “home” but he will have none of it and throws Strowski to the octopus he happens to have on the premise (that's the monster). Varnoff decides to make Janet an atomic bride (complete with wedding gown) but Lobo has other ideas. He frees Janet and straps his boss to the operating table. Lobo and Craig have a fight (the Lieutenant fairs well). Somehow Lobo manages to turn Varnoff into a monster (now portrayed by stuntman Eddie Parker; no stranger to playing monsters..). Robbins, Marty and Kelton the cop (Paul Marco) arrive just as their tussle begins. Lobo is killed and now atomic Varnoff takes off with Janet. All's well that ends well as the doc becomes a victim of his own octo-monster. Robbins sums it all up: “He tampered in God's domain”. 

Several other Ed Wood “stock players” appear: Conrad Brooks (uncredited), Bud Osbourne, Ben Frommer and of course Dolores Fuller in a bit role as another reporter. Former “Bowery Boy” William “Whitey” Benedict also has a small role. Saying this is director Ed Wood, Jr.'s best movie might be stretching it but despite its so-so acting, weird plot, the who gives a shit editing and not too special effects, it's fun to watch and not see nearly as much as PLAN 9 has been in recent years. There's stock footage, of course and the scenes where the octopus kills its victims are pretty pathetic but after watching a few modern horror/Sc-Fi movies recently, I have to say for its entertainment value, BRIDE beats them all! 

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Silent Talkie

 

 (tcm.com)

THE MYSTERIOUS ISLAND-1929-Count Dakkar (Lionel Barrymore) is a brilliant scientist who along with his daughter Sonia (Jacqueline Gadsden) and her fiancé Roget (Lloyd Hughes) invents fantastic submarines to go look for a civ-ilization deep in the sea. But he's betrayed by his friend Baron Falon (Montagu Love) who wants to be dictator of nearby Hetvania. 

This silent film has several scenes with characters speaking and their voyage to a strange undersea kingdom populated by fish men is quite eerie as is a giant octopus attack. Some prints featured tinted color scenes. The SFX are great for the time but some of the scenes with dialogue drag a little. Most likely only used simply because the advent of sound interrupted the production. Snitz Edwards and Gibson Gowland also appear. 

It's loosely based on the 1874 Jules Verne novel of the same name which was a sequel to "20,000 Leagues Under the Sea". A more faithful remake was made in 1961. 

This is only one of three movies directed by Lucien Hubbard who went on to become a producer and writer. A few added scenes were directed by Maurice Tourneur and Benjamin Christensen.

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Harryhausen!

 

IT CAME FROM BENEATH THE SEA-1955-Commander Pete Mathews (Kenneth Tobey) and professor Leslie Joyce (Faith Domergue; in THIS ISLAND EARTH the same year) are friendemies investigating a strange occurrence at sea. Brilliant scientist John Carter (Donald Curtis) joins them. They figure out it's a giant octopus which attacks and sinks a ship. While checking out the incident the trio come face to face with the monster and it kills a local deputy (Harry Lauter). Later it attacks the Golden Gate Bridge. Pete and John head a submarine to blow up the creature after it terrorizes San Francisco. It traps their sub and Pete has to go out and plant explosives. 

Despite a low budget this features some great Ray Harryhausen sfx. Too bad director Robert Gordon (THE JOE LOUIS STORY; a former actor) went into TV soon after this.

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