Editing Bride of the Monster (section)

==Analysis==
===Genre and background===
The film combines elements of [[science fiction]] and [[horror fiction]], genres which were frequently combined in films of the 1950s. Like many of these contemporaries, ''Bride'' serves in part as a [[Cold War]] [[propaganda film]].<ref name=Craig/> The country of origin for Vornoff and Strowski is left unnamed. The only clues is that it is European and has its own dreams of conquest. By implication, the country which exiled Vornoff in the 1930s could be [[Nazi Germany]] or the [[Soviet Union]]. Their role as villains for the American cinema had already been solidified by the 1950s, and Wood could be alluding to both of them. Strowski uses the term master race, which is a key concept in [[Nazism]].<ref name=Craig/>

Both the working title "Bride of the Atom" and the final title ''Bride of the Monster'' allude to the film ''[[Bride of Frankenstein]]'' (1935).<ref name=Craig/> The film otherwise follows the template of the [[Poverty Row]] horror films of the 1940s. The [[Atomic Age]] influences the film in its ominous implications concerning nuclear weapons and the threat they posed towards human civilization.<ref name=Craig/>

===Content===
This was [[Bela Lugosi]]'s last speaking role in a feature film.<ref name="Rhodes2"/> Lugosi subsequently played a silent part in ''[[The Black Sleep]]'' (1956). ''[[Plan 9 from Outer Space]]'' (1957) uses silent archive footage of Lugosi, since he died prior to the creation of its script.<ref name="Rhodes3">Rhodes (2006), p. 143–145</ref> ''[[Lock Up Your Daughters (1959 film)|Lock Up Your Daughters]]'' (1959) recycled footage from Lugosi's earlier films, possibly mixed with some new material.<ref name="Rhodes3"/>

According to Rob Craig, in ''Bride'', Lugosi for the last time plays "a charismatic [[villain]] whose [[wiktionary:megalomania|megalomania]] leads to downfall and destruction". Craig considers this to be one of Lugosi's finest roles, citing the surprisingly energetic performance of the aging actor.<ref name="Craig"/> The scenes involving hypnosis contain [[close-up]]s of Lugosi's eyes. Wood was probably trying to recreate similar scenes from an older film of Lugosi's, ''[[White Zombie (film)|White Zombie]]'' (1932).<ref name="Craig"/> Lugosi did not actually play Vornoff in the scenes demanding physicality. The film made use of [[body double]]s for Lugosi: [[Eddie Parker (actor)|Eddie Parker]] and Red Reagan.<ref name="Craig"/><ref name="Reid"/> Parker was also the body-double of Lugosi in ''[[Frankenstein Meets the Wolf Man]]'' (1943).<ref name="Rhodes2"/> Lugosi's fee for the film is estimated to have been $1,000.00.<ref name="Rhodes2"/>

The story is similar to an earlier Bela Lugosi movie, ''[[The Corpse Vanishes]]'' (1942).<ref>{{cite web | url = http://publicdomainmovie.net/movie/the-corpse-vanishes | title = The Corpse Vanishes | access-date = 2020-02-23}}</ref> In both movies, each bride at her wedding was given an orchid, which she sniffed before passing out. In ''The Corpse Vanishes'', Lugosi played a doctor who captured the brides and took some kind of liquid from each bride's body and injected it into his wife to make her temporarily young again. Characters included his wife, an old woman, the old woman's grown son, and a dwarf. In ''Bride of the Monster'', Lugosi again plays a doctor doing experiments, but his only housemate/assistant is Lobo, and when his experiment fails to turn someone into an "atomic-powered superman", he throws the dead subject to an octopus or an alligator, similar to Lugosi throwing a body into a river in [[Murders in the Rue Morgue (1932 film)|''Murders in the Rue Morgue'']] (1932).<ref>{{cite web | url = https://immortalephemera.com/55426/murders-in-the-rue-morgue-1932/ | title = Murders in the Rue Morgue | date = October 25, 2014 | access-date = 2020-02-23}}</ref>

The hunters of the opening scenes, Jake Long and Blake "Mac" McCreigh, were played by John Warren and [[Bud Osborne]].<ref name="Reid"/> The police station scenes feature cameos by a drunk and a newspaper seller. The former is played by Ben Frommer (known for playing Count Bloodcount in ''[[Transylvania 6-5000 (1963 film)|Transylvania 6-5000]]''). The latter is played by [[William Benedict]] (known as one of [[The Bowery Boys]]).<ref name="Reid"/> Janet Lawton briefly speaks with a co-worker called Margie. Margie is played by [[Dolores Fuller]] (Ed Wood's girlfriend at the time). Dick Craig's partner, Martin, is played by Don Nagel. Both Fuller and Nagel had worked with Wood in Wood's previous film ''[[Jail Bait (1954 film)|Jail Bait]]'' (1954).<ref name="Craig"/><ref name="Reid"/>

The film uses stock footage of a real octopus, and a fake, rubber octopus in scenes where "the monster" interacts with the actors. It is widely believed this was a prop from the John Wayne film ''[[Wake of the Red Witch]]'' (1948). Contradictory accounts claim that Wood either stole or legally rented the prop from [[Republic Pictures]], which produced the earlier film.<ref name=Craig2/><ref name=Rhodes2/><ref name=Craig/> The struggle between Vornoff and the octopus was filmed at [[Griffith Park]].<ref name=Rhodes2/>

Craig comments that there is a stark contrast between the characters of Dick Craig and Janet Lawton. Dick speaks in a [[deadpan]] unemotional way and seems to be a rather lethargic character. Janet is a "brassy girl reporter", a dynamic character with a sense of autonomy.<ref name="Craig"/> The role of Janet was reportedly intended for [[Dolores Fuller]]. According to Fuller's recollections, [[Loretta King]] bribed Wood into casting her as Janet, with promises of securing further funding for the film. Fuller was thus reduced to playing a cameo role, "Margie", and this led to her later breakup with Ed Wood and her moving to New York to start a songwriting career with Elvis Presley.<ref name="Craig2"/> King always vehemently denied bribing Wood in any way, saying the story was ridiculous since she never had any money to invest in films in the 1950s.<ref name="Craig2"/>

In a subplot of the film, there are storms every night for three months and strange weather patterns. The characters attribute the phenomenon to the effects the nuclear explosions have on the atmosphere. This probably reflects actual anxiety of the 1950s about potential [[climate change]]. Until the [[Partial Nuclear Test Ban Treaty]] (1963), atmospheric [[nuclear weapons testing]] was used widely and recklessly.<ref name=Craig/> Rob Craig suggests that the months of constant storms could be inspired by the [[Genesis flood narrative]].<ref name=Craig/> In the context of the film, the strange weather is implied to be a side-effect of the experiments of Vornoff which apparently release radioactivity into the atmosphere.<ref name=Craig/>

The dialogue of the film includes lines such as "Home? I have no home!", "One is always considered mad, when one discovers something which others cannot grasp", and the closing "He tampered in God's domain."<ref>Rhodes, Gary; Weaver, Tom (2015). Ed Wood's Bride of the Monster. BearManor Media. {{ISBN|1593938578}}.</ref> The phrases could well apply to the fates of [[avant-garde]] artists and thinkers.<ref name="Craig"/> The title "''Bride of the Atom"'', which Vornoff uses for Janet in the bridal dress, is inexplicable unless the scientist is actually attempting to use Janet to replace his long-lost wife. One of his reassuring lines to Janet concerning the experiment, "It hurts, just for a moment, but then you will emerge a woman...", sounds as if he is preparing her for the loss of her virginity.<ref name="Craig"/> The scene of a young woman, in a bridal gown, restrained by leather shackles seems to be sadomasochistic in nature.<ref name="Craig"/>

Throughout the film, the mute Lobo is implied to have an unspecified [[intellectual disability]] and to be of sub-human intelligence. Yet he successfully operates complex machinery as if trained to do so. Craig views this scene as implying that supposedly "dumb" servants can have a capacity of learning the secrets of their masters.<ref name="Craig"/>

The final scenes, with the [[mushroom cloud]] of the nuclear explosion, use stock footage from the blast of a thermonuclear weapon ("hydrogen bomb").<ref name="Craig"/>

The apparent fetish of Lobo with [[angora wool]] is a reflection of Wood's own fetish for the material. This serves as the film's connection to ''[[Glen or Glenda]]'' (1953), where the fetish plays a more prominent role. In 1961's ''The Beast of Yucca Flats'', Johnson strangely pets and hugs a rabbit as he dies in that film's finale.<ref name="Hayes">Hayes (2006), p. 137</ref>

The character of Lobo appeared again in Wood's ''[[Night of the Ghouls]]'', horribly burned but still alive. This film serves as a sequel of sorts to ''Bride''. Vornoff is absent from the later film, but there are references to the activities of "the mad doctor".<ref name="Rhodes2"/> [[Tor Johnson]] also plays a character called Lobo in ''[[The Unearthly]]'' (1957) who also serves as a henchman to the main villain.<ref name="Craig3">Craig (2013), p. 135–137</ref>

This film is part of what Wood aficionados refer to as "The Kelton Trilogy", a trio of films featuring [[Paul Marco]] as Officer Kelton, a whining, reluctant policeman. The other two films are ''Plan 9 from Outer Space'' and ''Night of the Ghouls''. Kelton is the only character to appear in all three films.<ref>{{cite news| url=https://www.nytimes.com/movies/movie/35298/Night-of-the-Ghouls/overview | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131114134824/http://www.nytimes.com/movies/movie/35298/Night-of-the-Ghouls/overview | url-status=dead | archive-date=November 14, 2013 |title=''Night of the Ghouls (1959)'' | access-date=November 10, 2013 | department=Movies & TV Dept. | work=[[The New York Times]] | date=2013 |author= Bruce Eder}}</ref>