Bride of Frankenstein (1935)

User Rating:

8.0/10   

Director:

James Whale

Writers:

William Hurlbut (screenplay)
William Hurlbut (adaptation) ...

Release Date:

22 April 1935 (USA)

Genre:

Horror | Sci-Fi | Thriller

Tagline:

WHO will be The Bride of Frakenstein WHO will dare ?

Plot:

Mary Shelley reveals the main characters of her novel survived: Dr. Frankenstein (goaded by an even madder scientist) builds his monster a mate.

Plot Keywords:

Monster | Mad Scientist | Experiment | Miniature People | Crypt

Awards:

Nominated for Oscar. Another 1 win

Cast

Boris Karloff	...	The Monster (as Karloff)
Colin Clive	...	Baron Henry von Frankenstein
Valerie Hobson	...	Elizabeth von Frankenstein
Ernest Thesiger	...	Dr. Pretorius
Elsa Lanchester	...	Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley / The Monster's Bride (as ?)
Gavin Gordon	...	Lord Byron
Douglas Walton	...	Percy Shelley
Una O'Connor	...	Minnie - Housekeeper
E.E. Clive	...	Burgomaster
Lucien Prival	...	Albert - Butler
O.P. Heggie	...	Hermit
Dwight Frye	...	Karl
Reginald Barlow	...	Hans
Mary Gordon	...	Hans' Wife
Anne Darling	...	Shepherdess (as Ann Darling)

Also Known As:

Frankenstein Lives Again! (USA) (working title)
The Bride of Frankenstein (USA) (poster title)
The Return of Frankenstein (USA) (working title)

Runtime:

75 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono (Western Electric Sound System)

Certification:

Iceland:L | UK:A (original rating) | UK:H (re-rating: 1943) | UK:PG (video rating: 1989) | UK:X (re-rating: 1956) | Spain:13 | South Korea:12 | Norway:16 (1986) | Australia:PG | Canada:G (Quebec) | Finland:K-16 (1976) | Germany:12 (video rating: 2000) | USA:Approved (PCA #768)

Filming Locations:

Universal Studios - 100 Universal City Plaza, Universal City, California, USA

Company:

Universal Pictures

Trivia:

Universal badgered James Whale for four years before he agreed to make this sequel to Frankenstein (1931).

Goofs:

Revealing mistakes: The bride has far too much hair to fit under the bandages shown before her unveiling.

Quotes:

[first lines]
Lord Byron: Prologue
[looking out the window at a thunderstorm]
Lord Byron: How beautifully dramatic! The cruelest savage exhibition of nature at her worst without.
[turns to face Mary and Percy Shelley, both seated]
Lord Byron: And we three. We elegant three within. I should like to think that an irate Jehovah was pointing those arrows of lightning directly at my head. The unbowed head of George Gordon, Lord Byron. England's greatest sinner. But I cannot flatter myself to that extent. Possibly those thunders are for our dear Shelley. Heavens applause for England's greatest poet.
[...]

Movie Connections:

Featured in "SexTV: Monstrous Desires: Sexuality and Horror/A Moment with... David Cronenberg (#8.2)" (2005)

Bride of Frankenstein (1935) ****

Reactions to this, James Whale's ageless masterpiece, are varied; some say it just could be the Greatest Horror Film Ever Made, some think it's just an overblown tongue-in-cheek comedy sham. Probably Whale himself would have been the first to label his picture a "farce", but count me among those who think it's a brilliant piece of work, well in consideration as one of the undisputed top-tier horror classics of any decade. It qualifies as horror, but mostly plays along more like a child's twisted storybook fantasy. It's renowned as one of the few movie sequels which may be considered even better than its original (in this case, that would be James Whale's 1931 FRANKENSTEIN). While I think both films are excellent, with the first being more serious in tone than its follow-up, I'd give the hair's edge to BRIDE.

Boris Karloff returned to portray the Frankenstein Monster, and he gives what is easily one of his finest performances. Here, the scarred creature emerges from the charred windmill he was burned in, and falls into the unscrupulous hands of the demented Dr. Pretorius (Ernest Thesiger, note-perfect in a part he seems born to play). Pretorius was once a colleague of Henry Frankenstein, the monster's creator (Colin Clive), and now connives his way back into the disinterested Frankenstein's life just as he's about to wed his fiancé, Elizabeth (Valerie Hobson). This time, the idea is to fashion a female for the creature, and Pretorius enlists the hulking Monster as an anxious partner into his scheme.

Karloff gets to talk as the Monster in this film, and while the actor himself believed it was a mistake to give the creature speech, I must respectfully disagree; it made him even more pitiable and human. The film's most wonderful sequence features the wandering creation stumbling awkwardly into the hut of a lonely blind hermit, who cannot see and therefore is unable to judge the Monster strictly from his unnerving physical appearance. Instead, he offers the creature food, water, and a place to sleep, while teaching him the most basic forms of communication. It is a truly great cinematic moment.

There is very little to quibble about within this film (Valerie Hobson's hysterical Elizabeth comes the closest at achieving that), and Whale's passion for lightweight comic relief in his horror films works perfectly. Aside from Thesiger's Pretorius, much of that comes courtesy of Una O'Connor, who is a delight as Frankenstein's sniveling maid. Elsa Lanchester immortalized herself forever with her electrified hairdo as the Monster's intended Mate, and she is also seen early on in a dual performance prologue as the more dainty Mary Shelley, the author who "penned the nightmare". Franz Waxman's glorious score punctuates the wondrous proceedings.